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Sula

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 22,817 ratings · 1,270 reviews

Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was acclaimed as the work of an important talent, written--as John Leonard said in "The New York Times" --in a prose "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry."
Her new novel has the same power, the same beauty.
At its center--a friendship between two women, a frien...more Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye (1970), was acclaimed as the work of an important talent, written--as John Leonard said in "The New York Times" --in a prose "so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry."
Her new novel has the same power, the same beauty.
At its center--a friendship between two women, a friendship whose intensity first sustains, then injures. Sula and Nel--both black, both smart, both poor, raised in a small Ohio town--meet when they are twelve, wishbone thin and dreaming of princes.
Through their girlhood years they share everything--perceptions, judgments, yearnings, secrets, even crime--until Sula gets out, out of the Bottom, the hilltop neighborhood where beneath the sporting life of the men hanging around the place in headrags and soft felt hats there hides a fierce resentment at failed crops, lost jobs, thieving insurance men, bug-ridden flour...at the invisible line that cannot be overstepped.
Sula leaps it and roams the cities of America for ten years. Then she returns to the town, to her friend. But Nel is a wife now, settled with her man and her three children. She belongs. She accommodates to the Bottom, where you avoid the hand of God by getting in it, by staying "upright, " helping out at church suppers, asking after folks--where you deal with evil by surviving it.
Not Sula. As willing to feel pain as to give pain, she can never accommodate. Nel can't understand her any more, and the others never did. Sula scares them. Mention her now, and they recall that she put her grandma in an old folks' home (the old lady who let a train take her leg for the insurance)...that a childdrowned in the river years ago...that there was a plague of robins when she first returned...
In clear, dark, resonant language, Toni Morrison brilliantly evokes not only a bond between two lives, but the harsh, loveless, ultimately mad world in which that bond is destroyed, the world of the Bottom and its people, through forty years, up to the time of their bewildered realization that even more than they feared Sula, their pariah, they needed her.(less)

Paperback, 192 pages

Published April 5th 2002 by Plume (first published 1973)

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Feb 01, 2009 brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

all these new editions of morrison’s books have the same author photo on the back. and it’s been causing problems. check it out:

despite that weird thing that all authors do with the hand placement thing, i'm kind of obsessed with what this woman looks like. i mean, that huge lion's head and piercing eyes and silver dreadlocks?

and as i plow further through her body of work i stare at her face for some external indication -- as if i could see through to her brain and it’d be slightly different th...more

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May 09, 2007 Allyson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The usual caveats apply with regards to my review and rating of this book (see my profile), but overall I didn't enjoy Sula because it made me profoundly uncomfortable. I distinctly remember feeling depressed and disheartened by the premise put forth by the novel that in order for a woman to be truly free, she had to behave like Sula--whose behavior I found quirky at best and reprehensible at worst.

What's more, even Sula with all her freedom didn't seem to be truly happy--there were still too m...more The usual caveats apply with regards to my review and rating of this book (see my profile), but overall I didn't enjoy Sula because it made me profoundly uncomfortable. I distinctly remember feeling depressed and disheartened by the premise put forth by the novel that in order for a woman to be truly free, she had to behave like Sula--whose behavior I found quirky at best and reprehensible at worst.

What's more, even Sula with all her freedom didn't seem to be truly happy--there were still too many external constraints. It seemed like the best that could be said was that she was as free as she could be. I guess in some ways that's a truth about life, that none of us are completely free, only as free as we can be, but having it described to me in black-and-white in such a naked way made me feel alternately angry and despairing.

As for the behavior that I refer to as "reprehensible," I feel strongly that there are certain things that, no matter what, you just don't do to the women you love. Top amongst those things is sleeping with their husbands. To me it doesn't matter that Sula's best friend's husband was a lousy husband in the first place, sleeping with him wasn't the appropriate way to draw that to the attention of her friend (whose name I can no longer remember). But while I found it hard to forgive Sula for that act, I found it even harder to forgive her best friend, who ultimately realized that it was not her husband for whome she pined, but Sula and effectively forgave Sula for her thoughtless indiscretion.

