Beloved

Rating:
Summary: "Beloved, who was not beloved"
Review: It has been over a decade since the end of the Civil War, and even longer since the brutal slaying of an innocent child. Everyone has forgotten about the young babe, but the slayer's barbaric image still lingers fresh on the minds of observers and only grows fresher when the infant's ghost returns to haunt her mother's home. Sethe and her only remaining child, Denver, have grown accustomed to the always-present sense of evil that floats bitterly through their home. All of that changes though, when Paul D, an old friend, arrives unexpectedly at Sethe's door and scares the infant away with his rage over the constant injustices in life. For a single mother and former slave, who has lost all of her children but one, and who is constantly plagued by the haunting memory of her past, this liberation proves to be the gift of life. That is until, Beloved, a mysterious girl with no one else in the world, and who seems to know everything about Sethe, appears suddenly and re-imprisons Sethe's joy.

Through the feeling created on Sethe and Denver's livelihood, by the infant's ghost, and by Beloved, Morrison leaves the reader with a sense of an aggressive authority fixedly breaking the life of a less omnipotent figure. During Sethe's fugitive days when her former master hunted her like a hungry savage, Sethe attempted to save her four children by unmercifully killing them. Although a lasting memory, all her efforts were unsuccessful except one, her eldest daughter, who was only a little over one year old at the time, perished during Sethe's brutal rage. While the child was alive, Sethe constantly feared the presence and power of white authority, but the moment that the child's last breath rolled from her lips, that authority faded away like a forgotten dream. As Sethe and her surviving family painstakingly moved on with their lives, an evil, lonely and unwanted presence moved in to their home, and although, with the death of her baby, the physical authority, had disappeared, the threat lingered on in their minds, when the ghost arrived. Their joy was never quite satisfied; it was as if it was always shaded over by a somber shadow, the sun never shone on their souls. That is until, one bright day, Paul D, an old acquaintance, suddenly appeared, like an angel, on Sethe's porch and, distraught by the constant and never ending challenges blacks have been plagued with, wrathfully breaks out, and chases out the infant's ghost. As soon as the presence has left, it is like a giant weight was lifted off of Denver and Sethe's shoulder, their joy finally radiates from all of the dark shaded years it was quieted. For the first time since Sethe was had her child, and for the first time in Denver's life, they are bursting with joy. The removal of the ghost removed any of their lingering fears of white authority, or any other powerful master figure. Unfortunately, the baby returns, not as a ghost this time, but as a mysterious young woman who is lost in the world, but whom both Sethe and Denver feel attracted to by something deep inside them which they cannot control. This mysterious girl, Beloved, they can not see it themselves, but removes the light and happiness which has shone in them for this short time, her presence entraps them, and at the same time separates them from one another. So, just as the feeling of authoritative threat vanished with the infant, it returned. Beloved and the baby are like government officials, when they have spent a considerable length of time monitoring one place, and they feel that they have scare the people enough that they no longer feel that their presence is needed to enforce the law, they move on. For a while, that threat lingers, and the fear stands in people's minds, until, one day, a person who is has not yet made the acquaintance of these officials, arrives and gives rebirth to the people's joy. It is then evident that they are not longer weaker than their government, and that they too can have fun, but it is when the officials return, that it is the hardest. The harder people resist the authority, the harder they will fall when they break anew. That is what happened to Paul D. Beloved was blunt towards him, and when she over powered him, she broke him for good. So, Morrison leaves the reader with a sense of over empowerment by an invisible force through the characters of Beloved and the infant's ghost.

Beloved, was my first Toni Morrison novel, and I loved it. I strongly recommend this labyrinth of thoughts and emotions to all readers. This is especially appealing to those who have an affection for the abstract thoughts and the potent imagination of great minds in our world.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing Foolish Fiction
Review: This book is really disturbing and filled with emotional persuassion which has no basis in fact. It is very hard to understand and is not worth the read. If a child wrote a book like this - they would probably get hauled off to iron bars for being psychotic. The book is not interesting. If you really want to find out about it - watch the movie. This book is a political sham of fictitious events & emotions.

Rating:
Summary: Deeply moving story of slavery's interior landscape
Review: *Beloved* is an extended piece of jazz fiction. Each main character's consciousness is like a separate instrument in a jazz ensemble and Morrison improvises within each character's consciousness upon the melody of Sethe's story. Escaped from slavery, Sethe has buried the memory of her experience and in this tale the memories slowly, in fragments, without chronological order, begin to emerge, thanks largely to the appearance of Paul D, a man from her slave past. The story moves through Sethe's consciousness as well as Paul D's, Sethe's daughter Denver's, the ghost's, and the consciousness of other characters.

As readers, we learn about slavery from the inside out. Not only do we learn about being enslaved, but we learn about the experience of being free. This story is about codes of conduct and we witness Baby Suggs, and then Sethe, violate the former slaves' code and we see the community of former slaves betray Sethe and her family as a consequence.

