Jazz
by Toni Morrison
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2587)
Read in April, 2008
I have struggled a bit in deciding exactly what to say about this novel. This is my third Morrison novel, and although I recognize her for her brilliance and her incredible style, I don’t yet know how I feel about all of her work. Her work does stay with you for a bit after reading, and that in and of itself is worthy of praise.
This novel begins when Joe Trace, a door-to-door salesman, shoots his lover, the 18 year-old Dorcas and at the funeral, his wife Violet tries to disfigure the cor...more
This novel begins when Joe Trace, a door-to-door salesman, shoots his lover, the 18 year-old Dorcas and at the funeral, his wife Violet tries to disfigure the cor...more
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Read in June, 2008
I had expected Jazz to be about music or musicians, it but was more about the people whose lives were infused and touched with jazz. The sort of people whose story jazz would tell.
The name of the novel and the form are very much interconnected. The book seems improvised as it goes, like a series of riffs. At first I thought the nameless narrator was a perhaps a gossipy neighbor, or some other character in the story, but clearly the narrator is something much more. Is she Jazz, or the city p...more
The name of the novel and the form are very much interconnected. The book seems improvised as it goes, like a series of riffs. At first I thought the nameless narrator was a perhaps a gossipy neighbor, or some other character in the story, but clearly the narrator is something much more. Is she Jazz, or the city p...more
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Read in September, 2007
I read Jazz this summer in preparation for the class, but after rereading it with the kids, I have to bump it up to 5 stars. The set-up is priceless: a man in his 50s has an affair with an 18-year-old girl, and ends up shooting her "to keep the feeling going." At the girl's funeral, the man's wife attacks the corpse and is kicked out of the church. What's more, the reader finds all this out on the first page.
As my students finished their Gatsby tests (mind you, this is back in ...more
As my students finished their Gatsby tests (mind you, this is back in ...more
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Read in March, 1996
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My personal experience of this book was 3 days of hell. I wish I could convey more of the details, but I just remember it was as if I was going through the same head trip Morrison's characters were going through. I believe it is a story about loosing life in the country and the soul while slowly dying/adapting to the city. One of the main characters, a man in his 40's or so, finds a young woman that reawakens parts of him and when he can't stand to be reminded of her beauty and of what he has...more
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Read in January, 2005
Ini bukan buku Toni Morrison yang paling recommended , soalnya katanya yang paling bagus Bluest Eyes dan Beloved (kynya udah difilm-in, ya).
Tapi ini bukunya yang pertama kubaca. Awalnya aku belum pusing, tapi lama-lama aku makin bingung, in fact I did put an extra effort to finish this book!! Tapi makin ke belakang, gambarannya makin jelas lagi. Maksudnya dia nulis niatnya kaya musik Jazz, 'kali ye, makanya dia pilih judulnya itu. Soalnya perasaanku alurnya kadang lembut dan penuturannya roman...more
Tapi ini bukunya yang pertama kubaca. Awalnya aku belum pusing, tapi lama-lama aku makin bingung, in fact I did put an extra effort to finish this book!! Tapi makin ke belakang, gambarannya makin jelas lagi. Maksudnya dia nulis niatnya kaya musik Jazz, 'kali ye, makanya dia pilih judulnya itu. Soalnya perasaanku alurnya kadang lembut dan penuturannya roman...more
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When most cats try to make their prose sound like jazz, they just throw in a bunch of slick slang and don't use any commas. Toni Morrison clearly understands the idiom of jazz music, twisting, morphing, reshaping, and repeating her language in a way that mimmicks the greatest horn players of the twentieth century. "Jazz" is part of her trilogy of books that also includes "Paradise" and "Beloved." It has been said that the trilogy loosely mirrors Dante's Divine Comed...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
language lovers
Astounding. Let it speak for itself:
"Joe had been away for two months at Crossland, and when he got home and stood in the doorway, he saw Violet's dark girl-body limp on the bed. She looked frail to him, and penetrable everyplace except at one foot, the left, where her man's work shoe remained. Smiling, he took off his straw hat and sat down at the bottom of the bed. One of her hands held her face; the other rested on her thigh. He looked at the fingernails hard as her palm skin, and n...more
"Joe had been away for two months at Crossland, and when he got home and stood in the doorway, he saw Violet's dark girl-body limp on the bed. She looked frail to him, and penetrable everyplace except at one foot, the left, where her man's work shoe remained. Smiling, he took off his straw hat and sat down at the bottom of the bed. One of her hands held her face; the other rested on her thigh. He looked at the fingernails hard as her palm skin, and n...more
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Read in December, 2007
