<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>1253816</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Beloved]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[2264019573]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9782264019578]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg</image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[Vers 1870, aux États-Unis, près de Cincinnati dans l'Ohio, le petit bourg de Bluestone Road, dresse ses fébriles demeures. L'histoire des lieux se lie au fleuve qui marquait jadis pour les esclaves en fuite la frontière où commençait la liberté. Dans l'une des maisons, quelques phénomènes étranges bouleversent la tranquillité locale : les meublent volent et les miroirs se brisent, tandis que des biscuits secs écrasés s'alignent contre une porte, des gâteaux sortent du four avec l'empreinte inquiétante d'une petite main de bébé. Sethe, la maîtresse de maison est une ancienne esclave. Dix-huit ans auparavant, dans un acte de violence et d'amour maternel, elle a égorgé son enfant pour lui épargner d'être asservi. Depuis, Sethe et ses autres enfants n'ont jamais cessé d'être hantés par la petite fille. L'arrivée d'une inconnue, Beloved, va donner à cette mère hors-la-loi, rongée par le spectre d'un infanticide tragique, l'occasion d'exorciser son passé. <p>Inspirée par une histoire vraie, renforcée par ses résonances de tragédie grecque, cette oeuvre au lyrisme flamboyant est l'histoire d'un destin personnel et d'un passé collectif. Hymne à l'amour et à la maternité, roman de la faute, de la difficulté du pardon comme du deuil, de la rédemption par l'oubli, <em>Beloved</em> fut récompensé par le prix Pulitzer en 1988. <em>--Céline Darner</em> </p>]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">692704</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">60</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">736076</id>
  <media_type>book</media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">1987</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Beloved</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:31434|5:9400|4:10386|3:7494|2:2665|1:1489|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">31434</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">117845</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">38817</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1946</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.75]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[8]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[1]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1253816.Beloved]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1253816.Beloved]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>3534</id>
        <name><![CDATA[Toni Morrison]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1202526238p5/3534.jpg]]></image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3534.Toni_Morrison]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.80</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>88920</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>6200</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="38816">
      <review>
  <id>44425635</id>
    <user>
    <id>419287</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jessica]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[New York, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/419287-jessica]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1257912303p3/419287.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>41</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="crazy-ladies" />
          <shelf name="crime-and-punishment" />
          <shelf name="kind-of-depressing" />
          <shelf name="love-and-other-indoor-sports" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[makes a nice mother's day present]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[&quot;recommended&quot; is putting it mildly]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 26 13:08:21 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 26 19:45:10 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[<em>Beloved</em> is the Great American Horror Novel. Sorry Stephen King: evil clowns and alcoholic would-be writers are pretty creepy, but they just got nothing on the terrifying specter of American slavery! I literally got chills -- physical <em>chills</em> -- over and over while reading this book. To me, great horr...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44425635">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44425635]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44425635]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3860894</id>
    <user>
    <id>192082</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Mark]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Mountain View, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/192082-mark-simmons]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1185571662p3/192082.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>27</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[nobody.]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 31 12:25:38 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 03:04:01 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I don't give books low marks lightly. If anything, I am prone to being carried away by the author's enthusaism and rate books more highly than they deserve. I am an aspiring author, myself, and that also leads me to be kind to the books.<br/><br/>That being said, I really hated this book.<br/><br/>...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3860894">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3860894]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3860894]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>44632580</id>
    <user>
    <id>193310</id>
    <name><![CDATA[brian]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Los Angeles, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/193310-brian]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1261459439p3/193310.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>13</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jan 28 08:17:29 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 28 08:23:54 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[well, i’m an obsessive-compulsive completionist maniac which is why, after reading toni morrison’s most recent book, i had to read <em>all</em> of her books… it’s also why i decided to puke out my immediate thoughts in the form of progress reports. but i can’t offer too much in the way of <em>beloved</em>. ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44632580">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44632580]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44632580]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>1581216</id>
    <user>
    <id>94602</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kelly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Arlington, VA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/94602-kelly]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1260795653p3/94602.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>8</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="truly-dreadful" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[I have no idea.]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jun 01 06:55:53 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 20:29:29 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I geniunely disliked this book. I can't think of anything more direct to say about it than that. I do not understand why on earth people find it so compelling. I do not understand why it is rated so highly by critics. I had to read this for a class, and I struggled with every minute of pushing mysel...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1581216">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1581216]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1581216]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>32725050</id>
    <user>
    <id>147289</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jason]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/147289-jason-pettus]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1257898036p3/147289.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>8</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Sep 12 15:19:41 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Sep 12 15:20:00 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)<br/><br/><strong>The CCLaP 100:</strong> In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called &quot;classics,&quot;...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32725050">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32725050]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32725050]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>31201123</id>
    <user>
    <id>251665</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Harpal]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[San Jose, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/251665-harpal]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1186180357p3/251665.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>10</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="school" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[No one]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Aug 25 21:17:01 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Aug 25 21:29:22 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is probably my least favorite book I have ever read. I think I hate it even more because so many people like it so much. Unlike really trashy novels, people actually try to argue that this is a great book. But it definitely embodies all the things that make me hate books. It's heavy handed with...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31201123">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31201123]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31201123]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>14920141</id>
