Search - Beloved

I know a lot of people really like this author, but for some reason I never could get into her writing style.

Not the easiest read. In the beginning, I would have to keep going back to reread the previous page, to try to figure out what the author was trying to say. There's a lot to think about in this book. It was recently named the best American novel of the last 25 years. I'd say it's good, but not *that* good.

a hauntingly beautiful, elegant book. Reading Toni Morrison is like swimming through calm water. Much recommended.

A good read.

Great book, one of Toni Morrison's best.

ONe of my Favorites of Toni's

SETHE. PROUD AND BEAUTIFUL, SHE ESCAPED FROM SLAVERY BUT IS HAUNTED BY ITS HERITAGE-FROM THE FIRES OF THE FLESH TO THE HEARTBREAKING CHALLENGES TO THE SPIRIT. SET IN RUAL OHIO SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, THIS PROFOUNDLY AFFECTING CHRONICLE OF SLAVERY AND ITS AFTERMATH IS TONI MORRISON'S GREATEST NOVEL- A DAZZELING ACHIEVEMENT AND SPELLBOUNDING READING EXPERIENCES.

When slavery has torn apart one's heritage, when the past is more real than the present, when the rage of a dead baby can literally rock a house, then the traditional novel is no longer an adequate instrument. And so Pulitzer Prize-winner Beloved is written in bits and images, smashed like a mirror on the floor and left for the reader to put together. In a novel that is hypnotic, beautiful, and elusive, Toni Morrison portrays the lives of Sethe, an escaped slave and mother, and those around her. There is Sixo, who "stopped speaking English because there was no future in it," and .... Baby Suggs, who makes her living with her heart because slavery "had busted her legs, back, head, eyes, hands, kidneys, womb and tongue;" and Paul D, a man with a rusted metal box for a heart and a presence that allows women to cry. At the center is Sethe, whose story makes us think and think again about what we mean when we say we love our children or freedom. The stories circle, swim dreamily to the surface, and are suddenly clear and horrifying. Because of the extraordinary, experimental style as well as the intensity of the subject matter, what we learn from them touches at a level deeper than understanding.

This was a dark sort of read. A little disturbing, nothing but sad in the end. I didn't care for the high-ended writing style. It hindered the progress of the book for me and, ultimately, I sort of got through the book by getting the 'gist'. I'm glad I read it but wouldn't swim through so much verbage again for such little return. Perhaps a more intellectualy reader would disagree...?

Awesome...powerful reading. A story that chronicles a woman's life of slavery during and after the civil war.

Reading Toni Morrison's books is not something for the faint of heart. Her literature requires the reader to work for it, to struggle through sometimes uncomfortable prose or through gut-wrenching scenarios within the larger story. But, at the end, you have earned that story...you have achieved something. And, I've found that people either can't stand her books, or they love her books. There isn't any real middle-ground. I am part of the latter group. And especially for this book. I re-read it every year, and it is still new and gripping and passionate and brilliant every time.

This book was outstanding! Do not watch the Oprah movie especially before you read the book (I wouldn't watch it after either because I have seen it and the portrayal is awful) because it will ruin your entire perception of and love for the book.

Oprah made a movie about this great book. Right up there with the movie!

good book, some marginal notes from college class. Some shelf wear, but overall good condition

Considered by some to be the best novel of the 20th century.