Beloved

Rating:
Summary: Zowie! Powerful, evocative, painful, and beautiful
Review: Beloved, Toni Morrison's beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning story of the south about one woman's life during the years on both sides of the Civil War, sucks readers in and doesn't spit them out till it's good and ready. Mesmerizing style of writing with the story-line weaving in and out, back and forth through time and location. That loose time thread sometimes makes for confusion in the reader's mind - as indeed it confuses Sethe, the protagonist with a deep dark secret that loosened the anchors of her mind.
The story begins with hints (well, more than hints) of a dead child, a ghost, a runaway slave, and all the horrors associated with those issues. But the writing, Oh, the writing! It reads like poetry, words wrapping around images, caressing them from all angles, shaping them like wet river clay into the precise phrases needed to reshape the structure and flow of the story.
Parts are so graphic that it becomes difficult to continue reading; parts are so touching that rereading is desired; parts are so lyrical that they just flow along like a slow, sultry river in Louisiana
And most readers don't quite see the end coming till it's right upon them. There are a bazillion hints as to what's really behind Sethe's often inexplicable words and actions and memories, but they are leaked out one by one, like slow drips from a leaky faucet. When the truth comes, spelled out in screaming letters, it's still a shock.
Mandatory reading on many levels: history, literature, style of writing, and message.

Rating:
Summary: Genius Wizardess
Review: I liked the movie, but the book knocked me out. I felt the story was too brilliant, uncomfortable, symbolic, just plainly TOO DEEP for the majority of people. But that's ok, that's what makes "Beloved" what it is. Unique. This book took my breath away. Pure genius. Dark genius.

Who am I? 44 yr. old white female surrealist artist (full time), loves history, classics, Jung, mythology, and science for non- scientists. Live in Fells Point, Baltimore. Believes in reincarnation. This is the general picture of where I'm coming from.

I enjoy black history. I don't get defensive about the slavery thing because I'm certain we all are, have been and will be, many things. Back then the only people on the entire planet who weren't cruel were Quakers and Tibetan monks. We are now becoming civilized because of a combination of education and mass-media communications which can breed empathy. So stepping into these characters heads that existed in those circumstances in that culture at that point in time is completely interesting to me. Then, to have this deep, beautiful, hideous, haunting story take me on this journey that I couldn't have dreamed of myself was a privilege.

I believe it's important to consider parts of the story as a manifestation of the symbolic, not just simply viewed as a fantasy. The daughter comes into her life from somewhere;ie, the daughter "haunts" her. The daughter's character has sex with Paul; symbolically, the daughter (the murder of the daughter) haunts Sethe to the point that the daughter even "comes (psychologically) between them" in bed. What the author has done is have these characters act out the symbolic events in physical form. This realization makes everything deeper, more interesting, and really creates new questions with no answers. This is not something of interest to people who want to have a fun read, seek escapism. You escape here into a kind of nightmare.

So yes, I recommend it to people that thrive on these kinds of things. But one thing I want to add, which was a touch of pure genius in the book, without giving the whole thing away; on the last page, if you have come this far, you have been deep into these characters, have gotten to know them, feel their pain. Then Tony Morrison wings that description, that physical detail at your head, knowing if it was even mentioned earlier it would have tainted most people's ability to empathize with this character. Most people would have mentally compartmentalized the character in a kind of "freak show" category, allowing a person to dismiss the character because it would be so hard to imagine that character's particular plight. She doesn't let you get away with it. If you have come this far, you have been there with the character the whole time. This master stoke was not acknowledged in the movie; it would have been almost impossible to present it visually, and one whole chunk of psychology was omitted and this is what makes the writing genius. This is what makes the psychology of the writing genius. This is why I love the book.

Rating:
Summary: Beloved - a masterpiece
Review: Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is a shattering book. The ingredients of the story are simple: slavery, a dead baby, broken lives and a broken family. But the lyrical prose and ingenious structure of this tale yields far more than a good novel: it produces a masterful epic that resounds with themes personal and universal, from the haunting of the past to the terror of slavery.

