Beloved

Rating:
Summary: Beloved -- a "shaped and decorated" tale
Review: Beloved is a deceptively small book in heft and size. Even the story, on the surface, covers a short span of time - from that day Paul D walks in the door at 124 and chases the ghost away to the day, less than a year later, of his return. But the novel is anything but small. It's dense with imagery, rich and twisting language, and Magical Realism. It casts a spell, engaging the reader as only Morrison can do, inviting her to follow the labyrinth of memory, storytelling, and repetition to the center and out again.

Beloved has been called many things -- a ghost story, a story about slavery in America, a love story. It is all these. Its central figure, Sethe, an ex-slave living in Cincinnati, had a short taste of freedom and happiness before binding herself in guilt and grief. The reason for her grief is the reason for the ghost that haunts her home and for the solitary life she lives with her daughter, Denver. And it is this mystery that unfolds in a winding trail of "rememory" and storytelling that begins with the entrance of Paul D, a man Sethe knew from a plantation called Sweet Home, and Beloved, a young woman who appears one day leaning on a stump in the yard.

If you like linear - beginning, middle, ending - novels, don't read this one unless you relish something different. This is a story "shaped and decorated" over and over by different voices, different characters, even the same character retelling it. Through all the circling narrative, we come to know the characters deeply and, because of this, the emotional power of the novel is tremendous. The subject of slavery alone is disturbing, and by presenting it through Sethe's eyes and the eyes, ears and thoughts of her community, Morrison demonstrates its brutality and far-reaching devastation, as well as the soaring and crippling power of human love.

Some parts of the novel, particularly the chapters written entirely from Beloved's point of view, are challenging. She seems to embody more than Sethe's dead child with her broken narrative of "crouching" and "men without skin" and the dead man on her face. The poetic language and the images evoke the horrors of slave holds in ships at sea. Later, the poetry of the entwined voices of the three women - Beloved, Sethe, Denver - is startling and uncomfortable. The swallowing has begun. The question at first is who is swallowing whom?

A few reviewers found Beloved to be too difficult, or worse -- a waste of time. It is definitely a thinking person's book. Morrison requires you to engage in the story, to become part of it. It is this capacity for participation that I find so amazing about her writing, as well as her incredible use of language. If you want to read a novel that will invite you to think, feel and be changed, read this one. It will walk you through its neighborhoods and ask you to engage open-heartedly with its characters, to hear their stories long before you ever understand the one story you set out to read. Beloved deserves all the acclaim it has received.

Rating:
Summary: Story That Just Will Not End
Review: This unbelievable novel will leave one wondering and not learning or relizing. I feel that this was a tale that was tried to be made into a bellieveable story. This in the end was entirely unsuccessful in its goal. I feel that the plot went a little to far from the way that the book started. It was greatley writen and had many unsuspecting turns. All at the same time though it changed its manor and type of story write in the middle. I feel as though this story started as a fairly realistic novel and by the end it was a scifi story. This was the only part of this book that I did not enjoy but it is a very large section in my eyes. I want to know what I am getting into when I pick up a novel. This was a giant trick in my eys and with that I ended the book with a bad taste in my mouth. This fictional story is one that should be read with an open mind and with no real understanding for the charictures actions. It unbelieveable what some of these people in the book acted and said. This novel will interest only the readers that have no real goal of walking away with a sencce of point or moral reasoning. ONly read with the same open eyes as one would see a Die Hard movie with.

Rating:
Summary: Just Repulsive
Review: This book is disgusting and gross and I really wish that the things in this book weren't true. Though this book gives you a clear depiction of what being a slave looks like and what truly happens, it doesn't make it any less depressing and just down right gross. This book will cause your stomach to feel pain and your heart to ache. The agony of this poor women's life is horrible and I would only suggest reading this book if you truly want your heart and mind to hurt and if you want to be brought to tears.

Rating:
Summary: "Touch Me, On The Inside Part..."
Review: Overflowing with, forbidden sexuality, lust, and tragedy, Toni Morrison's book, Beloved, portrayed a deeper, and darker inside view into a slave woman's plight for life. Complete with a ghost, this tale weaves in and out of the supernatural and reality with amazing complexity and skill. Overall, this was a wonderful book with ravashing content.

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Summary: The Emporer's New Clothes
Review: This is an award winning book, but I would hate to see what the losing books were like. Obviously someone in the literature world decided to proclaim this book "wonderful" and everyone else agreed it must be so. The truth is, however, that this book is filled with details of people's sex lives, beastiality, foul language, and dark spiritualism. A definite must-not-read for any Christian.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written!
Review: This was a really good book! I recommend it to anyone ages 15+. Although it's pretty hard to understand the plot of the story, you have to reread it, and take your time. I think Toni Morisson is a great writer. I don't think "Beloved" was one of her best, but I think "The Bluest Eye" was! I think you should read this book, you will learn about the suffering of slaves. The wordings and descriptions in this book are just amazing! The way she describes Sethe's character , the women of four, is truely unbelievable! If you don't want to read this book, you should rent or buy the movie "Beloved", Opera stars in it! She's plays so well!

Rating:
Summary: Not engrossing, not entertaining, not enlightening
Review: I did not enjoy this book. Try The Color Purple instead.

Rating:
Summary: Beloved: A powerful story of the past
Review: I think Toni Morrison's book Beloved is an excellent piece of work. Through her words she creates vivid descriptions and images in the minds of the reader of how life was back then in the past. It is truely inspiring to learn about the suffering of slaves. It brings out a very interesting and thought provoking question of "What would you do?" in Sethe's position. Would you let your child be taken away to slavery and live a life of misery or kill them so they would never know the horrors of slavery? I truely liked Beloved and Toni Morrison's style of writing. It has inspired me to want to read more of her works.

Rating:
Summary: The Present and the Past is Always Around
Review: When I first started reading Beloved by Toni Morrison I did not think that I would enjoy it. I have never been the type to read older books set in day. As it just so happens this book was very good. Beloved by Toni Morrison is a great book. It is set back in the day and has a lot of interesting points of the past. Beloved was an inspiration for me because it allowed me to see just how slaves were treated. I would suggest this book to anyone because there are a lot of good points that are told and that are resolved. Beloved had really helped me to see that even though times are rough they always get better. Anyone who likes to learn more about the past and who is eager to be entertained should read Beloved.

Rating:
Summary: Tries too hard?
Review: Morrison, while clearly a talanted author, weilds imagry like a chainsaw. There is no subtly in this work, and she often is too indirect when she needs to be direct, and too blunt when she shouldn't be. To compare her writing to that of Garcia-Marquez is to the the later a grave injustice.