    <user>
    <id>36030</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ivy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Saint Louis, MO]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/36030-ivy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1174590429p3/36030.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="1001-books" />
          <shelf name="nbcca_finalist" />
          <shelf name="nobel_laureates" />
          <shelf name="pulitzer_prize" />
          <shelf name="times_100_best" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 08 12:15:40 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 14 11:10:36 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I have long believed in ghosts, but not in the supernatual or paranormal sense.  I believe ghosts are memories or what Toni Morrison names as &quot;rememory.&quot;  I heard on NPR this week a man say that he was the grandchild of slaves and when he went into the voting booth and cast his ballot for ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14920141">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14920141]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14920141]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3266706</id>
    <user>
    <id>202388</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Peter]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Columbia, MO]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/202388-peter-neely]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1184792379p3/202388.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">415907</id>
  <isbn>0452264464</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780452264465</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">77</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174541003m/415907.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415907.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.84</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>820</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[In the troubled years following the Civil War, the spirit of a murdered child haunts the Ohio home of a former slave. This angry, destructive ghost breaks mirrors, leaves its fingerprints in cake icing, and generally makes life difficult for Sethe and her family; nevertheless, the woman finds the haunting oddly comforting for the spirit is that of her own dead baby, never named, thought of only as Beloved.  A dead child, a runaway slave, a terrible secret--these are the central concerns of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved. Morrison, a Nobel laureate, has written many fine novels, including Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Paradise--but  Beloved is arguably her best. To modern readers, antebellum slavery is a subject so familiar that it is almost impossible to render its horrors in a way that seems neither  clichéd nor melodramatic. Rapes, beatings, murders, and mutilations are recounted here, but they belong to characters so precisely drawn that the tragedy remains individual, terrifying to us because it is terrifying to the sufferer. And Morrison is master of the telling detail: in the bit, for example, a punishing piece of headgear used to discipline recalcitrant slaves, she manages to encapsulate all of slavery's many cruelties into one apt symbol--a device that deprives its wearer of speech. &quot;Days after it was taken out, goose fat was rubbed on the corners of the mouth but nothing to soothe the tongue or take the wildness out of the eye.&quot; Most importantly, the language here, while often lyrical, is never overheated. Even as she recalls the cruelties visited upon her while a slave, Sethe is evocative without being overemotional: &quot;Add my husband to it, watching, above me in the loft--hiding close by--the one place he thought no one would look for him, looking down on what I couldn't look at at all. And not stopping them--looking and letting it happen.... And if he was that broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now.&quot; Even the supernatural is treated as an ordinary fact of life: &quot;Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead Negro's grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby,&quot; comments Sethe's mother-in-law. Beloved is a dense, complex novel that yields up its secrets one by one. As Morrison takes us deeper into Sethe's history and her memories, the horrifying circumstances of her baby's death start to make terrible sense. And as past meets present in the shape of a mysterious young woman about the same age as Sethe's daughter would have been, the narrative builds inexorably to its powerful, painful conclusion.  Beloved may well be the defining novel of slavery in America, the one that all others will be measured by. --Alix Wilber]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>6</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[fans of Morrison]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jul 19 08:31:24 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 01:11:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Unfortunately, I just could not get into this book. I tried reading it as a class assignment and again on my own, but alas. It wasn't the writing style, which was...a cute attempt for creativeness but resulted in harming the progress of the story (much like Faulkner's <strong>Sound and the Fury</strong> actually).  ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3266706">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3266706]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3266706]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>6923016</id>
    <user>
    <id>110809</id>
    <name><![CDATA[leighcia]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Wynnewood, PA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/110809-leighcia]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Sep 27 20:13:20 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Oct 17 19:20:12 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[If it weren't for a long plane ride, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first 30 or so pages of this novel. But I'm glad I did because the novel is very beautifully written and well-constructed, though not necessarily a page-turner. The prose is very lyrical and dream-like, as it weaves the re...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6923016">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6923016]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6923016]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>4018292</id>
    <user>
    <id>248667</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Christy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Arlington, TX]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/248667-christy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1243466687p3/248667.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="african-american-lit-and-history" />
          <shelf name="books-for-teaching" />
          <shelf name="readinglist1" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Aug 03 08:26:46 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 03:33:37 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Every time I read this book I love it more.<br/>Eventually I'll be able to write about it and feel I'm doing it justice.<br/>In the meantime, here are a few thoughts, beginning with a favorite scene, one that is at the heart of <em>Beloved</em>--Baby Suggs' sermon in the Clearing:<br/><br/>&quot;She did ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4018292">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4018292]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4018292]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>2676425</id>
    <user>
    <id>168950</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Anna]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/168950-anna]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1183529599p3/168950.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="america" />
          <shelf name="feminism" />
          <shelf name="modernclassic" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 03 11:41:59 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 23:31:43 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Morrison's classic novel of the female slave experience speaks to history and remembering (or not remembering). She addresses the meaning of being free, especially for women; women's roles and expectations, defiance, and what it means to rather kill your children than let them experience what you ex...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2676425">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2676425]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2676425]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>11733621</id>
    <user>
    <id>746354</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Stephen]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/746354-stephen]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1199575091p3/746354.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>7</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[your meth-addicted uncle chester]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jan 05 15:35:12 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 06 13:18:12 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[confusing, boring, and pretentious, this is the book that convinced me that the pulitzer doesn't mean shit.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11733621]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11733621]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>17536110</id>
    <user>
    <id>130981</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Steven]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Tallahassee, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/130981-steven]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1191640545p3/130981.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="1001" />
