Beloved

published	June 8th 2004 by Vintage
first published	1987
binding	Paperback
isbn	1400033411 (isbn13: 9781400033416)
pages	352
literary awards	Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (1988); 1987 National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee
description	Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lu...more [close] 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, Beloved is a towering achievement. [close]
date added	12-07-06 edit book

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Christy rated it:

02/14/08

bookshelves: african-american-lit, books-for-teaching, readinglist1

Every time I read this book I love it more.
Eventually I'll be able to write about it and feel I'm doing it justice.
In the meantime, here are a few thoughts, beginning with a favorite scene, one that is at the heart of Beloved--Baby Suggs' sermon in the Clearing:

"She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She di dnot tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure.

"She told them that the only grace...more Every time I read this book I love it more.
Eventually I'll be able to write about it and feel I'm doing it justice.
In the meantime, here are a few thoughts, beginning with a favorite scene, one that is at the heart of Beloved--Baby Suggs' sermon in the Clearing:

"She did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She di dnot tell them they were the blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure.

"She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.

"'Here,' she said, 'in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don't love your eyes; they'd just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stroke them on your face 'cause they don't love that either. You got to love it, you! And no, they ain't in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don't love your mouth. You got to love it. This is flesh I'm talking about here. flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that neet to rest and to dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I'm telling you. And O my people, out yonder, hear me, they do not love your neck unnoosed and straight. So love your neck; put a hand on it, grace it, stroke it and hold it up. And all your inside parts that they'd just as soon slop for hogs, you got to love them. The dark, dark liver--love it, love it, and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than eyes or feet. More than lungs that have yet to draw free air. more than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.' Saying no more, she stood up then and danced with her twisted hip the rest of what her heart had to say while the others opened their mouths and gave her the music. Long notes held until the four-part harmony was perfect enough for their deeply loved flesh." (88-89)

It is this ethic of self-love that makes possible the love for others and the strength of community that permeates Beloved.

"You your own best thing," Paul D tells Sethe. This is a hard lesson to learn, especially for a woman who has never truly known herself or owned herself. Sethe and Denver both have to learn to see themselves as individuals, learn to see themselves and value themselves. Without this, they will disintegrate or be smothered by a too-thick love. After all, "For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, [Paul D] knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one" (45).

Free from slavery, however, free from the threat of losing children to beatings and slavers, this dangerous, too-thick love can give them strength to find themselves. Sethe insists, "Love is or it ain't. Thin love ain't no love at all" (165), and Denver draws on her love for her mother to find the courage to venture into the dangerous world outside of their home and get help. A love that puts another's needs before one's own is still dangerous, as the relationship between Sethe and Beloved attests to, however, which is precisely why self-love and love for others must go hand in hand. ...less

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Steven rated it:

03/11/08

bookshelves: 1001, pulitzer, race, warishell

Read in March, 2008

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 20th Century. With praise like that, it is almost impossible not to disappoint, but for a lot of reasons, I though this book was very much a four-star book instead of a five-star book.

The story c...more 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 20th Century. With praise like that, it is almost impossible not to disappoint, but for a lot of reasons, I though this book was very much a four-star book instead of a five-star book.

The story concerns Sethe, an escaped slave living in Ohio after the Civil War. As one can imagine, she has suffered quite a bit and her body bears the marks of rape, torture, etc. More than the physical abuse she has suffered, though, she is haunted by her memories. In the course of learning about all sorts of brutal things in this book, we learn that Sethe killed her two-year-old daughter, Beloved, rather that risking the child’s return to the plantation in Kentucky from which she escaped. The bad thing is, though, Beloved has come back, and it is pretty hard for Sethe to move on with the incarnation of her deceased daughter living in the house.

Make no mistake, I thought the novel was very good and it is likely one that will stay with me for an incredibly long time. To rate something in the top 10 of the 20th Century, though, I think I expected a bit more.

The motif of slavery and the scars that Sethe and others have suffered as a result of slavery are certainly not lost on me. Sadly, I think a lot of people forget that reality of slavery and the abject misery and suffering caused by the most peculiar and evil institution. Whether it is because I live in the South or for whatever reason, I didn’t need the shocking scenes set forth in this novel to let me know how damaging slavery was for all involved, and how much damage the institution still causes today.

Whatever can be said about the plot, little criticism can be lobbed at Morrison’s style and ability. I think this book is as close to any Faulkner, Conrad, Joyce, etc. that I have ever read. The way various pieces to the larger puzzle are dropped throughout the text, often causing me to stop and say, wait, did she really just say what I think she said, is incredible. If you are bothered by scenes of violence (and this book, like the institution of slavery itself, was more violent that anything I have ever read and any movie I have ever seen), this book is not for you.

All in all, an impressive work that I am glad I tackled. I don’t know whether it is quite worth the high praise it receives, but there is no doubt that it is truly a very special book.

...less

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