I am much older now than I was when I read "Sula," and I better understand now that life and relationships are far more complicated than I ever imagined as a teen-ager. What's more, I can't in all honesty or good conscience claim that I have never done anything with regards to love or sex that I really shouldn't have or that I regret; I am not above reproach. But it was her *best friend*'s husband, and that to me makes a big difference.

All that said, I will agree that Morrison's writing style is lyrical, elegant and haunting. But in this case, I simply cannot overcome the content, which I find to be distressing, to fully relish the beauty and richness of her language. However, the final little song Sula sings to herself, "I have sung all the songs there are to sing," stays with me to this day. (less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Nakia White rated it 5 of 5 stars

(1/15/13 review)Love! Love! Love!

(2009 review)Fantastic story! Morrison is a powerhouse when it comes to story telling. In this short book, she will manage to gain your heart, break it, and then heal it on the very last page. I'm glad Oprah made this one of her book selections so women everywhere could get the chance to experience and live through the life long friendship of Sula and Nel. The only way I know to describe this story: gorgeous!.

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Jul 19, 2008 Lawsonlitgeek rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I teach this book in my English classes because it’s short, which curtails the student’s whining somewhat, it satisfies the multi-culti demands by the college, but mostly I teach it because it’s a great fucking book.
Morrison wrote an introduction in which he says she wanted to talk about social problems, always a kiss of death for good stories, but her literary genius took the reins from her social activist. That is to say, her characters don’t stop to scold the reader or go through punishments...more I teach this book in my English classes because it’s short, which curtails the student’s whining somewhat, it satisfies the multi-culti demands by the college, but mostly I teach it because it’s a great fucking book.
Morrison wrote an introduction in which he says she wanted to talk about social problems, always a kiss of death for good stories, but her literary genius took the reins from her social activist. That is to say, her characters don’t stop to scold the reader or go through punishments to illuminate social wrongs. Instead, they are flawed people doing the best they can in their circumstances.
The title character, Sula, is a piece of work, an anti-hero in the existential mode. Her family, the ironically-named Peace family, is murderous, perhaps suicidal, vividly rendered and memorable long after the book is read. Sula, Morrison tells us, is an artist without an art form, someone who doesn’t care to verify herself. For Morrison to make her the center of the novel is pretty brave considering American readers expect likeable protagonists. I like Sula. She is funny; her dialogue with Nel is a highlight of the book. And she acts as a catalyst for the folks of Bottom to be better people. We all need a devil.
I like the book for its Modernist sensibility. It came out during the self-reflexive Post Modern period (1973), but its influences must be Ellison, Faulkner, and Woolf. She loves paradoxes; my favorite being Sula’s hell is a life unchanging, while Nel’s hell is change itself. And those who have felt both know it’s both. She also has great symbols of earth, fire, and water. And she doesn’t answer the questions she raises. Does Hanna kill herself or was it an accident? What is that dirtball that Nel sees in her sadness and depression?
Mostly, I like it because it’s a story of friendship. Sula’s and Nel’s friendship is one for the ages. They love and betray each other. They resemble each other and remain polar opposites. All this in 174 pages, pretty amazing.
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Jul 30, 2012 Nicholas Armstrong rated it 1 of 5 stars

I want to first preface this with a concept presented by Harold Bloom. Bloom was discussing the admission or omission of 'ethnic' writers from the canon. He argued the reason there were so many white male writers is because, obviously, of societal factors of oppression, but also because they were the ones doing most of the writing. Bloom does not think we should rewrite the canon with new ethnic writers just because there aren't any. He DOES think an ethnic writer is important and should be ackn...more I want to first preface this with a concept presented by Harold Bloom. Bloom was discussing the admission or omission of 'ethnic' writers from the canon. He argued the reason there were so many white male writers is because, obviously, of societal factors of oppression, but also because they were the ones doing most of the writing. Bloom does not think we should rewrite the canon with new ethnic writers just because there aren't any. He DOES think an ethnic writer is important and should be acknowledged if they are good, but a lot of them are not. A lot of them simply write about ethnic scenarios and nothing else, and this is a very limited scope indeed.

