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115th out of 129 books
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Jazz
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe’s wife, Violet, attacks the girl’s corpse. This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled f...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
June 8th 2004
by Vintage
(first published 1992)
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jazz. the 3rd morrison in my plan to knock ‘em all out over the next month or so…significantly weaker than the other two i’ve read, but still... it’s almost a shame that morrison writes about such incendiary and zeitgeisty stuff as you pull back much of the (mostly) nonsensical cultural criticism that surrounds her, her work, and her readers and she’s just a first class storyteller. just a great, great writer. amongst all the tragedy and despair, there’s a joyfulness in the work (and, for me, o...more
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I like Toni Morrison. Beloved is one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. My first Morrison, The Bluest Eye, took me by surprise with it's power. I appreciated the rhythm of Jazz, but couldn't connect to the story.
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"...and when she got back to her apartment she took the birds from their cages and set them out the windows to freeze or fly, including the parrot that said, 'I love you.'"
"Maybe she thought she could solve the mystery of love that way. Good luck and let me know."
"...you have to be clever to figure out how to be welcoming and defensive at the same time. When to love something and when to quit. If you don't know how, you can end up out of contro...more
"Maybe she thought she could solve the mystery of love that way. Good luck and let me know."
"...you have to be clever to figure out how to be welcoming and defensive at the same time. When to love something and when to quit. If you don't know how, you can end up out of contro...more
Just as 'Beloved' dealt with maternal love, in this work Morrison turns to jealousy and romantic love and produces another brilliant novel: poetic, vivid, sensual. Looking at the negative comments that some of the reviewers have given I think they mainly boil down to the effect that Morrison is difficult to read. If you're not willing to put in some effort and to actually use your imagination, then you had better return this to the book-store and swap it for that Stephen King novel you had you...more
Morrison is able to navigate setting, tone and time better than any writer I've ever read, but she doesn't pull that off quite as well in Jazz. It took quite some time for me to get into the narrative of this novel, and once the writing finally hits its stride Morrison completely shifts focus from foreground to back-story. While the writing remains effective and thought-provoking, the storytelling suffers. At just 229 pages, there simply isn't enough room for the digressions taken in the latter ...more
Not a whole lot to say about this one. I wanted to read something more literary and this was on clearance at Half-Price books. Certainly worth reading. Morrison has a very fluid style that keeps me turning pages. This book dragged in very few places, and the language was fun to read.
I seem to be reading her major books in reverse. "Jazz" has been called the second part of a trilogy with "Beloved" and "Paradise" focusing on parental love, erotic love, and...more
I seem to be reading her major books in reverse. "Jazz" has been called the second part of a trilogy with "Beloved" and "Paradise" focusing on parental love, erotic love, and...more
Jazz is perhaps Morrison’s most unique and elusive novel. Nearly five years after winning the Pulitzer for Beloved and a year before she received the Nobel Prize, Jazz was published in 1992. The novel solidified Morrison’s reputation as a writer whose daring has no bounds, as she offers readers a maze of narratives that stretch out like branches but always remain connected to the tree. Alternating between the country and the city, between the past and the present, Jazz tells the story of Joe an...more
One of my favorite books of all time!
I was lucky enough to study this book during 6th form college with a good teacher. Instead of butchering its beauty she illuminated it; leading us through the more complex prose (their beauty all more appreciated due to a deeper level of understanding) and highlighting some of the more obscure elements that might have gone unnoticed (or perhaps not understood).
At 16, though not niave, I was perhaps unaware of the many elements and angl...more
I was lucky enough to study this book during 6th form college with a good teacher. Instead of butchering its beauty she illuminated it; leading us through the more complex prose (their beauty all more appreciated due to a deeper level of understanding) and highlighting some of the more obscure elements that might have gone unnoticed (or perhaps not understood).
At 16, though not niave, I was perhaps unaware of the many elements and angl...more
Anyone who has been through adversity knows the view. It’s that view of life stripped down to nothing but the basic. All you’re left with is your breath, and sometimes that feels like it’s slipping away. But you still have something, even if it’s ugly, even if it has no map, even if no one cares. What happens next is a choice. You can choose to take the basics of life that are left and build around them. What you weave becomes something on your terms. Why else does adversity create some of the b...more
Here we have a rather twisted love triangle consisting of Joe and Joe's wife, Violet (often referred to as Violent due to some of her actions), and Joe's young lover, Dorcas. The narrative has more to do with jazz than the actual story, in that it flows musically (yet discordantly at times), reminiscent of jazz/blues music. Jumping from 1920s Harlem to the antebellum South, there is an exceptional amount of history in this rather small book.
I felt rather disconnected from the story...more
I felt rather disconnected from the story...more
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Ruth
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
jazz lovers; Morrison fans
Shelves:
fiction
229 pages. Donated 2010 May.
Jazz embraces the vibrant music and lifestyle of 1920s Harlem, an urban renaissance of opportunity and glamour. A novel of murder, hard lives, and broken dreams, Jazz sways with a lyric medley of voices and human consciousness.