I have read several of Morrison's books, and I am always struck by the raw characters and conflicts. Not raw in the sense that they are undeveloped, but raw in that tragic, painful, harsh situations seem to come up or be recalled constantly. The beauty of her writing is that she introduces the reader to these situations and terribly flawed characters and through gorgeous language helps her audience empathize. Not necessarily to understand or forgive, but to realize the complexity of human beh...more
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Most people would not select jazz as their favorite Morrison novel, but it's mine far and away. First, I prefer her novels in an urban setting to the ones int he country. Second, it's short. great writers are still better when they're forced to keep their stories to a reasonable length. And finally, the narrator of the story is the book itself, which is just plain cool. It's not obvious that this is the case, but when someone pointed it out to me i reread it, and there are clues here and there. ...more
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Read in May, 2008
Morrison’s purposefully fragmented structure in this novel, which is the second in a trilogy, is a visual reflection of the characters’ own inconsistent identities and the process undergone to restore the pieces of them. She helps them re-create their identities in a beautiful collage of the past and the present, pasting one experience or feeling from the past on top of another, compiling thousands of memories together to form one identity. Complex as it is, Jazz is a visual representation...more
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Read in August, 2007
I've always thought of Jazz as Toni Morrison's underappreciated masterpiece, so it thrills me to come on here and see that several others have listed it among their favorites. Beloved, though almost universally lauded, still has its detractors, but in my mind Jazz is the one that should shut them all up and place her squarely in the company of Woolf and Joyce. It reminds me often of "To The Lighthouse" and "Dubliners," yet it's totally, purely original (and joyously American)...more
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Read in April, 2008
Reading this book for the second time some weeks ago I was reminded that it's probably my favorite Morrison novel, which is saying something. I love the way Morrison manages to bring the jazz aesthetic into her technique, right down to a narrator who happily realizes her characters have escaped the trajectories she had in mind for them, like soloists who go off and do some improvisation. And then that unforgettable and unique ending, when the narrator exhorts the reader who holds the book ("...more
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Read in October, 2004
Though I think any educated literary scholar would confirm that Beloved is her greatest work, I find Jazz to be far more accessible and infinitely more enjoyable. Set in Harlem during the Renaissance of the 1920's, this novel of passion, racial tension, and murder hook the reader from the outset and carry him/her swiftly and sometimes painfully to the sad conclusion. A good one for someone to begin reading Morrison, as would be The Bluest Eye or Song of Solomon.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2002
I love this book! It is definitely not for everyone...there are some graphic things in it. But it is about the way that African American people lived during the 20-30's and how it was a struggle for them to move from the south to the city and all the temptations and trials that paved their path. I thought it was fascinating and disturbing and wonderfully written!! If you don't like Morrison's works, you won't like this one!
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Read in February, 2008
Again, beautiful, thought provoking language. I must admit that I was at times confused by some of the characters and the time jumping. The narrator changes a few times along with the time in history. But it all ends up coming together and all stories told show their relationship to one another. I am anxious to read the first book in this duo of tales of African American life, Beloved.
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Read in October, 2004
This is the first Toni Morrison book I picked up, and I was very impressed. The writing has a rhythm to it which echoes that of jazz music. It was a bit of a challenge to really grasp this, but so worth the effort. The story is one of passion, jealousy, and revenge, with a twist at the end when you discover who the narrator is (you have to read the final page very carefully).
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Jazz has strong imagery and sense of place. New York as a city is featured as much as a character as are the other protagonists of Morrison's ill-fated love triangle. This was very different reading and a welcome shift from the plot driven novels I've been sucking down recently. The beautiful, poetic language created mental pictures that will linger with me long after reading.
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Read in January, 1999
Toni Morrison is well-known, and although I don't consider this her best work, I did really like it, in part because I really enjoy jazz music; her linguistic play and sense of rhythm in her prose, as well as the shifting story, connected well aurally and thematically to the elements of syncopation, rhythm, and improvisation inherent in jazz.
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In the early part of the book, Morrison has this lovely scene on a train, where she connects the history of Black people migrating with the love two characters have for one another. It is a beautiful scene of love, not to mention that Morrison is at the heights of her talents as she describes the journey these two characters take.
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