Morrison has expressly said that her goal is to create a black canon. This is the opposite of equality. We are not going to get a proper collection of amazing authors by saying we need a collection of just whites, just blacks, just jews, etc. The fact that Morrison ONLY writes about blacks and oppression limits her writing even more. Do not mistake me in thinking Sula isn't also about women, motherhood, and families, but, then again, so are most of her novels.

This novel, much like Beloved, is about the hardships of motherhood and being black. There are numerous instances in the novel that do nothing but attack whites and men, sometimes both, sometimes just the one, and they don't seem to me to be furthering a point or purpose in the novel except to say that men are kind of awful and whites are certainly awful.

Is the only way to write a story about black people to write about when they were oppressed, segregated and enslaved? I thought it was more complex than that. Similarly, I thought women were defined by something much larger than their sexual tendencies, but I'm sure now that I'm mistaken.

I've been called a racist and a sexist for disliking Morrison. That's fine, well, no, it isn't, but what I mean is I don't care. I value ethnic writers that are good writers, not BECAUSE they are ethnic, but because they are amazing writers (Sherman Alexie and James Baldwin come to mind). Morrison's stories are too similar for my taste, too acidic, too inflammatory. In my readings of her, her stories have numerous plot holes and unexplained oddities, but I guess that's an eccentricity that no one cares to comment on because her novels are so socially important.

I'll continue to read books that are 'socially unimportant' but that manage to be remarkably well-structured, crafted, and told stories. I suppose that makes me quite an awful person, though.(less)

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Jared Houston Oh boo hoo. Of course Hemingway and Fitzgerald are writing about the white experience. Were there many black Americans driving ambulances in World War...more Oh boo hoo. Of course Hemingway and Fitzgerald are writing about the white experience. Were there many black Americans driving ambulances in World War I? Or gallivanting around Africa just for good colonial fun? Don't you see that excluding Toni Morrison's point of view from what you call the human experience is nothing but good old fashion white washing. Do you think that humanity is a unified front? That there are some writers who get it and others who can just piss off? Whatever collaboration you're referring to is made up of an infinite number of perspectives that exist simultaneously. I won't try to make any claims as to who Toni Morrison is or isn't writing for but I can sure as hell be certain that they're humans.

And she's damn right to think that the literary canon is skewed in a particular direction. Against blacks, against women, against gays, against the status quo. And writers from these groups can either except this and conform to viewpoints in the books they read or push back and make their experience a visible reality.

Morrison herself sees reading as a kind of poison. As seen in her novel "The Bluest Eye" and exemplified by Yale professor Amy Hungerford, something as simple as reading Dick and Jane, especially as a young black girl, is the first step towards indoctrination, a slow and seemingly painless death of one's identity and an absorption into the homogeneity of the Western canon.

Morrison's says her ideal readers should be "illiterate" and unhindered by the ideas and institutions of a tradition dominated by white culture. Rather than take it out of context I would suggest listening to Hungerford's lecture yourself. It's online and only fifty minutes long and I'm sure you have the time. I'll end on two points.

The first concerns your argument about Shakespeare. I do think Hamlet ethnicity matters in the same that his gender and place of privilege matter. Take away any of these elements and you have a very different story. Would Othello be Othello even he wasn't a Moor or Shylock be the same if he wasn't Jewish? It would completely rob them of their identities. Your need for things to be universal is another attempt at appropriating them into a singular point of view, which brings me to my second and final point.

You say that Sherman Alexie is one of your favorite "ethnic" writers. This is interesting since Alexie is a writer who believes very strongly about ownership of one's own narrative to that point that he does not think that whites have a right to tell indian stories and vice versa. I certainly believe that you find universal themes in his writing but how is this any different than the "ethno-centric" writing of Morrison and more importantly why does it matter so much?

