Rating: 
Summary: Emotion and horror graphically welded together; breathtaking
Review: I found this book easy to read despite what I had heard about Toni Morrison's past achievements. Emotion is eloquently conveyed and Ms. Morrison weaves in horror using her fluent talent, giving an unmissable read. I have to put a damper on my review and admit that I found the ending to be dissapointing and left me feeling rather cheated. It just didn't seem to match the grand quality the first two thirds seem to express to me. Read it; open your mind, but put it down near the end. It'll keep your opinion high.
Rating:
Summary: What the Hell!?
Review: Thats all I have to say about this book. The beginning is really slow and you have no clue as to what the hell Toni is talking about. As the book goes on though, you begin to peice together the story and you think you understand everything...but beleive me, you don't. Ok, lets get this strait, Sethe killed her baby so her baby wouldn't go through being a slave. The ghost in the house is the baby, which is Beloved...is she back from the dead or what? Geez, maybe im stupid or something, but if you want a book that confuses you read this one. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Forget the plot, enjoy the writing
Review: Beloved is an absolutely beautiful book...once you make the conscious decision that the plot is impossible to resolve, and stop trying to do so. This can be discomforting, since plot is the vehicle that takes us from one place to another, and since being lost is an inherent human fear. However, do not let the unknown destination deter you from a long, lovely drive.
Rating: 
Summary: ZERO STAR. TOTALLY BAD
Review: I guess if you are Toni Morrison, you can submit a pathetic piece of writing and call it a novel and still people will go to great length to qualify your work as a masterpiece, a must read, even select it for some of the highest awards. This is snobbishness at its best.....and I say poppycock to all this!! And shame on Oprah for pushing this book...I realize that friendship has its demands but one should also know what the limits are!! That being said, I truly feel that it is regrettable for our society that this important episode in the history of slavery will remain unknown to a large majority due to the complex and largely unaccessible style of this book
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Reading!
Review: My first - and certainly not last - experience with Toni Morrison's masterful writing talent. Her storytelling ability is unmatched! And this story is incredibly riveting. Character development is so impressive I could visualize their features and feel their emotions. I am VERY anxious to see the movie to learn how they creatively melded this story! Three cheers to Toni Morrison! Thank you
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing or perplexing?
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. The author doesn't tell you everything. If you want a book that is clear as regards both plot and time and belongs in our world, then this book is not for you. I didn't know what to expect when I picked it up, I just saw the Pulitzer prize medal on the cover and assigned it to myself. I definitely couldn't read the book in one night. You have to read it slowly, savor the language and the imagery, sometimes re-read the paragraphs in order to better understand. This book straddles 2 (or more?) worlds. My major question at the end of the book was what was that other world. One sequence of chapters at the end seemed to indicate that these characters are at once the same and different people; what exactly was it saying? But maybe if I ask the author would laugh at me and say, "If you don't intuitively know by reading the book, then you will never understand." Maybe some of the themes will make themselves clear in some Jungian way to a section of the population. But even though I didn't get the particulars of time and space and distinction between one person and another, that held sort of an other-worldly charm for me. You may not like it, though.
Rating:
Summary: What a phony book
Review: The book is an absolute sham. Toni Morrison seems to try too hard to render compelling situations by compelling writing. Except: the writing is technically constructed and hopelessly lacking in artistry. The idea of the "ghost" is stolen. There's nothing original about this book except for its tremendous lack of originality. Potential readers: don't waste your money, read (even) Anne Rice instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Big Deal
Review: Beloved gets my nomination for the most overpraised work of literature in recent years. P.C. or not, I question whether the work would have received a fraction of the accolades had it not been written by an otherwise very talented African-American woman, but admit it: Beloved is ponderous and rather dull. One can sympathize intensely with the suffering of the type of people portrayed without agreeing that the book is particularly entertaining. A must-read only for those who feel they "must."
Rating:
Summary: One of the extraordinary works of the 20th century...
Review: There are a dozen reasons to resist Beloved: It is too PC, Morrison supports O.J. Simpson, magical realism and stream-of-consciousness are passé. Nonetheless, Beloved is one of the extraordinary works of the 20th century. It combines a compelling story, a profound depiction of slavery and its human consequences, insight into pride, consciousness and self-awareness. The author's style fits the tale on several levels: its portrayal of an institution and experience too hideous to convey in conventional terms, its roots in the African story-telling modes and, finally, a sonorous resonance. The final pathos in the plot is its roots in a historic incident.As an avid reader, I'm surprised it took me fifteen years to catch up with Beloved. It has left an indelible impression.
Rating:
Summary: Rather monotonous
Review: I must confess that I started reading the book because it was written by a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner. After I finished the book I am still trying to figure out which are the artistic merits of the work. Sadly this is the type of book which you can leave to rest in your night table for weeks without feeling any particular need to end it, nor any particular desire to make it last. All the characters are surrounded by an overwhelming sadness, which is certainly understandable due to times in which they are living, so all of them are rather gray and dull. The author in order to compensate for this lack of "spark" within its novel, places a ghost which becomes the center of the action, with such a bad luck that the only parts of the plot which are good are those which have nothing to do with the ghost, either at the times in which it was an ethereal figure, or when out of the blue it incarnated in a very stupid an neurotic woman. Its a pity, I hate to loose my faith on the taste of the Jury who chooses the Nobel Prize of Literature. Better luck next time.
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