Publisher : Chelsea House Publications
Publication Date : 1998 11
>> Very Moving 4 5 Stars
It s difficult to write a review of Beloved without issuing spoiler warnings The plot does not really have unexpected twists but rather things are slowly revealed It leads you places and finally confirms your suspicions
This is a story of slavery but is very originally structured and adds a lot more The main character is Sethe a very strong woman who has conviction in her opinions despite being shunned by others for something that she does Others see her actions as deranged but for her they are the ultimate expression of a mother s love She is a very powerful and complex character
This novel is not straightforward and adds magical details as if they are quite normal It s like One Hundred Years of Solitude or Midnight s Children in that sense
There are a couple of passages that are very simple but made me feel some of the pain of the characters The scene where Paul D is bound with a bit in his mouth and is looking at a rooster and realizes that the rooster believes itself to superior to him causes him shame It is a simple scene and I found it to be heartbreaking
Moreso than just describe the cruelty of slavery Beloved describes how it made human beings feel This is far more powerful than just descriptions of inhumanity
This was a very powerful novel thematically and had wonderful moments I didn t really love some of the scenes with the character Beloved
In 2006 the NY Times book review asked several critics pundits experts etc what the best American novel of the last 25 years was Beloved was the most mentioned novel I can certainly see it in the running but my opinion of it is just short of that
I definitely recommend it though for its emotional power and originality
>> Ghost Story
Beloved by Toni Morrison is a very weird book It takes place after the Civil War when slaves were freed by emancipation Sethe is the main character She was a slave who escaped and started a new life And she has a terrible secret Beloved is narrated in a way that will make you keep reading whether you like it or not
Some of the scenes are very brutal and to be honest hard to understand Maybe it s because I am a middle class white girl or something but the thought process of the slaves is very hard to grasp sometimes A lot of times I just could not see the motivations of the characters As far as books written from an African American s perspective goes Beloved is very different It is a ghost story You ll have to read it to know what I mean because I don t want to spoil anything
Personally I was surprised with how much I liked this book It was just strange enough to not be boring I doubt I will read many more Toni Morrison s novels but this one was pretty good
>> A Masterpiece incomparable to anything
I am reading and listening to Beloved for the fourth time Every time I read this book I get something new out of it There is no point into going into the plot as the plot is subservient to the magic of the words that fir together like a dizzying beautiful maddening frightful and dazzling puzzle Bit by bit the story weaves it s way into a work of such grander and cohesion The first time I read it I couldn t read anything else for nearly 6 weeks Nothing captured my interest So I read it again and the second time since I already knew the taut suspenseful story I could really revel in the poetic beauty of the words I have read so many books on American slavery and this one is just by so far and away the best Maybe the only thing that can touch it is The Known World by Edward P Jones Sethe is the bravest protagonist I have ever met Her love burns like a forest fire to the exclusion of all else Thank you Toni Morrison for writing this masterpiece I will return to it again and again
