Beloved

Rating:
Summary: rated R
Review: Caution. This book is for mature audiences only.
Beloved by Toni Morrison has powerful imagery. There are explicit and offensive scenes throughout the book. I was appalled by the graphics and I pained me to have to continue the book. This is the main cause that I felt this book is for only the mature. I was constantly squirming at the pictures that had been created in my minds eye. It is a book filled with anger, hate, sex, violence, and offensive language. (How much more like a rated R movie can you get?)
The book is about a freed slave woman and her family. Sethe, the main character has to deal with the memories of her past and live with the choices she's made.
A plot that was as twisted and confusing as the labyrinth but unfolded to somewhat of being understandable was impressive. From the on set you are set in confusion. The complex plot was, at times frustrating. There were many random flashbacks and sometimes you dont know if its a flashback or not. It was a puzzle that was scattered out and ever so slowly, piece by piece it all came back together in the end. It was very intriguing in that sense, but frustrating because I was constantly going back to find out what was going on, and only when I had gone back did pervious things make sense. The author traps you in her sticky web where you are disgusted and would throw the book away but yet curious to see what will happen next.
The book has controversial themes to it, which are always mature topics. Some of the many themes that are encountered are: the supernatural, slavery, women's rights, prejudices with blacks and whites. Hot topics like these are difficult for the younger ones to comprehend.
With all these things bombarding me I felt like my poor brain would explode from all the pressure.
All in all I felt that it was a really well written book. The author allowed me to be apart of the story and to get in to it even though I didn't care for the content or to be apart of the story. So if you liked everything I've mentioned so far, than that's terrific. You should get the book right away; if not, than its better to avoid it. The author, however, I feel is very talented in her craft. Props to her.

Rating:
Summary: Get to the point
Review: Beloved is a beautifully written novel. Morrison creates beautiful images throughout the entire novel that help the reader to try to understand the emotions of the characters. However, the concept of "rememory" and the various flashbacks that occur throughout the novel confuse the reader rather than help them.
Every character in the novel is forced to face their pasts at some point in the book. Morrison demonstrates this by strategically placing flashbacks throughout the book. Although the flashbacks do provide some insight into the life of the characters, they confuse the reader and force the reader to piece together the puzzle of Beloved themselves. Morrison should have written the novel in chronological order to help readers understand her concepts.
Despite the fact that Beloved is quite confusing, I still give it three stars. Morrison is quite good at her craft, as her complex plot kept me interested in the novel. I would reccommend the novel to others.

Rating:
Summary: mostly good
Review: Beloved is a beautifully written novel. It's amazing how Morrison can make you feel all the pain, sadness, anger, happiness, and most of all, the confusion that the characters feel.
Though the writing was exceptional, I found the content to be grotesque, and I admit that some parts were too graphic for my taste. Though some people may like reading books like that, I didn't. I suppose it's because I'm not used to it. I know that even though I didn't like reading it, things like that still happened.
Morrison pushes controversy to the limit by putting a good spin on a heinious crime. Though she never supports nor criticizes Sethe's actions, you get the impression that Morrison approved of Sethe's decision to kill her daughter. Sethe, after all, is the protagonist.
Morrison is excellent at what she does, and though I didn't love the book, I would recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: a tad disappointing
Review: I am not a critic but a lowly high school student, neither bright nor insightful. Having confessed that, I would now like to say thank God I am not a critic because they often have terrible taste, as is the case with this particular novel. It is simply unoriginal.

First I was disgusted by the grotesque episodes, but gradually decided they were excusable considering the fact that slavery and everything that came with it was absolutely horrendous. Then I thought I enjoyed Morrison's writing style; it seemed unique, poetic, and not at all as difficult as some make it out to be. The seemingly random flashbacks add to the theme of "rememories." After a while, though, the style became tiring, even silly. The chapters that appear to be narrated by Beloved are irritating rather then touching, the sudden shifts to stream-of-consciousness are abrupt and unexcused, and most vexing of all is Morrison's lack of point. She obviously has many themes running through the story but does not make any new statements, and everything is stated in an overly dramatized manner. Take, for example, the entity Beloved. Without technically affirming Beloved's identity as that of the murdered little girl, Morrison piles on hint after blatant hint; they become, not merely repetitive, but an insult to the intelligence of the reader. "I get it: Beloved is the crawling already? baby! now please get on with it!" And yet she still tries to make it mysterious by insinuating that Beloved's appearance may be interpreted as a freakish coincidence.

I am sure that there is much more meaning in this novel than I have extracted so far, but since just about every sentence seems to be open for interpretation, isn't the reader practically making up the meaning for himself? Why can't Morrison just SAY something? Her symbols (Paul D's "tobacco tin" and "red heart" - come on now) are often so unexplained and, well, banal, that I want to laugh. I refrain, however, because I am still a lowly teenager and, though I consider myself well-read, I must also be extremely dense to miss whatever sensational and "shattering" message was supposed to be conveyed through Beloved. Rather than considering the book to be over my head, though, I prefer to say that it is "under my toes," and unworthy of any more of my time.

