Beloved

Rating:
Summary: One of the great books of this century!!
Review: I've read Beloved twice and I feel it's one of the greatest books ever written. Beloved is not an easy read, but it's an amazing book. Toni Morrison tells the story of Sethe, an ex-slave that killed her child, so the child won't have to be a slave. After a mysterious stranger comes that will force Sethe and those around her to discover the secrets that lie within them and face the past. Beloved is the tpe of read that involves the reader with the character and story. Toni Morrison shows the reader why slavery was such a disgrace and what it did to African-Americans that had to suffer. It's power will move you, It's brutality will shock, and the expierence of reading it will haunt you forever. I love this book and I will reread again along with future generations.

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Summary: A visceral book, gets under your skin (no matter what color)
Review: BELOVED is a riveting, powerful account of slavery that put me as a reader in the place of a newly freed slave... Though I am a young, middle class, Caucasian girl, I felt what Sethe, Denver, Baby Suggs, and even Beloved felt... I understood their actions and the emotions that motivated them. I believe this effect to be a great victory for an author, for people fear what they do not understand... If an author can bring understanding to his or her readers, then they truly have - and give - a great gift.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping!
Review: I liked the book "Beloved". Toni Morrison worked very hard on this book. She collected most of her information in South America. The States probably destroyed most of the factual documents written about slavery after the Civil War. As a nation, we were probably embarassed that such things did go on. Toni Morrison based this book on a very small article that she had found. The article was about a fugitive slave woman that was found. Rather than let her children be subjected to slavery, she killed them and then killed herself. Most early documents on slavery that did survive passed the Reconstruction of the South down played the creulty in slavery. This article lead her to believe that slavery was much worse than how it was portrayed in the history books. When Sethe killed Beloved, and tried to kill the other children, she wasn't abandoning them, she was trying to protect them from epocolipse that was riding into town on horseback. She didn't want her daughters to be corrupted by some slave master. She didn't want her sons to have their youth taken away from them, they would grow weak and old like an aged gray mule. Anything is easier than slavery, including death. Beloved misunderstood what her mother was trying to do for her. Sethe tried too hard to apologize, in my opinion. Beloved punished her mother far worse than what was nesseccary. Sethe was trying to protect Beloved from a life that she did know. Beloved made her own mother her slave just because of a misunderstanding.

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Summary: Beloved-- Toni Morrison's gift to literature
Review: While it is impossible to compile a definative list of the best fiction of the 20th century, I would have to say that Beloved is one of the greatest literary accomplishments of our times. A deeply complex novel, Beloved should only be read by those willing to be moved by literature. Anyone seeking cheap entertainment or romantic fluff should look elsewhere. Beloved provides no easy answers, but it's the questions that make you think. Questions about slavery, love, and the nature of religion can be found here. And all of Morrison's ideas are wrapped around the most realistic characters I have ever come across. Beloved is, simply put, an amazing gift.

Rating:
Summary: Beloved shows a whole different world of slavery.
Review: We just finished reading Beloved, by Toni Morrison in my junior English class. I really enjoyed it, but many of my classmates couldn't stand it, and found it very offensive. I didn't find it one bit offensive because it gave me a totally new veiw on slavery, a veiw which you can't get from just reading a text-book. Morrison did an excellent job expressing how horrid slavery was. She may have used some vulgar language, but it was the only way to get across the point as strongly as it needs to be said. I really enjoyed this, and I am in the process of writing an essay to text on this book, and it is hard, because the book is hard, but what literature isn't. I am writing the paper on the reference to shadows in the novel, and if anyone has any ideas or comments about shadows please feel free to write me! Thanks! If you haven't read Beloved, read it, you'll love it! :-)

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Summary: Without a doubt the BEST book I have ever read!
Review: I loved this book so much I recommended it to my sister, who prefers to read medical thrillers. Everyone should read this book and wrestle with what it means to hold your child's life in your hands. Reminded me of "Sophie's Choice" in that aspect. What terrible agony and depth of emotion and Morrison brings it all to light, slowly and painfully in a stream of consciousness manner. I admit this style drove me nuts at times, but how else to tell such a story than through the mind's eye of the mother, Seth. Read it slowly, savor it, and you WILL be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: My new all time favorite book is Toni Morrison's Beloved.
Review: I wish to add my accolades to the list. Beloved is a tremendously touching, remarkably moving story. It grips you on the first page and holds your attention to the last. I cried, laughed, and soared along with Morrison's poetic prose.

Rating:
Summary: Chilling, thought-provoking and lyrical all-in-one
Review: Toni Morrison never disappoints me. Although few of her stories are truly happy ones, I am always pleased with her sheer excellence and the heart-wrenching stories of her characters.I finish with a feeling of knowing her a little better. Morrison is one among millions.

Rating:
Summary: after 10 years, still my favorite book
Review: I read this book my freshman year of college and it re-sparked my passion for reading,not to mention Toni Morrison. What an incredible writer. What an incredible book. I am so thankful I read it in an English class where we could disect and discuss every nuance and metaphor. There is much to be learned and discovered on every page. I want to read it again.

Rating:
Summary: A life-changing book
Review: This is a shattering book. For the first time, I was allowed a glimpse of what it means to be a black woman in America. I could begin to see how the legacy of slavery affects us all, black AND white, today. It should be required reading for every person in this country.