Ultimately, you do not have to like this book. You do not have to like Toni Morrison. You will only ever like what you like and you cannot argue taste. But think a little harder as to why that is the case instead of criticizing an author on the basis that their perspective, being different from yours is wrong.(less)
Nov 26, 2012 11:38pm

Yi Yes, we shouldn't value an author who produces bad writing but who are esteemed due to "social importance". However, you grossly and unfairly trash To...more
Dec 01, 2012 01:22pm

Mar 17, 2008 De'Shawn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

Shelves: the-god-s-shelf

The Book Sula was a splendid piece of writing by Toni Morrison that demonstrates the adversity of two young Black females and what they go through in the South in the early to mid 1900’s. Sula was a well thought out character, which is characterize as being spontaneous and aggressive, demonstrates the definition of her birthmark in various ways from being a rose to a lizard, to her mother’s ashes. She stands up for what she feels is right by cutting the tip of her finger to scare four Irish whit...more

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Sep 13, 2007 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: topnotch

I disliked Sula.

Sula the book was great; a bit dry at points, but - of course - very well written, very well rendered by Toni Morrison. This is my first TM book, and I think it was a good introduction.

Hannah is one of my favorite characters. I am quite baffled as to how someone could describe a woman who basically sleeps with every man in town but make her seem so tame and likeable that I can't count it against her. I think that's the point; she was dependent on someone else for her financial se...more I disliked Sula.

Sula the book was great; a bit dry at points, but - of course - very well written, very well rendered by Toni Morrison. This is my first TM book, and I think it was a good introduction.

Hannah is one of my favorite characters. I am quite baffled as to how someone could describe a woman who basically sleeps with every man in town but make her seem so tame and likeable that I can't count it against her. I think that's the point; she was dependent on someone else for her financial security and standing, and was therefore not a threat to the wives of any of the men with whom she slept.

Eva is a real piece of work. Some mighty resemblances to my own grandmother. Shadrack plays a huge part in major events in the novel, but because there are only two distinct points when we get a look inside his head - the beginning and the ending - his effects are very subtle.

Sula the character infuriated me. When she is described as a part of Nel, her childhood friend, I can't help but love her, but the damage that girl seems to do by herself is just insane.

Before I go into a rant about her, I will say that in Morrison's introduction she specifically notes that she wanted to show the tragedy, among other things, that encases a black woman whose freedom is not really freedom. Not having a husband was financially dangerous, and she was not the sort of person to indebt herself, or submit her will to another's will. Nel was a good other half on account of Sula's unbelievable rashness; Nel would be there to counter and minimize the damage. But when Sula destroyed a relationship in her best friend's adult life, everything - and I do mean everything - goes straight downhill. Sula no longer has her other half there to temper her.

Toni Morrison's is very poetic, but her language is something else that I can't quite conjure in the form of words. While I'm reading I'll find myself flowing along and all of a sudden "WHOA! Are you saying that really happened? I have to go back and read that again." She has this uncanny subtlety when transitioning into and describing major events. (less)

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Aug 19, 2007 Metoka rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Feminists

Sula is controversial and she doesn't care. This is a novel about friendship in its most overwhelming form - not two women as friends, but two women as one: sharing, sharing, sharing until sharing was no longer appropriate...but does Sula know that? Did Nel?

Best lines:

1. "When you gone to get married? You need to have some babies. It'll settle you"
"I don't want to make somebody else. I want to make myself."