Joe Trace and his wife Violet were part of the migration of black southerners to Harlem; madly in love with each other and the idea of this urban mecca, they "traindanced into the city." But like so many of the marria...more
Jazz embraces the vibrant music and lifestyle of 1920s Harlem, an urban renaissance of opportunity and glamour. A novel of murder, hard lives, and broken dreams, Jazz sways with a lyric medley of voices and human consciousness.
Joe Trace and his wife Violet were part of the migration of black southerners to Harlem; madly in love with each other and the idea of this urban mecca, they "traindanced into the city." But like so many of the marria...more
(FROM JACKET) It is winter, barely three days into 1926, seven years after Armistice; we are in the scintillating City, around Lenox Avenue, "when all wars are over and there will never be another one...At least, at last, everything's ahead...Here comes the new. Look out. There goes the sad stuff. The bad stuff. The things-nobody-could-help stuff." But amid the euphoric decisiveness, a tragedy ensues among people who had train-danced into the City, from points south adn west, in search...more
Jazz is the story of a couple living in Harlem during the Jazz Age, and by the "Jazz Age" I don't mean F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jazz Age--it is anything but that. Joe and Violet's relationship is virtually falling apart, due to some adultery and murder, which makes for a juicy start to the story. Morrison then takes us on a journey back a few generations, where we see that Joe and Violet's stormy relationship is the cause of generations worth of disfunction. It's a fascinating study of "...more
(possible spoilers below)
But I can’t say that aloud; I can’t tell anyone that I have been waiting for this all my life and that being chosen to wait is the reason I can. If I were able I’d say it. Say make me, remake me. You are free to do it and I am free to let you because look, look. Look where your hands are. Now.
This is my favorite quote from Jazz. Morrison is one of my favorite authors, but the thing I like most about Jazz is its interesting way of handling voices, la...more
But I can’t say that aloud; I can’t tell anyone that I have been waiting for this all my life and that being chosen to wait is the reason I can. If I were able I’d say it. Say make me, remake me. You are free to do it and I am free to let you because look, look. Look where your hands are. Now.
This is my favorite quote from Jazz. Morrison is one of my favorite authors, but the thing I like most about Jazz is its interesting way of handling voices, la...more
This is a sad tale of love, revenge, heartache and tragedy soulfully told by the expert word-smith Morrison whose prose just seems to lap over me like water. I absolutely love her writing and it has a sing-song quality which suits the period in this novel, the era of early jazz, which is appealing to me. She can set the tone of her backdrops so evocatively in very few words. The musical quality of her prose suits the storyline in this novel very well. This is the third Morrison book I have read ...more
An affair, murder, violence, loss and love are all themes Toni Morrison blends with the skill of a musician in Jazz. Published in 1992, the novel took place in the 1920s, in the prime era of jazz. Joe Trace, a door-to-door cosmetics salesman has an affair with Dorcas, a young girl who thrives on attention and affection. In a fit of jealousy, Joe kills Dorcas, who will not speak or see him anymore. At the young girl's funeral, Joe's wife, Violet, is overtaken by another being she terms that girl
...more
I'm really intrigued by life in 1920s America, so I thought that this book was right up my alley. It started out nicely, but eventually, I got tired of not seeing any conversation at the beginning of the novel. I suppose it was the writer's intention to be as descriptive as possible.Later on though, I realised that the narrator of the story was never mentioned,which kind of put me off, because they were observing and recalling the whole situation from a witness's point of view.At one point, I ev...more
Toni Morrisonin romaani Jazz sijoittuu 1920-luvun New Yorkiin ja tarkemmin vuoteen 1926 ja sen traagisiin tapahtumiin. Tragedian keskiössä on kolmiodraama Violetin Joe Tracen ja nuoren Dorcasin välillä.
Lukijalle paljastetaan heti teoksen alussa synkkä lopputulos eli vasta aikuisuuden kynnyksellä olevan nuoren Dorcasin murha. Myös tappaja eli Joe paljastetaan osittain. Koko kirjan ajan annetaan vähitellen lisäinformaatiota, miksi surmaan ja miten surmaan päädyttiin. Kertoja vie lukijans...more
Lukijalle paljastetaan heti teoksen alussa synkkä lopputulos eli vasta aikuisuuden kynnyksellä olevan nuoren Dorcasin murha. Myös tappaja eli Joe paljastetaan osittain. Koko kirjan ajan annetaan vähitellen lisäinformaatiota, miksi surmaan ja miten surmaan päädyttiin. Kertoja vie lukijans...more
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison was the first book of hers that I read. I really enjoyed it so I decided to pick up Jazz. This was definitely a let down after Song of Solomon.
Most of the time I was reading this I felt like I was reading a college student's creative writing assignment on description. Her description was great, and she excellently captured the whole feel of Jazz and that time period...but a page-turner that does not make. The story was thin. And it was upsetting beca...more
Most of the time I was reading this I felt like I was reading a college student's creative writing assignment on description. Her description was great, and she excellently captured the whole feel of Jazz and that time period...but a page-turner that does not make. The story was thin. And it was upsetting beca...more
Betsy
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
women and men mystified by life
Shelves:
read-in-2009,
read-years-ago
I love Toni Morrison's work but I can never plow through her novels at break-neck speed. I read like I'm picking my way through a mine field. Her lengthier descriptive passages I can never comprehend entirely at first read.
