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Toni Morrison

Start date: June 1, 2012

Finish date: June 30, 2012

Discussion: Group Reads Discussions

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By Diane , Armchair Tour Guide · 3 posts · 1370 views

last updated Jan 18, 2013 07:12PM

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last updated Sep 16, 2025 07:57PM

What Members Thought

Feb 25, 2020 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, historical-fiction, classic, tragedy, america, magical-realism, african-american, popsugar-2020

3.5 stars from me. It's a very difficult and tough book for so many reasons. I'd like to give it more stars but Toni Morrison's style is a bit too vague for me. I understand her ingenious used of metaphors, magical realism and symbolism concept, and of course all the "read between the lines" moments. No sentence is wasted, everything has a meaning (hidden or plain).

The difficult topic is quite draining. Slavery is never easy to be digested. Especially in this book - a plot inspired by a true sto ...more

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Jan 22, 2021 Steph S rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, favorites, classics, usa, favorite-authors, author-female, black-books-matter, horror, 2021

This is not an "unflinching" look at slavery. Surely Toni Morrison flinched as she wrote this, time and time again, but she wrote on anyway - making careful decisions about each brutal detail. A master of her craft, every word in every sentence on every page holds weight; each word carries the burden of taking us to deep recesses in the minds of resilient but horrifically traumatized people; we hear their traumas, but also their hopes, their sorrows, their joy and love and compassion, their deci ...more

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Jan 14, 2014 Erica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"She left me[...] she was my best thing."

"Her tenderness about his neck jewelry--its three wands, like attentive baby rattlers, curving two feet in the air. How she never mentioned or looked at it, so he did not have to feel the shame of being collared like a beast. Only this woman Sethe could have left him his manhood like that. He wants to put his story next to hers."

"He leans over and takes her hand. With the other he touches her face. 'You your best thing, Sethe. You are.'" ...more

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