“I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”
Very uncomfortable reading for me. Disturbing and (literally) haunting. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and written by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, Beloved tells the story of a family’s life before and after their escape from slavery. Sethe and her daughter Denver live in isolation at 124 in the countryside near Cincinnati. Also ‘present’ in the house is the ghost of Sethe’s other daughter, nicknamed Beloved, who died when she was two. Sethe fled to Ohio from Kentucky many years before after escaping from her owners at ‘Sweet Home.’ Also at Sweet Home was Paul D., who has now come to Ohio to look for Sethe. Soon after Paul D.’s arrival at 124, he drives the baby ghost out; however it’s not long before a strange young woman is found near the house and who calls herself Beloved.
I had a very difficult time following the story at first, and I’d probably understand it much better if I re-read it at some point. The storyline unravels as it goes along, and we see bit by bit the horrors that Sethe escaped from. Her actions are also called into question. Her mental state is dubious. But whose wouldn’t be after undergoing the ordeals she has gone through?
“Other people went crazy, why couldn’t she?”
I didn’t enjoy this book, but I don’t think readers are supposed to. The subject matter is difficult, and I don’t like hearing the horror stories of Beloved or Maus. At the same time, I realize they are necessary and I’ll continue to force myself to read them.
1987, 275 pp.
Rating: 4/5
>>I didn’t enjoy this book, but I don’t think readers are supposed to.<<
That’s the hardest thing for me to explain to my husband, why we would continue to read things like this. For me, it’s not even that I didn’t like the “book”, but it made me feel things that I didn’t like. (Does that make sense?) I just finished one called, “Nada” that was like that. I’ll be looking at this one in the future, too.
Lezlie
I understand that sentiment, too, although I have never managed to get through a Toni Morrison book. There’s uncomfortable and then there’s ugh, squirm and I found the books I attempted to read fell into the latter, but that’s just me. A lot of people can’t handle the war memoirs I read.
Lezlie, makes perfect sense. I feel the same.
Bookfool, I squirmed several times during this book. Not easy for me at all.
Toni Morrison is a hard author me as well. I have most of her books but I haven’t read a lot of them yet. I think I’ve read this one but I’m not 100% sure. There are a lot of books that are hard to say you “enjoy” when their subject matter isn’t meant to be enjoyed. For some weird reason, I’m really drawn to Holocaust, war, genocides, internment type stories. Basically anything about human suffrage. Do I enjoy them? No. But I do devour them up.
I read this once, in college, when I was a young and heady feminist. I didn’t especially “like” it, but I think I felt empowered by it. I wonder how I would react if I could get through it now.
Yep, I certainly understand the sentiment, and I felt the same way about this book. I read it when I was younger, and for that reason I think I’ll probably read it again at some point.
[...] Comments Nancy, aka Bookfool on Review: BelovedLezlie on Review: BelovedJoy on Maus by Art SpiegelmanBook Awards Challenge Complete!! on Good [...]
[...] Fall ApartExpanding Horizons Challenge Complete! on The Bluest EyeExpanding Horizons Challenge on Review: BelovedNancy, aka Bookfool on Review: [...]
[...] Comments Novella Challenge on Review: Things Fall Apart2008 TBR Challenge on Review: BelovedDecades ‘08 on Embers by Sandor MaraiLezlie on Review: Things Fall ApartExpanding Horizons [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987, 275 pp., Nobel laureate, 4/08) [...]
[...] Nathaniel Rich (2008, 310 pp.) 31. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway (2008, 231 pp.) 32. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987, 275 pp.) 33. Maus I by Art Spiegelman (1986, 161 pp.) 34. Maus II by Art [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel) [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison [...]
[...] for a Child not Born by Imre Kertesz (Nobel) 26. Detective Story by Imre Kertesz (Nobel) 27. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer/Nobel) 28. Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman (Pulitzer Special [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison [...]
[...] Beloved, by Toni Morrison (read Michelle’s review) [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison (Pulitzer, Nobel) [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison [...]
[...] Beloved by Toni Morrison (1993 laureate) [...]
[...] Aria (So You Want to Be a Wizard) 20. 3M (Beloved) 21. 3M (Maus I) 22. Athena (Beloved) 23. Athena (The Name of the Rose) 24. Jan in Edmonds (Moon [...]