"Beloved" by Toni Morrison

by Mary Bailey

47 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me ha costado bastante está lectura, estuve a punto de dejarlo varias veces, pero seguí porque el tema era muy interesante, he leído pocos libros acerca de la esclavitud, y ha sido duro, pero no conectaba, yo creo que por la forma en que está redactado, no he conseguido enganchar, estaba deseando terminarlo y no lo he dejado de milagro. 300 pág que se me han hecho bastante largas.

[Anni Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time deciding whether to give three or four stars to this book by Toni Morrison. Without a doubt, the evocative language in the book mesmerized me. The story is about Sethe and her 18 year-old daughter Denver in the period after the American Civil War. Sethe was kept as a slave on Sweet Home for many years and experienced horrors there that she simply cannot forget. The narrative of Beloved is based on the life of Margaret Garner, a slave in Kentucky who escaped and fled to the free state of Ohio in 1856. When Sethe and Paul D, another former resident at Sweet Home go out one day, they return to find a woman sitting in front of the house. The woman calls herself Beloved. Sethe is charmed by Beloved and takes her in, despite Paul D's warnings. Sethe gradually starts believing that Beloved is the daughter she had killed in terror of the child being sent to Swett Home as a slave. And all the while, Sethe hopes against hope that her husband Halle and her sons will return to her. One of the primary elements of the novel is that of family relationships and the effects that slavery had on African-American families enslaved at this time.
The writing style is highly evoative of writers like William Faulkner, but contrary to Faulkner, whose writing was clear, I did not always understand what Morrison was trying to say, and found myself frequently confused about which "baby" she was talking about and what was happening. I often had to go back and re-read passages to see where I had failed to understand.
A heart-breaking emotional story, but one that has to be read slowly and with full concentration. It's a book that will keep you thinking.