Rating: 
Summary: I found the book eye opening and entertaining
Review: This book was really complicating when I first started out. I found it difficult to understand exactly what was happening. But Toni Morrison had a unique way of bringing the story together. It was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. I liked that. It made me pay attention to what would usually seem like a minor detail. Toni Morrison's way of describing things were good too; crawling already baby, men without skin. It was different and made me think. I also found myself thinking differently about the whole slavery issue. Ever since I was young I've had the same feelings, but this made me understand the horrors that slavery was really about. The one thing that I had trouble dealing with was the fact that Beloved came back as a person, I just find that hard to grasp. But Morrison doesn't really give you the option to agree with it. It's the way it is, matter of fact.
Rating: 
Summary: I feel that Beloved was an extraordinary book.
Review: After reading Beloved I would have to say that it was truly one of the best books that I have ever read, and perhaps the best that Toni Morrison has ever written. My favorite part was when Sethe, Paul D, and Denver all went to the carnival together. It created such a warm picture and really gave me hope for the direction of the book. My least favorite part was the chapter in shich beloved was speaking about the other side where she had been. It was very unclear, and I feel that properly understand it you would have to talk to Toni Morrison personally. Overall though I would again have to say that this book was tremendous, regardless of any unclear parts.
Rating: 
Summary: Just not my type of story, I guess.
Review: This book was terrible. I haven't read any of Toni's other books, but I didn't like this one at all. For one, the whole idea of a "ghost-child" coming back from the dead and being totally accepted by a family, no matter how much they missed this person, is a little looney. Perhaps this is only because of what I expected of the book. I don't have a problem with ghost stories at all, but it doesn't even tell how Beloved "crossed over", why she disappeared at the end, or what she even came back for. There was also a whole lot of gibberish, and incoherant babbling that made no sense whatsoever. Some things that were repeated over and over (i.e., "dead man on my face") never got explained. The constant crouching, and the "bridge" were also never expanded on. The only positive thing that I can come up with that came in this story was that Denver went from being so selfish to trying to help Sethe. I would consider reading other books by Morrison, but I just didn't care for this one.
Rating:
Summary: Too Unbelievable to be Beloved!
Review: I viewed the movie with a close friend, and to be quite honest, neither one of us enjoyed the movie. We were both disappointed. The movie did nothing to promote or enhance Oprah and/or Danny Glover's acting career. After seeing the movie I do not want to read the book, and I am glad I waited. I went on the suggestion of Oprah. She stating she was able to relate the events in the book to her own life. That statement mystifies me. All I can say is, both she and Ms Morrison have severe psychological problems. The stem core of their problem is of a spiritual nature and deals with the occult. I had to wait until I was 54 years old to see Danny Glover's naked butt. The audience in the theater all responded negatively when he stood up naked, so my feelings were shared by others watching the movie. Not to mention the naked scenes of Beloved; especially her last act where she appeared pregnant and crazy. There are enough films that put blacks in a negative and deragotory light. This film did nothing to educate or depict blacks, as anything but a bunch of crazy fanatics. In talking with others who saw the movie, my feelings were not alone. In fact a radio station in Columbus, OH told its audience to save their money. I wished I had waited. Toni Morrison may be a wonderful and prolific writer, but I personally feel she deals too much with the occultic world and with Satan and his influences on people's lives. We all know Satan is all about killing, stealing and destroying, why help him in his work. The events that transpired could not have possibly occured, I am talking especially about Beloved being reincarnated. To believe any of the movie, even though it is a novel, you would have to be already possessed and need spiritual help. It shows you how much we need the Lord to return and to keep His promise.
Rating:
Summary: I Just Don't See It
Review: Yeah, everyone is raving about this book. I think it's terrible. I spent maybe fifteen minutes on just a single page at some points. It's so difficult to read, it's hardly worth it. Morrison likes to say something that makes absolutely no sense, and by the time she gets around to clarifying it you've already forgotten the first incident. It has some interesting things to study for a literature class, but for pleasure reading it's horrible. It took me two months to get through it. It focuses a lot on motherhood and slavery, and as a high school student, I can't relate. Yeah, we've heard just how awful slavery was. I've read other more grotesque descriptions that hit a lot harder than this roundabout way of telling it. If you must read it, take notes as you go and note every detail or you'll be way lost.
Rating:
Summary: Beloved Empowers the Soul
Review: Beloved has been on my BEST book list for years and I return to its wonderful passages for sustenance. The horrors of American slavery which was sanctioned by the US constitution impacted African Americans both physically and emotionally. Beloved allows one to feel the pain of Sethe who realizes that death is better than slavery. The sugary images of slavery as depicted by whites which showed happy Negroes with no desire to be free was a lie. Enslaved Africans always wanted to be free and over 100 US laws had to written to suppress, oppress and repress those dreams. Toni Morrison does a wonderful job of showing how the psychological effect of slavery can transcend generations. The fact that true freedom is in the mind not the body is evinced through Sethe's final emancipation. I cling to Sethe for she embodies the strength of African American women who continue to survive the present horrors of life in the USA.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent novel about the pain and heartache of slavery!
Review: Beloved was one of the most riveting books I've ever read. Toni Morrison really grasped what it was like to sacrifice yourself and your children for freedom. Her characters were rich with meaning; with them she was able to conveythe true meaning of pain and anguish. Ms. Morrison is among the greatest to ever pick up the pen. I am proud that she was able to get millions of people to finally understand what happened in the moments when no one was looking. She presented the realism that is Black thought and belief; never before has a more real situation or more real characters been created.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring ... EXTREMELY BORING !!!
Review: I did not read this book. I had the unfortunate experience of listening to Toni Morrison drag me through her unabridged book on audio. If ever a book needed to be abridged, this is the book. I listened to it on a long driving trip that I had hoped would be shortened with Ms. Morrison reading her much applauded book to me. As it turned out the long trip became a long ordeal. I kept thinking ... somewhere is all this fluff there has to be a story. There is little doubt concerning Toni Morrison's command of the English language, but her style is so pompous and detailed as to leave me cold. The story is so boring and confusing I can't imagine a decent movie from it. I give the book 2 stars for the language. The story itself deserves no rating at all ... same old brutal slave story. I already know that slavery was wrong and bad and all that other politically correct crap. I hardly need Toni and Oprah to beat me over the head with it again. By the way, I noticed some readers comment about reading this book several times. I can understand that ... it is so confusing you need to read it several times to understand it and once you understand it the conclusion is ... so what!
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: Toni Morrison has a strong grasp of the English language in everything she has written that I've read. But in them all, the words never really flowed for me and came up cold and stilted. I didn't care about the characters, I only cared about how far it was until the last page so that I could be done with it.This book is vastly overrated, especially by my english profressor who thought it was the greatest American novel ever. Sad, but true.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite novels...
Review: I've read this novel three times and recently watched the movie. Like all of Morrison's fiction, Beloved takes the reader through the pieces of shattered identities and lives. With the patience required to read any good piece of fiction, Morrison's novel begins to unfold on a variety of levels. For the African American community there is the subject of the history of slavery, struggling to place that history in the creation of identity, and the power of community. There is also the all-important question of what is your "best thing?" The book is marvelous and will haunt you for life--but with issues that *should* haunt you for life!
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