Beloved by Toni Morrison.

"A heart wrenching, story of violence, loss and death but told in such beautiful prose, Morrison's writing is transcendent. This book will stay with me forever."

5 Stars

Pros: This was so emotionally and mentally heavy, that sometimes I had to put it down and walk away. Like, take breaks and remember to breathe because Morrison doesn't pull any punches, nor should she. It's no surprise she won the Nobel Prize 👏. And yes, when a book hits me that hard, I consider it a Pro, not a Con. You want books that stay with you.

Cons: The part where Beloved, Sethe and Denver are all one and the same, those chapters were trippy and threw me for a bit.

Full Review

Almost told in reverse, we learn of Sethe, a former slave, who ran away to Ohio, to her Mother in Law, having sent her children ahead of her. They were free, at least for awhile but then something threatened that freedom. We learn that Sethe did something drastic then, to try and preserve what they had.

She's lived with it, shunned by others but she pays it no mind. She just goes to work, comes home and takes care of her daughter Denver. They try their best to simply live their lives and ignore the ghost that haunts the house. The reason why no one visits and why Howard and Buglar, Sethe's two oldest, ran off years ago.

But when one day, an unexpected face shows up on the porch, everything changes.

It's Paul D from Sweet Home.

That place calls up all sorts of memories for Sethe but the most prevalent is that of running. They all ran from Sweet Home when Mr. Garner passed unexpectedly and School Teacher took over. And they've all suffered their fair share after that fateful day but so many years have passed, Sethe realizes, it's good to see a familiar face again. Paul D stays awhile and eventually things almost feel normal. And that's when, of course, everything changes.

When walking home from a Carnival in town, they spy a young girl, sitting in high top shoes, waiting for them down a ways from 124. The appearance of the silent stranger unsettles Sethe on a primal level but she remembers her manners and invites the girl in. Her name is Beloved.

Truly beautiful, truly haunting, this is a book that has to be experienced to truly be appreciated.

Comments

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