Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) in The Dusty Bookshelf

Feb 03, 2013 Kristina rated it liked it

Shelves: african-american-lit, post-modern

I generally start off my book reviews with a brief synopsis of the plot, but Beloved was so unusual that I'm finding it hard to do that. This novel is mostly about Sethe, a woman born into slavery. She eventually runs away and escapes to Ohio, but even after years go by, she still isn't truly free. Haunted by her traumatic past, she commits a horrible act of violence under the guise of love. The book tells the story of both the actions leading up to the violence and its aftermath. It is also a b I generally start off my book reviews with a brief synopsis of the plot, but Beloved was so unusual that I'm finding it hard to do that. This novel is mostly about Sethe, a woman born into slavery. She eventually runs away and escapes to Ohio, but even after years go by, she still isn't truly free. Haunted by her traumatic past, she commits a horrible act of violence under the guise of love. The book tells the story of both the actions leading up to the violence and its aftermath. It is also a brutal examination of the costs of slavery, the effects of which are still being experienced today. I chose to read this book this month in honor of Black History Month.

Beloved was not at all what I was expecting. It was actually unlike anything I have ever read before. One aspect of the book that took me by surprise were the supernatural elements in it. I had heard of magical realism before (a genre where elements of magic are a part of an otherwise realistic environment) but I had never read a novel in that genre prior to this and I completely wasn't expecting Beloved to be a part of that category. It was very different to see the characters calmly accept the presence of ghosts as if it were a normal part of everyday life. The supernatural elements aren't vague or subtle either. This book is firmly entrenched in the uncanny and it starts on page one. I actually had to stop and go back over the first few pages to make sure I was reading what I thought I was reading. As the story progressed I got used to its quirkiness, but it sure was a jolt to my system.

Another aspect of the book that was jarring was its structure. The story is told in bits and pieces, completely out of order, from characters both living and dead. Lengthy flashbacks are employed frequently, and I would often get lost and have to flip back a few pages to remember who was talking. I often read books in short bursts during the week, such as when I'm brushing my teeth or in the few minutes before I fall asleep at night. This isn't a good book for that. I found myself looking back in the pages often to figure out what was going on from the last time I picked the book up. Beloved gives you its plot in breadcrumbs that you have to follow across huge jumps backwards and forwards in time, so it's much better suited for long reading sessions.

The language is not easy to understand either. Morrison is clearly a gifted writer (she won the Nobel Prize in Literature after all), and reading up to her level is hard. Everything in the book is symbolic of something else, and I consistently felt like there was a whole other story beneath the surface of the work that I wasn't getting. Morrison rarely just explains something in simple terms. Reading Beloved was like trying to read another language; I had to translate each artistic description into words that I could understand. I didn't even know how to pronounce some of the character names (Sethe, Halle, Baby Suggs, etc.).

All that being said, I did still enjoy the book. I found myself continuing to turn the pages, not because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next, but because I couldn't even remotely guess what was going to happen from chapter to chapter and I was curious. This was one of the most unique reading experiences I have ever had. While it wasn't a favorite of mine, I'm better for having read this ...more

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