Some readers may not digest the way the story is told, and the author certainly makes no allowances. Her writing is similar to her protagonist, Sethe's, situation: either accept, understand, and experience the tale to its fullest, or leave bewildered.

Beloved is an extraordinary novel that I strongly recommend anyone to read.

Rating:
Summary: Toni Morrison At Her Best
Review: Toni Morrison shows true talent in writing "Beloved". It was beautifully wriiten and very powerful to the audience. She shows the past in a brilliant way. I would recomend this book to anyone, ecspecially those interested in the past or romance. Toni Morrison teaches great lessons in love, freedom, and life in general. Much can be learned from this piece of art.

Rating:
Summary: Not inspirational......
Review: I orginally watched Beloved on video. While watching I had this feeling that parts were missing. Usually a movie based on a novel can not include every single detail because of time limitations. However, even with this mind and numerous rewinds I still couldn't get into the movie. So I tried reading Beloved and while many reviewers thought the story was powerful, moving, ect...I respectfully disagree. I found the story of Sethe to be dark, depressing and unsettling. Slavery was a horrible crime against African Americans it is an important part of American history and should never be sugar coated. With that said I think that Ms. Morrison wanted to paint a picture that showed to true horrors of slavery; the worse form of human suffing imaginalbe. especially the psychological aspects. Which she did but with less than inspiring or uplifting results. I am a competent reader and I thought the book was a difficult read. It wasn't the language that was hard or difficult it was Ms. Morrisons habit of jumping from one flashback to another and her over use of metaphors.

I also simply could not relate to Sethe. I took an African American women history class in college and I know that there are factual accounts of slave women commiting infantcide but Ms. Morrisons horrible description of Sethe murdering her daughter as an alternative to having her taken back by the slavers that had abused her was too much. What Sethe indured was horrible but what she did to her daughter no matter what the reason was shocking and horrible. No wonder her spirit haunted Sethe.

Rating:
Summary: Different, beautifully different
Review: My high school english teacher in senior year made us read this. This was and is the first time I saw a supreme majority of students become engrossed with a single book without any complaints, other than "That part was confusing".
The key to this mind-shattering book is understand one thing: time is relative. Back, forth, back again, to the future, and all the way back. Things echo over the course of "Beloved", like time, pain, and the seeds that grow from them when they grow wild and are ignored. (that last part was a hint in understanding it, to let you know)

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: It is very strange and questionable why ceartain individuals and works recieve Nobel prizes, Pulizer Prices, ecs. This Book is one of these items which no doubt raises many questions.

The literary talent of the Author is unquestioned, yet the way she choose to construct this story and mix ceartain literary elements was ceartanly no success.What resulted was a confusing lengthy story with no plot, storyline, character development and an ending which can truly be called "One of THE worst".

The characters Flashbacks are neither interesting nor literary, but confusing and jumbled, forcing the reader to continue out of sheer willpower. The elements of Myth and Folklare are confusing, sometimes disgusting and unlike the ones in "Gabriel Marquez" Novels serve no point.

Through all this Jumble one finally reaches the Ending not knowing what happened, when all of a sudden the whole story dissapears with the revolting "Beloved" and we are left feeling that the Author definitly left something out. One is wondering how on earth this Book recieved the Pulitzer Price,and in the end it isnt worth wondering about because the answer will never be found.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: It is a good book but very hard to follow.

Rating:
Summary: I be-loved it
Review: This book artisticly shows the horrors of slavery and the culture that came from it. In flashbacks you see a lighter side of slavery mixed with the poingent heavy side. 124 was alive with people, escaped and freed slaves. Their culture and their lives revolved around their family, their freedom, and the spirit the church brought on. Morrison shows the desperation of the slave situation by writing about how a mother would kill her own children in order to keep them from going through slavery. A powerful and masterfuly writen novel.

Rating:
Summary: Moving and extremely powerful
Review: The story is very controversial and difficult to think about. But the way Morrison writes is so moving and powerful that I think the book is a must read. It is important that our society read books that give such insight to historical times. To be able to read this book is difficult and challenging but also so incredibly inspiring. Morrison writes in such a way that you believe you would act in exactly the way the main character does. Unbelivably powerful!