          <shelf name="pulitzer" />
          <shelf name="race" />
          <shelf name="time-100" />
          <shelf name="warishell" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 11 14:30:03 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Mar 11 14:30:52 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I chose to read this novel for a variety of reasons.  For many years now, I have heard of the brilliance of this book.  This book has been billed as the “best work of fiction of the last 30 years” by the NY Times and has also been placed within the top 10 of various lists of best fiction of the ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17536110">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17536110]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17536110]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>13448147</id>
    <user>
    <id>824216</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Elissa]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Torrance, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/824216-elissa-reiter]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1201213962p3/824216.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>5</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="master-s-exam" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jul 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jan 24 16:57:59 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Jul 04 09:00:56 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'm struggling to write my book review of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved" title="Beloved by Toni Morrison">Toni Morrison</a>'s <em>Beloved</em>, which, quite frankly, left me speechless.  After turning the last page, I found myself in one of my favorite reading predicaments: there was nothing for me to do but sit there and feel the story wash over me.  I couldn't analyze, I c...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13448147">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13448147]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13448147]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>12139857</id>
    <user>
    <id>244132</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Patrick]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Ann Arbor, MI]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/244132-patrick]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216397373p3/244132.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Jan 30 09:03:55 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jan 10 06:11:03 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jan 30 09:03:38 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[My first thought: why didn't I read this sooner?<br/><br/>Truly, Beloved rips at the seams of American life, literature and identity.  I can't imagine not reading it.<br/><br/>So what is so moving about it: Morrison expertly moves, with absolutely no rupture in the story, from the specific to th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12139857">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12139857]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12139857]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>832946</id>
    <user>
    <id>66444</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jeffrey]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/66444-jeffrey]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="toptenfiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Apr 22 14:24:13 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 18:18:52 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[     <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved" title="Beloved by Toni Morrison">Toni Morrison</a>'s Beloved is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th Century. Studying the present state of African-American existence and slavery's long reach into people's lives today in the United States, Beloved gets a constantly discussed and debated social and political message across ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/832946">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/832946]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/832946]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>31079307</id>
    <user>
    <id>1407273</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Trillian]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1407273-trillian]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1249858577p3/1407273.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>8</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="not-worthwhile" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[over-educated literati]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 24 14:38:22 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Aug 26 11:54:59 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is the worst book that I have ever read. It epitomizes what elite academics love about literature: It is dark and nasty (which, to an academic, means realistic) and it is obscure and incoherent (to an academic, this means deep and profound). This is like the deliberately hideous painting that i...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31079307">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31079307]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31079307]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>42613895</id>
    <user>
    <id>1875988</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Misty]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brookhaven, MS]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1875988-misty]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1231300213p3/1875988.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>4</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jan 10 16:45:38 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jan 10 16:52:46 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1 Unfortunately</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I hated this book.  There's just no nicer way to put it.  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved" title="Beloved by Toni Morrison">Toni Morrison</a> is definitely NOT my favorite author.  I got stuck reading this for a book report my junior year of high school and I wanted to take it outside and burn it.  If it wouldn't have been a library copy, I probably would have.  I don...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42613895">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42613895]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42613895]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>583184</id>
    <user>
    <id>21659</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kris]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/21659-kris]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1179760742p3/21659.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="teacher-mandated" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Apr 05 07:44:10 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 17:33:49 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Admitting that I am not a fan of this book is a gross understatement. And this, given that I read it before Oprah filmed her genuinely pathetic and ill-conceived movie version. The fact that I am giving this one star has more to do with my respect for <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved" title="Beloved by Toni Morrison">Toni Morrison</a> than with any regard or lack there...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/583184">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/583184]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/583184]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>4524318</id>
    <user>
    <id>274563</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Becky]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Libertyville, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/274563-becky]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1187010460p3/274563.jpg]]></image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">6149</id>
  <isbn>1400033411</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781400033416</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1722</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Beloved]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165555299m/6149.jpg</image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved</link>
  <average_rating>3.74</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>29057</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, <strong>Beloved</strong><em> </em>is a towering achievement.]]>
  </description>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
    
      <shelf name="read" />
    
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="yuck" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Aug 14 06:59:29 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 05:08:00 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I read this book in college and remember it with sincere hatred. The only reason I am giving this book 2 stars is because the story is incredibly original and Morrison is a truly gifted author (as she tells the stories in characters point of views, using every unique style of speech to convey the st...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4524318">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4524318]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4524318]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="classics" />
          <shelf name="literature" />
          <shelf name="favorites" />
          <shelf name="historical-fiction" />
          <shelf name="novels" />
          <shelf name="1001" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1253816</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>