I first read this as required reading for an English course in college. I remembered really liking it, but couldn't remember the premise. The only scene I could truly recall was the burnt shirt moment. )I don't think that's a spoiler, so I apologize if that...more
I first read this as required reading for an English course in college. I remembered really liking it, but couldn't remember the premise. The only scene I could truly recall was the burnt shirt moment. )I don't think that's a spoiler, so I apologize if that...more
The structure of this book reminds me in some ways of Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." Often I was not sure who was speaking and of what they were referring to (because of sudden shifts between the past and the present), but, unlike Faulkner, Morrison does give indications at certain points. So with Faulkner, I was constantly going back and re-reading, trying to figure it out. With Morrison, the answer eventually comes (flows forth would be a better way to describe it), so it's merely a...more
I REALLY love Toni Morrison as a writer. There's just something about her that is a mesmerizing storyteller. Jazz hooks you right from the start, with Violet showing up at the funeral of Dorcas, & trying to attack her as she lies in her coffin because Violet's husband Joe "took up with" this young girl, who was barely 18.
These characters are REAL, you hurt for them, you shake your head at them, you feel for them as their stories, histories, & back stories are told. The Cit...more
These characters are REAL, you hurt for them, you shake your head at them, you feel for them as their stories, histories, & back stories are told. The Cit...more
Very beautifully written, sometimes it reads more like poetry than prose, this story wanders back and forth in time and place. I loved the Harlem parts of the story, the city is as alive as the characters.
After today's book group discussion, where we read various books by Morrison but most did read either Jazz or Love, it occurred to me the books are similar, in more than structure, and that Jazz could just as well be called Love. But there is that music that pervades this story, wheth...more
After today's book group discussion, where we read various books by Morrison but most did read either Jazz or Love, it occurred to me the books are similar, in more than structure, and that Jazz could just as well be called Love. But there is that music that pervades this story, wheth...more
"Even when my husband ran off, I never did that. And you. You didn't even have a worthy enemy. Somebody worth killing. You picked up a knife to insult a dead girl."
"But that's better, ain't it? The harm was already done."
"She wasn't the enemy."
"Oh, yes she is. She's my enemy. Then, when I didn't know it, and now too."
"Why? Because she was young and pretty and took your husband away from you?"
Violet sipped her tea ...more
"But that's better, ain't it? The harm was already done."
"She wasn't the enemy."
"Oh, yes she is. She's my enemy. Then, when I didn't know it, and now too."
"Why? Because she was young and pretty and took your husband away from you?"
Violet sipped her tea ...more
Oh Jazz, why do I love thee so? Let me count the ways. 1) Your beautiful, uncertain narrator 2) You tackle African American oppression without being too didactic 3) The fantasy interlude of Golden Gray 4) The setting of 1920s Harlem: fashion, music, tension 5) Your call-and-response style of jazz music 6) Skinny Violent Violet 7) Dorcas's death scene 8)"Say make me, remake me. You are free to do it and I am free to let you because look, look. Look where your hands are. Now." 9) Hauntin...more
One line from this book got to me, as an example of Morrison's writing that just grabs you by the throat and makes you read it over and over:
"Mama? Is this where you got to and couldn't do it no more? The place of shade without trees where you know you are not and never again will be loved by anybody who can choose to do it? Where everything is over but the talking?"
This really evoked the main character's feelings about her life when she started working thro...more
"Mama? Is this where you got to and couldn't do it no more? The place of shade without trees where you know you are not and never again will be loved by anybody who can choose to do it? Where everything is over but the talking?"
This really evoked the main character's feelings about her life when she started working thro...more
Superbly written, Jazz is the tragic yet hopeful story of Joe and Violet. Born down in Virginia in the late 1800s, they move to "the city" (never named, but I'm guessing New York) when they are in their thirties. Life there for them is more different than they ever imagined, and they change for both better and worse.
Also, Jazz is the story of Dorcas, a confused teenage girl trying to wiggle her way out from under her strict aunt's thumb. Dorcas collides in a way with Joe a...more
Also, Jazz is the story of Dorcas, a confused teenage girl trying to wiggle her way out from under her strict aunt's thumb. Dorcas collides in a way with Joe a...more
where do i begin? first of all, this novel challenged me in ways no other novel ever has. thematically, one goes through a journey of love that is painful, beautiful, crazy, intense, passionate and consuming. the concept of black women and loneliness is beautifully written and the images she creates will remain in my memory forever. oftentimes, the novel seemed to be a puzzle that always managed to come together, even at the moments when i thought it wouldn't. so many emotions are running throug...more
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Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford), is an American author, editor, and professor who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed African American characters; ...more
More about Toni Morrison...
Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed African American characters; ...more
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“Don't ever think I fell for you, or fell over you. I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.”
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“Pain. I seem to have an affection, a kind of sweettooth for it. Bolts of lightning, little rivulets of thunder.
And I the eye of the storm.”
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And I the eye of the storm.”
