Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Feb 01, 2009

brian rated it:

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 throug More...

21 comments like (31 people liked it)

May 09, 2007

Allyson rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2008

Lawsonlitgeek rated it:

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

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2008

De'Shawn rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2007

Sarah rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 19, 2007

Metoka rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2009

Tony rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2010

Laurel marked it as to-read

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...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2011

Alex 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 i More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2009

Chris rated it:

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.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 23, 2011

Steven rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2008

Tiffany rated it:

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...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2010

Tavis 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 foll More...

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2012

Nicholas rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Mmars rated it:

It's been a long time since I read Toni Morrison. Having just finished Sula, I have a feeling I may change my rating to 4 stars after I read another of her works. I read it in a day but had trouble concentrating/remembering who was who & struggled to find relevance in the characters for the first third of the book. I was surprised at the amount of time Morrison spent setting up the "Bottoms", the families, and the residents in such a short book. I'm still not sure how necessary some of More...

0 comments like

Dec 23, 2011

Daniel rated it:

Once again, Toni Morrison has fucked me up with brilliant writing and the ability to shape a character's misery into an implement that slips past flesh and bone before delivering a lifetime of pain into the jelly nether regions that we try to keep to ourselves. The final passage of "Sula" delivered the most piercing blow, and after I put the book down I was left gassed, limp, and a little depressed.

I love it.

I don't welcome pain or misery--which is to say, I don't r More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Amanda rated it:

In this book, a childhood friendship between girls, Nel and Sula, endures a lot as they both turn into women. The friendship is put to the ultimate test by the betrayal of Sula with Nel’s husband. Morrison shows the suffering and loss of Nel so realistically when she can’t leave her husbands tie. This tiny image of Nel made the pain inside her come alive, Morrison uses such simplicity to get her deep meanings across. Even though the narration is in third person the reader is able to know all inn More...

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2011

Kelsey rated it:

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

0 comments like

Oct 27, 2011

Chelsea rated it:

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

0 comments like

Sep 14, 2011

Cindy rated it:

Rich, rich, deep, deep, poetic, profound and multi-layered. At first careful reading there was much I could not relate to or understand or accept (women killing their own children? or screwing their best friend's husband?) but when our book club discussed this we were able to peel back the layers and realize that Morrison gibes voice to the silent pain that black women in this culture have suffered for centuries. Great anger, eloquently expressed.

Utterly brilliant writing and the imp More...

0 comments like

Aug 26, 2011

A_strange_person rated it:

This is the first Toni Morrison book I read, and it has me hooked on the author.

I have heaps of praise to get out of my system. The prose is brilliant, lyrical without being so high-flown as to take the reader out of the story. The plot moves at a good clip - which is critical to note because many critics consider pacing a weakness of Morrison's - and everything that happens is not just interesting, but so arresting that I must warn slower readers that this book will put the brakes on More...

0 comments like

Aug 15, 2011

Nancy rated it:

Short and intense view of an African American community in Ohio (where I believe Toni Morrison hails from) with her incredible prose that says so much with just a few words. Sula and Nellie grow up together and after Nellie gets married and SUla goes off to college, she returns ten years later to become the town whore. Hating Sula unites the town and brings a unity that dissolves upon her death. The rea questions are: why does Sula have little regard for anyone else beside herself? Was it her ch More...

0 comments like

Jul 24, 2011

Elise rated it:

A few months ago, I worked on helping my eighth grade students write speeches for their "stepping up" ceremony commemorating the end of middle school. We watched some commencement speeches, read sample speeches, and went over what makes a speech of this nature good. As I prepared my lesson materials, I combed the Internet for quality sample speeches, and of course one of the first places I looked was the website of my alma mater.

One of this year's commencement speakers at B More...

0 comments like

Apr 16, 2011

Toyin rated it:

Morrison's Sula was very intriguing and it revolved around the motif of good vs. evil; not just between white and black but between people of the same race etc. She shows this motif through her characters particularly Sula. Sula acted the way she wanted to not the way society wanted her to due to this, she was marked as evil by the people of the Bottom. Though some readers didn't understand the deeper meaning of Sula's portrayal, upon finishing the book, i concluded that Morrison's reason for po More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 15, 2011

Charlette added it

When I first started reading Sula I thought it was boring. I percieved Sula as selfish and Nel as a follower. As we got deeper in the reading I started to see the motives for the characters actions and personalities. Morrison describes how Sula tends to be premiscuous, and most of the people in the town dislike her. The opinion formed by the reader is Sula always wants to get her way and she's heartless. When in fact to me she seems like the one character in the book with the most feelings.She h More...

2 comments like

Mar 20, 2011

Bruce rated it:

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

0 comments like

Feb 12, 2011

Jason rated it:

Sula should be a lot better than it is. The story of two girls growing up in the 1920s in a small Ohio town means to be a tale of what it means to be a black woman in America. I say means, because this book is all plot, until the end, the characters more caricature than flesh, the actions more plot driven than character. It's a shame because this book is punctuated by so many moments of clarity and human understanding that it sings, but then it goes back to a banal reaction from a character who More...

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2010

Shannon rated it:

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 w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 25, 2010

El rated it:

In Medallion, Ohio Nel Wright and Sula Peace are BFFs as children. They live in a part of town referred to as The Bottom, a black community, in the early 20th century. As the years pass and their society changes, their lives change as well. As young women they reach a crossroads - Nel chooses to stay in Medallion and become a wife and mother while Sula chooses the other road, the one taking her to college and other life experiences. Years later they come together again and have to reforge th More...

0 comments like

Apr 06, 2010

Obinna rated it:

Toni Morrison's Sula is an extremely well rounded and intriguing novel about two best friends that grow up together only to lose their friendship over a sour situation. The novel consists of many conflicts that could be internal or external. The protagonist in Sula unlike many other books is very ignorant and self centered individual. Although Sula may seem like a one dimensional character, she is acutually a very complex one. Overall, Sula is a decent novel. It is a novel that can can get a per More...

0 comments like

reviews