From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)

Toni Morrison

Discussion: . Week 18: Pulitzer Book

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. Week 18: Pulitzer Book

* Week 18: Progress Post
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 15 posts · 75 views

last updated Dec 01, 2015 04:43AM

* Week 18: Introduction
By Zaz , Mood Minion · 3 posts · 150 views

last updated Apr 23, 2015 09:35AM

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What Members Thought

Mar 04, 2017 Veena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, literary-fiction

'Dearly Beloved' is what she wanted on the headstone. But 'Beloved' is all she got. The price of which was ten minutes of sex with the engraver. Later she thought she might have got 'Dearly' too or maybe the entire preaching for twenty minutes or forty. But she managed to get what mattered to most. She was 'Beloved' whether anyone one believed it or not.
Toni Morrison is the voice of African-American literature. Beloved won her Pulitzer and when you read the book you are not surprised at all. A ...more

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Apr 20, 2015 Saara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, american-literature, reviewed

Toni Morrison, I find, is an amazing writer. Her prose is beautiful and evocative; this novel woke in me feelings of sorrow, anger, dread, and hope, alternating and twisting together — and underneath, an acknowledgment that it's a bloody good book. I spent nearly all day reading for two reasons. One, I have an exam coming up and still other things to read. Two, once I got into the flow of it I didn't want to stop, or, more accurately, I kept wanting to look away but the story didn't let me. It h Toni Morrison, I find, is an amazing writer. Her prose is beautiful and evocative; this novel woke in me feelings of sorrow, anger, dread, and hope, alternating and twisting together — and underneath, an acknowledgment that it's a bloody good book. I spent nearly all day reading for two reasons. One, I have an exam coming up and still other things to read. Two, once I got into the flow of it I didn't want to stop, or, more accurately, I kept wanting to look away but the story didn't let me. It had me in its power and I could only watch as the full picture unfurled like a particularly unpleasant flower. I loved it. There can be no doubt that I will return to this novel more than once.

Beloved is the story of former slaves, told in non-chronological order. There is Baby Suggs, whose freedom was bought by the only child she was allowed to see grow up. There is Paul D, whose nomadic lifestyle changes when he comes to 124. Most of all, there is Sethe, Baby's daughter-in-law, and there are her children. Denver, grown but timid, is the only one still around. Her brothers have run away long ago. Beloved's ghost both literal and figurative overshadows the life at 124 and has done so ever since her death.

Narration is for the chief part third-person, the point of view changing often from one character to another, including many minor characters not mentioned above. Multiple segments are also stream-of-consciousness from a first-person point of view. This may sound messy when stated in a review, but in fact works very well — besides, the picture itself is messy and difficult to look at. Morrison shows the horror of slavery and racism, the confusion of freedom, the aftermath of a decision both terrifying and terrible, even that love can drive you to do horrible things.

There are some experiences in this world that I can never hope to understand. These are often the same experiences that I would not hope on anyone. Toni Morrison is one of those writers who can show you a glimpse, just a glimpse, of what it was like. That is a powerful thing. ...more

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