Rating: 
Summary: You either Love it, Hate it, or simply get conFuSed by it!
Review: Beloved is one of the most complex albeit rewarding and satisfying novels I have ever read about American history, especially that regarding the treatment of blacks at the hands of the racist whites at the time.
I got introduced to the novel Beloved this year in my literature class, and i am really disappointed that many people my age (16 years) or a bit older do not appreciate aspects of Beloved...
Yes, it is a hard and confusing novel, but it is unique and that is what caught my attention...
Many people complain that the ghost aspect of the story puts them off the novel. What they fail to realise is that the Africans of that time believed and accepted spiritual occurrences and so the ghosts were part of everyday life.. Beloved is packed with symbolism and metaphors. This is what makes it such a challenging read because the reader can never let their guard down, or else they might miss out on valuable and subtle clues about the characters' pasts.
One example of the use of symbolism by Morrison is the house 124. To all the characters, it did not feel like just a house or a structure to live in. It was a person by its own right and meant different things to different characters. 'Denver approached the house, regarding it, as she always did, as a person rather than a structure. A person that wept, sighed trembled and fell into fits.' (Page 29)
To many runaway slaves, 124 was their first taste of freedom after a life full of the horrors of slavery. To townsfolk, it was a place not only of childhood memories, but also of the murder of "Beloved" and Sethe's craziness.
To Baby Suggs, it was her first house that came at a hard price. It was a place where no one was allowed to come from the back door. Everyone was welcome to come and stay. It was the first place in which she was truly free, where she could block memories of slavery. (Slaves were forced to come from the backdoor of a white person's house, which is why Baby Suggs blocked the backdoor)
To Sethe, it was two things. She believed it was her freedom. By shutting the front door, which had remained open to outsiders and the neighbourhood when 124 was at its hey-day, she had shut herself away from the world. It was her first ever house and that was significant to her. I think Sethe's the kind of person who needs something to show milestones in her life. For example, when she married Halle, she really wanted a proper marriage and as that was not possible, she made a dress on the sly. It was important to her that there was something to affirm this marriage. Similarly, I think that as the dress was important to her, the house must have been too, which might be one of the reasons that she was so adamant that she wouldn't leave it. It was her first taste of freedom and the first time she was able to feel secure, away from white people.
124 was a form of repression for Denver, who yearned to be loved and enjoy the companies of people outside of the house.
As you can see, there is more to the house than meets the eye, and this is just one of many examples of how Morrison uses symbolism to get her message across and to help you form your opinion about the characters. You just have to have the patience and the time.
Who do i recommend this book to? It is not an easy book, so i do not have an easy answer. Mainly, i would recommend that this novel be discussed in a group, because sometimes you might miss out on an important detail that another person might have picked up..
I would not recommend this to anyone looking for a quick read or anyone who does not want to learn the truth about slavery. It IS grotesque in many places and touches many tabboo subjects.
However, I would recommend it to mature readers who like a challenge and who are willing to be immersed in a novel.
So I really hope that you read it because it rewards you in the end. It is a captivating novel if you allow it to be.. Take your time and let the novel speak for itself.
Rating:
Summary: Zowie! Powerful, evocative, painful, and beautiful
Review: Beloved, Toni Morrison's beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning story of the south about one woman's life during the years on both sides of the Civil War, sucks readers in and doesn't spit them out till it's good and ready. Mesmerizing style of writing with the story-line weaving in and out, back and forth through time and location. That loose time thread sometimes makes for confusion in the reader's mind - as indeed it confuses Sethe, the protagonist with a deep dark secret that loosened the anchors of her mind.
The story begins with hints (well, more than hints) of a dead child, a ghost, a runaway slave, and all the horrors associated with those issues. But the writing, Oh, the writing! It reads like poetry, words wrapping around images, caressing them from all angles, shaping them like wet river clay into the precise phrases needed to reshape the structure and flow of the story.
Parts are so graphic that it becomes difficult to continue reading; parts are so touching that rereading is desired; parts are so lyrical that they just flow along like a slow, sultry river in Louisiana
And most readers don't quite see the end coming till it's right upon them. There are a bazillion hints as to what's really behind Sethe's often inexplicable words and actions and memories, but they are leaked out one by one, like slow drips from a leaky faucet. When the truth comes, spelled out in screaming letters, it's still a shock.
Mandatory reading on many levels: history, literature, style of writing, and message.