2. "She had been looking all along for a friend, and it took her a while to discover that...more

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Apr 06, 2009 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sula is about two young black girls who live in the "Bottom" during the early 1900s. Sula, who is best friends with Nel, disapeers one day, only to return similar to certain characters. During the beginning of the book, it shows how Sula's and Nel's relationship as friends progresses and how Sula, acts based on her enviorment. As the story goes on, after Sula's reappearance, Sula does something that unforgivable to Nel which ends up ruining their friendship. The depth of the story got people to...more

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May 13, 2010 Laurel marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I'm not going to be able to finish this. It's not because it's a bad book, of course. In fact, I suspect it's rather excellent. Regretfully, though, Toni Morrison again chose to read the audio of her book herself, and I think she did herself a disservice in doing so. As I mentioned in my review of A Mercy, Morrison reads so slowly, with so many pauses, it ends up feeling like a poetry reading and really distracts from the story. In this case, she also reads very, very softly... almost as though...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Alex Gerhart added it

In the book Sula by Toni Morrison the plot is set in Ohio and is divided into two parts. These are known as the bottom, being the neighborhood of blacks, and above them lives the all-white town Medallion. When i first read this i was shocked that people actually lived with others only of the same race as them but then i remembered that the time period took place in the early 1900s, and at the time it really wasn't all that strange. In the beginning of the book a character known as Shadrack is in...more In the book Sula by Toni Morrison the plot is set in Ohio and is divided into two parts. These are known as the bottom, being the neighborhood of blacks, and above them lives the all-white town Medallion. When i first read this i was shocked that people actually lived with others only of the same race as them but then i remembered that the time period took place in the early 1900s, and at the time it really wasn't all that strange. In the beginning of the book a character known as Shadrack is introduced. Shadrack fought in the war and before he knew it was hospitalized and diagnosed with Shell Shock. He begins to imagine things like his hands "[beginning] to grow like Jack's beanstalk all over [his] tray and the bed." Soon his whole world was chaos. He was sent to jail later when he was released from the hospital because he was found on the side of a street and they probably thought he was crazy. While in jail he is extremely fearful but manages himself by celebrating National Suicide Day, which becomes sort of like a holiday over time. Overall so far Shadrack seems like a very disturbed young man.
Later, Cecile, Helene, and Nel are characters introduced and they are all raised harshly but also learn good habits. As the book goes on Nel meets Sula and Eva, a one legged grandmother who no one talks to about why she is missing the other one. Eva's husband leaves her and leaves her children in the hands of her neighbors often. She gets money from her husband and uses it for her new home with her new adopted children. Eva seems a little bit odd and definitely different but so far i like how independent she is and how strong she seems to be!

As I am progressing into the book I have noticed Eva's struggle in providing for her three children. She seems to be really frustrated with herself and is lucky to have Mrs. Suggs at her side whenever she needs assistance. Before Eva lost her leg she dropped her kids off at Mrs. Suggs house and didn't end up returning until a year and a half later. Eva's mothering habits confuse me extremely and I am unsure of her techniques considering she cares for them and wants to give them good lives yet she treats them as if they are objects rather than children. She talks to them in a manner resembling the treatment of slaves by saying "send me a dewey" as well as other similar phrases. She seems to be giving up on becoming a good mother because she can't support them financially. She sends all three of them, completely different kids of different ages to the first grade together. Mrs Reed, their teacher cannot seem to understand her reasoning behind this but accepts not knowing what else she can do. Overall I am confused by Eva's character and hope to learn more about her as the book goes on.
Also a man named Tar baby is introduced and seems to be a shy man who is a bit of a heavy drinker. He seems pretty lazy and sends Eva's kids out to run errands for him. He is in a state of depression and doesn't care about the quality of his life. It seems to me that he is mentally already dead besides the fact that he is the first one to join Shadrack to support National suicide day. I doing so he also convinces the Deweys to join. I don't think this man is headed on the right path and im anxious to find out more about him.