Rating:
Summary: Beloved
Review: This book can't really show you what it was actually like being a slave, it more or less tells you what the characters experience in those times. Morrison tries to give a slight visual of what happen in those times and how they felt about not being able to be there own person. And forgettin about how it felt to laugh and love. She talked about Sethe not wanting to remember her past . I mean who want to remember being beat and rape. She was rape for her milk that was there for her children and they "stole it". Morrison has a way of writing in a very descriptive way . Each chapter is giving you a vivid image in your mind not trying to make you undrestand what happen but letting you see through the eyes of the writer. Is this our story? (African American) or His-Story

Rating:
Summary: Beloved: Abuse of Power?
Review: Without a doubt, Toni Morrison's "Beloved" is a powerful novel, addressing such controversial issues as race, religion, slavery, gender, and the supernatural. With such powerful topics to cover, one question is asked: Is Morrison pushing her book too far?
Obviously, slavery is a major issue in "Beloved". Set in the Civil War era, in a time where slavery plagues American life and Black people are made to feel its wrath at the hands of white people simply because of skin color, "Beloved" revolves around Sethe, a Black mother who, while fleeing from a life of slavery, becomes pregnant. Not wanting her newborn daughter to have to endure the horrors of slavery, Sethe does what she feels is the right thing and kills her, believing that even death is preferable to a life of slavery.
Life is the issue at this point. A question that still is being asked today is "Who has the right to life?" Does a baby have the right to make his or her own choices, even though they aren't clear, or should adults be able to make those choices?
Another critical issue is the role gender plays in the story. With men being portrayed as being passive in the face of injustice, as when Halle, Sethe's husband, does nothing to prevent her from being raped by white boys, or ovely agressive, as when Paul D., a former slave, pushes Sethe to remember her past and not just to forget it, and women being portrayed as caring, as is the case of Sethe's mother-in-law Baby Suggs, who devotes her life to aiding those coping with slavery, or the case of Amy Denver, who, though despite being White, aids Sethe in giving birth to Denver, is Morrison trying to reverse the role of the sexes to strike back at sexism, or is she only trying to reverse the cycle of sexism by lifting women up and cuting men down.
Lastly, with the story told from the perspective of the slave rather than that of the master, the reader is able to witness the evils of slavery. Again, controversey arises. Is Morrison using the story as a realistic satire in hopes of alreting people to the harshness of racism, or is she, with the use of anti-White language and imagery, trying to lift up Black status by cutting down White people?
In closing, no one can doubt the power of "Beloved", but much can be said and debated over how that power is used.

Rating:
Summary: Good story, poor writing
Review: Having read Toni Morrison before, I have been distinctly unimpressed with her writing style. I was not looking forward to reading this book when I found it on my fall semester reading list but decided to plug through it anyways. Needless to say, my opinion of Morrison's writing has not changed.
Allow me first to give credit where credit is due and say that at moments Morrison's creativity shines through, especially in the emotionally charged and disturbing storyline. However, she chooses to employ several contemporary literary devices that her writing is not suited for (creation of words such as 'coloredfolk', 'rememory', and 'crawlingalready?baby') as well as unnecessarily dramatic writing. Referencing Paul D's heart as a 'tobacco tin' that has been rusted shut is a rather trite image. Morrison also pretends that she is hinting at possible identities of Beloved, but the repetitive parallels drawn between the dead baby and the mysterious woman are blatant. She needs to either pare down the 'subtle' references or leave out any room for interpretation.
What carries this book is the storyline and the themes, not the writing style. For lack of a better comparison, Morrison reminds me of Stephen King-- exceptional ideas, but lacks (or fails at) innovation in the actual writing. Despite my poor rating I would recommmend reading this book simply for the issues it explores, but instead of paying $13, go borrow it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: easy to understand, if you have a brain
Review: This is the best book by Toni Morrison. Don't ignore it because some people have trouble understanding it. It's amazingly written. The story is incredible. Morrison is simply a literary genius.

Rating:
Summary: Zandra Carter
Review: i liked the book because it was were weied to me u would have to read or watch it twice to understand the book

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Novel of the 20th Century
Review: Like many readers, I hold near and dear to my heart those books that have been classics for decades upon decades - "The Great Gatsby," "The Catcher in the Rye," "Lolita," - but to me there is one book that completely embodies perfection in the form of the written word. That book is Toni Morrison's "Beloved." This may seem like a lofty placement for a novel written less than 20 years ago, but people were calling "Citizen Kane" the greatest movie ever made only 20 years after its release, and we think that's okay too. Put simply, "Beloved" explores a theme that many books hardly dare to touch (maybe because of how much it scares their authors...) - the notion that our past is something that is completely inexcapable. Morrison could have easily expounded upon this idea in a thoughtful essay or short story, but instead she brings us the sprawling, complex, and beautifully rendered "Beloved." That theme that runs through her wonderful novel is the main thing that stays with you after reading it, but for me the things about "Beloved" that still haunt me are the little moments: Paul D caressing his hands gently over Sethe's mangled back, Whitegirl massaging Sethe's feet back to life, the shadows holding hands on the way to the carnival. In a magnificent stroke, Morrison brings the emotional truth and point of her novel not through vast lines that stretch through the narrative, but through little "smashed mirror"-type moments and flashbacks that combine to form the final product. "Beloved" is fantastic as a collective experience, but reading the novel entails not just the psychological and emotional journey of its characters, but of the reader. Few books out there have such a devastating emotional impact as this one, and that lies within certain sentences, words, and moments that Morrison expertly crafts. You don't have to be African-American or a woman to enjoy this book - I'm an 18 year old white male and felt it meant as much to me as it would to an African American grown woman. That's the great thing about "Beloved" and all of Morrison's works (read them all- she hasn't written a bad one yet) - one needs not to match the characteristics of their protagonists, but simply be a member of the human race. That's what "Beloved" applies to, everyone on earth - we all have a past and moments within it that we'd rather have not exist. "Beloved" is a reminder to us all that those dark moments of our past will haunt our present AND future.