Morrison's exploration of Sethe being betrayed and shunned by her own people is courageous and moves us into the complex history of African-American community relationships. Can this community welcome Sethe back into its fold? Can Sethe ever be ready to accept others into her intimacy again? Can Sethe heal from having been treated atrociously and from committing an atrocity herself? How is memory an agent of healing? And, finally, how does Toni Morrison explore all of these questions in the context of a ghost story?

This novel is deeply internal. It resides in the memories, dreams, thoughts, and stories of its characters. As the fragments begin to cohere, we see a profoundly moving and, I think, healing tale unfold.

In this novel, Toni Morrison has beautifully reconstructed history so that we imaginatively experience slavery from the inside of those who experienced it. The lyrical language of each character's soul vibrates with joy, suffering, longing, desire, and hope. I consider *Beloved* a divinely inspired novel. I can't imagine a history of slavery reaching as deeply and as profoundly into the truth of slavery as this fiction does.

Rating:
Summary: confusing but interesting
Review: This book was very confusing to me, but it held my interest to the very end. If you like stories about ghosts or mystery you will like this book. It takes place in the late 1800's in Ohio. The main character talks a lot about her struggles while she was pregnant trying to run from the white men that held her as a slave. Once she got away she didn't want to ever go back, so when the white men came to get her and her children she had to do something horrible. That incident is the link to the whole story. This book is to me sad and confusing, but it was very good and it makes you feel for the characters.

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Summary: Community
Review: This book is beautifully written and has a powerful message. The message is about community. Evil does not bother a strong, cohesive community. Toni Morrison is a wonderful author and I recommend any one of her books.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, but not the best!
Review: Beloved contains a subject that Morrison has not dealt with before: slavery. While the novel has been controversial, Morrison has been honest and unflinching in her look at the effects of slavery and a mother's love for her children. Beloved certainly deserves the acclaim it has received. However, I do not believe that this novel is Morrison's best.

As someone who has read five Morrison novels in the past four months, perhaps this review won't be completely fair. Beloved is well-written and original, but I am not sure that it lives up to it's reputation. I am well-aware that if a person were to pick up any Morrison novel, they would probably read this one first. But I also hope that they would read her other works after. I do think that this is a terrific novel, but I also think that her other works deserve just as much acclaim, if not more.

Rating:
Summary: Why the hype?
Review: After all the hype surrounding this novel, I was excited to read it for a college English class. However, after finishing the novel I am sorry I ever opened it. The story is intriguing but Morrison's writing is atrocious. The book is 275 pages long but any competent author could have written it in less than 175. At times her writing takes the author into a stream of consciousness that leads nowhere but to infinite sentence fragments, haziness as to who is speaking, and a headache. When speaking about African American writers, Hurston is worlds above Morrison.

Rating:
Summary: Agaronce
Review: This book shows just how vain mankind can become. It demonstraights that if we as a people, are to servive on this world we must work with each other. We nor can anybody think that we are beter than someone else just because we don't understand them, because we have not took the time to learn about their culture. This book shows how anybody in this circumstance would act and even feel, It does not matter what color you are. We would all act the same way. If we the people in this country want to progress and move foward, then we must learn from our past mistakes and change. This book makes it clear that the first step is to understand each other, not to put someone down just because we don't understand them. We must communacate with each other, learn about each other, and togsther strive to build a better future for everyone. That I belive is what Toni Morrisn Is trying to say in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Book about Slavery
Review: Toni Morrison's Beloved is not her best book, but one in which she covers themes and a time period she hasn't written about before. Contrary to some , Beloved is not a novel about the institution of slavery. This is a novel about a woman and her family and the lengths she went through to make sure her children did not endure the horrors she did. This novel is also a bit of a ghost story which brings the supernatural theme into play. I think that Morrison's portrayal of the ghost Beloved was top-notch, making me wonder throughout the novel whether or not Beloved was really real. Although not one of Morrison's best novels, it is a terrifically written, thoroughly enjoyable novel based on a real-life person.

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Summary: A Beautiful Novel, but is it worth the Hype?
Review: In a discussion I had recently about this novel, Morrison's 5th, we were considering whether or not it deserved the acclaim that it has received. I personally did not like this novel as much as some of Morrison's other works. Perhaps I have been reading too much Morrison (is that possible?) but I really believe some of her other works deserve more acclaim than Beloved. Morrison is a wonderful writer. She is a true master at her art, but when Beloved was released she was at the top of her popularity. Is it possible that it was her critical acclaim and not necessarily the book that won her the Pulitzer? Thank goodness we have women to write as Morrison does, but I wouldn't say reading Beloved alone can give a person a true appreciation of her complexity. It's a start, but a truly interested reader should not stop there.