I am now finished reading Sula and overall i thought it was a good book. It definitely wasn't one of my favorites but it wasn't tough to get through at all. When i was only at the beginning of Sula i never predicted Sula and Nel to become so close. They were raised by two completely different families and were basically polar opposites. Also, this book was a lot more sad than i would've expected it to be. The worst part was when Sula accidentally killed Chicken Little, her neighbor by accident. I felt bad for Sula when i read this for two reasons. One- It was a complete accident and she had always like Chicken Little and stuck up for him when kids teased him. Two-After this awful day Sula and Nel didn't talk much. It seemed as though they were simply so astonished by the occuring that they didn't want to talk to anyone about it, not even eachother. Sula makes several mistakes throughout her life, a main one being when she has an affair with Nel's husband. If I were Nel i probably wouldn't be able to be friends with Sula especially since half the town thought she was a bad person. I never really understood Nel and Sula's relationship and wish i could understand it better. I dont blame Nel for befriending Sula but it seems odd to me that she does not realize she still loves her until after she dies. The two obviously have a specail and different friendship.
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Apr 07, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

Toni Morrison is the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, the flea's eyebrows, the canary's tusks, the eel's ankle, the snake's hip, and the mutt's nuts.

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Feb 15, 2013 MaryAnn Koopmann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think Toni Morrison is America's greatest living author. Perhaps she is the greatest living woman author. Surely she is in the top three. Although "Sula" isn't my favorite Morrison work, I think it is one of Morrison's most complicated and one of her richest. Those who read Morrison must remember she is a classicist and approach her as such. Not to do so only creates needless problems for the reader and Morrison can be difficult to read, though always enjoyable and always superb.
On it's surfac...more I think Toni Morrison is America's greatest living author. Perhaps she is the greatest living woman author. Surely she is in the top three. Although "Sula" isn't my favorite Morrison work, I think it is one of Morrison's most complicated and one of her richest. Those who read Morrison must remember she is a classicist and approach her as such. Not to do so only creates needless problems for the reader and Morrison can be difficult to read, though always enjoyable and always superb.
On it's surface, "Sula" is the story of two black women who remain lifelong friends despite their obvious differences and the different way in which each pursues her life. Set in an Ohio community called, The Bottom, "Sula" follows these two women, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, from childhood to marriage to old age to death.

Nel is the conformist in this oddly matched pair. She marries and raises a family in the place of her birth. Outwardly, at least, she seems to need no more than husband and children and community to make her happy. She adapts. Sula, on the other hand, is a far different story.

Sula is a woman who feels the need to escape, to break free of whatever binds her. And, if her breaking free involves pain...for herself or for others, then so be it. She moves from The Bottom, goes to college and becomes the epitome of everything that Nel is not...in short, Sula becomes a waton seductress. For Sula, hell is stability; for Nel, hell is change.

Is either woman happy with her choices in life? No, not entirely, and we do find echoes of Nel in Sula and echoes of Sula in Nel. Though it's not obvious at first glance, the women are really two sides of the same coin. One came up "heads," the other, "tails." Both women are, however, black Americans and both are proud to be black Americans. It is how they express their heritage, and their love for each other, that differs.

Morrison is a masterful writer and her handling of the character of Sula is miraculous. We could have so easily come to hate this wanton women, we could have so easily come to have seen her as the stereotypical seductress, the temptress, the tramp. Yet Morrison manages, somehow, to endow Sula with a humanity and a beauty that shines through all her artifice and pain.

For me, "Sula" is a book about choices and the problems of living with those choices. It is about loving someone who chooses a very different path in life than we do and what is needed to keep that love alive...or even if it can be kept alive. Sula and Nel are both beautiful characters and both are vibrantly alive. Both want desperately to hold onto their love for each other, but fate and circumstances make it increasingly difficult. The story of Sula's and Nel's growth from child to adult to old age is the thread that ties the other stories in this book into one seamless whole.

Although "Sula" could be seen as an allegory or metaphor for the rediscovery of the core self of black America, I feel the characters, themselves are too rich, to fully-drawn, to alive, to call this book an allegory. Perhaps on some level, it is, but Morrison is a writer of literature, not genre fiction.

All of Toni Morrison's books are masterpieces and all can be read on many levels. "Sula" is no exception. It is a difficult book but one that is both beautiful and tragic and worth every second any reader spends with it. I really can't recommend "Sula," or any other Morrison book, highly enough.