Rating:
Summary: Genius Wizardess
Review: I liked the movie, but the book knocked me out. I felt the story was too brilliant, uncomfortable, symbolic, just plainly TOO DEEP for the majority of people. But that's ok, that's what makes "Beloved" what it is. Unique. This book took my breath away. Pure genius. Dark genius. Who am I? 44 yr. old white female surrealist artist (full time), loves history, classics, Jung, mythology, and science for non- scientists. Live in Fells Point, Baltimore. Believes in reincarnation. This is the general picture of where I'm coming from. I enjoy black history. I don't get defensive about the slavery thing because I'm certain we all are, have been and will be, many things. Back then the only people on the entire planet who weren't cruel were Quakers and Tibetan monks. We are now becoming civilized because of a combination of education and mass-media communications which can breed empathy. So stepping into these characters heads that existed in those circumstances in that culture at that point in time is completely interesting to me. Then, to have this deep, beautiful, hideous, haunting story take me on this journey that I couldn't have dreamed of myself was a privilege. I believe it's important to consider parts of the story as a manifestation of the symbolic, not just simply viewed as a fantasy. The daughter comes into her life from somewhere;ie, the daughter "haunts" her. The daughter's character has sex with Paul; symbolically, the daughter (the murder of the daughter) haunts Sethe to the point that the daughter even "comes (psychologically) between them" in bed. What the author has done is have these characters act out the symbolic events in physical form. This realization makes everything deeper, more interesting, and really creates new questions with no answers. This is not something of interest to people who want to have a fun read, seek escapism. You escape here into a kind of nightmare. So yes, I recommend it to people that thrive on these kinds of things. But one thing I want to add, which was a touch of pure genius in the book, without giving the whole thing away; on the last page, if you have come this far, you have been deep into these characters, have gotten to know them, feel their pain. Then Tony Morrison wings that description, that physical detail at your head, knowing if it was even mentioned earlier it would have tainted most people's ability to empathize with this character. Most people would have mentally compartmentalized the character in a kind of "freak show" category, allowing a person to dismiss the character because it would be so hard to imagine that character's particular plight. She doesn't let you get away with it. If you have come this far, you have been there with the character the whole time. This master stoke was not acknowledged in the movie; it would have been almost impossible to present it visually, and one whole chunk of psychology was omitted and this is what makes the writing genius. This is what makes the psychology of the writing genius. This is why I love the book.
Rating:
Summary: Beloved - a masterpiece
Review: Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is a shattering book. The ingredients of the story are simple: slavery, a dead baby, broken lives and a broken family. But the lyrical prose and ingenious structure of this tale yields far more than a good novel: it produces a masterful epic that resounds with themes personal and universal, from the haunting of the past to the terror of slavery. Some readers may not digest the way the story is told, and the author certainly makes no allowances. Her writing is similar to her protagonist, Sethe's, situation: either accept, understand, and experience the tale to its fullest, or leave bewildered. Beloved is an extraordinary novel that I strongly recommend anyone to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Toni Morrison At Her Best
Review: Toni Morrison shows true talent in writing "Beloved". It was beautifully wriiten and very powerful to the audience. She shows the past in a brilliant way. I would recomend this book to anyone, ecspecially those interested in the past or romance. Toni Morrison teaches great lessons in love, freedom, and life in general. Much can be learned from this piece of art.
Rating: 
Summary: Not inspirational......
Review: I orginally watched Beloved on video. While watching I had this feeling that parts were missing. Usually a movie based on a novel can not include every single detail because of time limitations. However, even with this mind and numerous rewinds I still couldn't get into the movie. So I tried reading Beloved and while many reviewers thought the story was powerful, moving, ect...I respectfully disagree. I found the story of Sethe to be dark, depressing and unsettling. Slavery was a horrible crime against African Americans it is an important part of American history and should never be sugar coated. With that said I think that Ms. Morrison wanted to paint a picture that showed to true horrors of slavery; the worse form of human suffing imaginalbe. especially the psychological aspects. Which she did but with less than inspiring or uplifting results. I am a competent reader and I thought the book was a difficult read. It wasn't the language that was hard or difficult it was Ms. Morrisons habit of jumping from one flashback to another and her over use of metaphors. I also simply could not relate to Sethe. I took an African American women history class in college and I know that there are factual accounts of slave women commiting infantcide but Ms. Morrisons horrible description of Sethe murdering her daughter as an alternative to having her taken back by the slavers that had abused her was too much. What Sethe indured was horrible but what she did to her daughter no matter what the reason was shocking and horrible. No wonder her spirit haunted Sethe.
Rating:
Summary: Different, beautifully different
Review: My high school english teacher in senior year made us read this. This was and is the first time I saw a supreme majority of students become engrossed with a single book without any complaints, other than "That part was confusing".
The key to this mind-shattering book is understand one thing: time is relative. Back, forth, back again, to the future, and all the way back. Things echo over the course of "Beloved", like time, pain, and the seeds that grow from them when they grow wild and are ignored. (that last part was a hint in understanding it, to let you know)
Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: It is very strange and questionable why ceartain individuals and works recieve Nobel prizes, Pulizer Prices, ecs. This Book is one of these items which no doubt raises many questions. The literary talent of the Author is unquestioned, yet the way she choose to construct this story and mix ceartain literary elements was ceartanly no success.What resulted was a confusing lengthy story with no plot, storyline, character development and an ending which can truly be called "One of THE worst". The characters Flashbacks are neither interesting nor literary, but confusing and jumbled, forcing the reader to continue out of sheer willpower. The elements of Myth and Folklare are confusing, sometimes disgusting and unlike the ones in "Gabriel Marquez" Novels serve no point. Through all this Jumble one finally reaches the Ending not knowing what happened, when all of a sudden the whole story dissapears with the revolting "Beloved" and we are left feeling that the Author definitly left something out. One is wondering how on earth this Book recieved the Pulitzer Price,and in the end it isnt worth wondering about because the answer will never be found.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: It is a good book but very hard to follow.
Rating:
Summary: I be-loved it
Review: This book artisticly shows the horrors of slavery and the culture that came from it. In flashbacks you see a lighter side of slavery mixed with the poingent heavy side. 124 was alive with people, escaped and freed slaves. Their culture and their lives revolved around their family, their freedom, and the spirit the church brought on. Morrison shows the desperation of the slave situation by writing about how a mother would kill her own children in order to keep them from going through slavery. A powerful and masterfuly writen novel.
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