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Nov 03, 2012 Shannon *Eboni Scarlett* Holliday rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sula was a gift to me from an old boyfriend who I had been having trust issues with. I never forget he gave me this book as a birthday gift. I read it feeling mixed with emotions regarding my thoughts of his cheating or potential cheating with other women. Nonetheless, I read this book. I remember getting mad at Sula because it seemed no matter who was nice or extended kindness to her she always managed to have a negative reaction towards them. After finishing this book I recall feeling angry wi...more

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Feb 26, 2008 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1001, womenareamystery, race

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 16, 2008 Tiffany E rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone 11th grade and up

Sula is rich with amazing figurative language and outstanding imagery. Reading this book will fully immerse the reader into the joys and tragedies of the characters within it. The story centers on two characters - Sula Peace and Nel Wright. The bond these girls share are remarkable, and soon enough, is tested over time. Eventually, however, one of them commits the ultimate betrayal, which tears them apart. This book focuses on many aspects of life, and really challenges the double standards that...more

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Apr 08, 2012 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Toni Morrison is a brilliant author, I think it would be hard to argue otherwise. And I imagine her Nobel Prize is well deserved. (Can you feel a "but" coming? Here it is…) But, I didn't enjoy this book.

I would draw a parallel to classical music. I have heard many classical pieces written in the 20th century, which I disliked. I found many to be discordant. But it is simply a matter of taste. Some of these works have been very highly praised for their originality and creativity by people far mo...more

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Apr 06, 2010 Tavis Lovick added it

Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, is an outstanding novel that set's place during the early 1900's in Medallion, Ohio. In Medallion, Ohio the town is segregated between to races. The Bottom consist of African American who lives poorly among each other, and whites living in the Medallion; the jewel of the town. Although the setting of the book is centered around a racism society the book only focus on the positive an negative effects of female relationships and how it can corrupt each other. It follo...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Sacred rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The prose in this book is amazing. The characters are engrossing; Sula and Nel's relationship in particular is raw, heart-warming and heart-breaking. I love the exploration of how the Black folks deal with each other at the Bottom, the good, the bad, the hypocritical, and the ugly. I love the moments when a lot of the characters seem totally heartless, like when Sula watches her mother burn to death and all she thinks is that she wants her to "keep dancing" (as she flails and tries to put the fi...more The prose in this book is amazing. The characters are engrossing; Sula and Nel's relationship in particular is raw, heart-warming and heart-breaking. I love the exploration of how the Black folks deal with each other at the Bottom, the good, the bad, the hypocritical, and the ugly. I love the moments when a lot of the characters seem totally heartless, like when Sula watches her mother burn to death and all she thinks is that she wants her to "keep dancing" (as she flails and tries to put the fire out). The apparent heartlessness speaks to the fact that these Black folks are living in an unkind time where segregation and racism is rampant. The world, the white people, are mean to them, which teaches them how to be mean to each other.

There are a lot of heartbreaking moments. Sula doing nothing to help her burning mother comes after she, at 7 years old, I believe, overhears her mother saying to her friends in the kitchen, "I love Sula. I just don't like her." Ouch! She's only 7! What's not to like about your 7-year-old child?

Another heartbreaking moment is when Nel finds Sula sleeping with her husband. Because of how Sula's described heretofore, you're not surprised, but when it happens you wish with all your might that it didn't happen, that Sula had found a way to go against character-type.

At the beginning of the book, Nel vows to be nothing like her mother (who seeks approval). She vows to be herself, herself, herself. She fails, fails to live like she's free, and Sula is the one who lives life according to her own rules; Sula takes after her mother, free-spirited and taking what she wants.

Sula taking what she wants falters when she gets with Ajax. What attracts Ajax to Sula is that she doesn't want attachments. He's found a kindred spirit. Unfortunately, finding a kindred spirit in Ajax leads to Sula forming attachments, and it all falls apart when she poses to Ajax when he comes home late one day, "Where have you been?" Heartbreaking.

I definitely recommend this book! It's a story of strong, complicated, ugly (Black) female relationships full of, in regards to the relationship between Sula and Nel, admiration, love, and resentment. (less)

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Apr 16, 2013 Tanaya Hq rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. At the beginning of the novel the two main character Sula and Nel were from two very different families but they grew to be very close friends. As the years went on, Sula and Nel went through tragic events but they helped each other get through them. They went on with their separate lives and took different paths. Sula moved away for ten years while Nel stayed in town, got married and had kids. Sula had a wild personality and did not worry about what others thought of her. She would sleep around...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Gloria L. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sula by Toni Morrison is an amazing book. This book is filled with all sorts of descriptive events. while reading this book I was able to visualize these events in my head. Toni Morrison is able to write in such a unique way , that you are able to actually place your self in these characters shoes.I think that many people who read this novel can learn from Nels and Sulas relationship. I think that throughout this book Sula was very misunderstood. Although she slept with Nels husband she did it t...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Zachary rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is really interesting and filled with juicy details. It's about a two girls named Sula and Nel, who are childhood friends and are looked upon as the same person, because they are that close. As adults they go their separate ways physically, Sula going to college, and Nel getting married and having children. After years of not seeing her best friend, Sula moves back to town. Just like her mother, Sula is eagerly promiscuous. She ends up having an affair with Nel's husband Jude. This des...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Nydiaha rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Apr 13, 2013 Amar Alam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sula is a novel written by Toni Morrison about a little girl named Sula and Nel who grow up in a segregated society much like in Black Boy. Morrison shows us that society can separate even the closest of friends. Nel and Sula are each-others half. Sula grows up to become a woman who has sexual-intercourse with almost every man in the area while Nel who was quiet grew up to marry Jude. But as soon as she marries Jude Sula and her twisted mind break the friendship bind between her and Nel and slee...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Zachlementor rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is honeslty better than the last book I had read. Its plot really made alot of sense to me and really had me into the whole stoy. I honestly like this book for its very amazing dialogue and had very excellent characters. In the story when I kept reading the parts of Sula herself, I honestly didn't think she was a good person, knowing that she has done many bad decisions like having to be caught by her friend Nel for kissing her husband Jude and the time when Sula was a kid she was kind...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Jacob rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Feb 06, 2013 Lindsay rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-lit

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Feb 03, 2013 BeccaAudra Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Dec 04, 2012 Leighann Wolle rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author of Sula, Toni Morrison, wrote this book to open people's eyes to the discriminated life of African Americans in the 1920's and 30's. Morrison wanted to show people that the African Americans had lives even through the pain the whites caused them. She wanted to show that they had community bonds equal or greater than those who tried to tear their lives apart. The community in the Bottom, where the characters of Sula live, is close, often gathering at Eva's home.

The theme of this book i...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-2013-advisory

A powerful novel which written by Toni Morrison. It tells a story between two girls named Sula and Nel. Both girls grow up together. However, since their goal and personality are different, they become an enemy. In fact, I really like this novel how it uses indirect characterization to teach me a lot in life lesson. One of them is makes me understand how friendship is hard to keep during a time of period. Since everyone is not perfect in this world, a person must have his or her merits and demer...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Friendship	12	39	Apr 25, 2013 09:04pm
Sula's Mother	2	8	Apr 25, 2013 08:35pm
Do you think Sula would have acted differently if she had some type of “father-figure” at home, such as a granddad or dad?	2	10	Mar 10, 2013 05:58pm
Ethnic Women Writers: Morrison's Prose	7	9	Sep 18, 2012 02:12pm

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About Toni Morrison

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; among the best k...more

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Quotes from Sula

“Like any artist without an art form, she became dangerous.” — 244 people liked it

“Lonely, ain't it?
Yes, but my lonely is mine. Now your lonely is somebody else's. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain't that something? A secondhand lonely.” — 97 people liked it

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