Beloved - Morrison

Title: Beloved

Author: Toni Morrison

Year Published: 1987

Awards/Recognitions: 1987 Pulitzer Fiction Award, 1987 National Book Award Finalist, 1987 National Book Critics Circle Finalist, Time's 100 Best English-language Novels, New York Times Best Work of American Fiction of the Past 25 Years, Nobel Prize for Literature for Toni Morrison

Beloved revolves around Sethe, a black slave in America during the early 1900s who killed one of her children, only given the name Beloved, to spare her of the hardships of slavery. She then deals with the baby's ghost years after the "murder" together with her lover, Paul D, and her daughter, Denver, whom she unsuccessfully tried to kill together with Beloved. The story then gets complicated as a young woman, the same age as Sethe's dead baby if she were alive, suddenly comes in to their lives introducing herself as Beloved.

I had high hopes for this book, with New York Times naming it THE best story of the last 25 years. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed... Mainly because I don't thinkwhat was great was the story itself, but how it was told, especially in conveying the characters' emotions.

For me, it lacks the element which makes it hard for the reader to put the book down, that page-turning factor. It doesn't give you something to look forward to, more so a plot to follow. If ever there are some "page-turning" moments throughout the book they only spanned a few pages for me. But what I think the book lacks the most would have to be the description of the setting. A book is supposed to take you to a different world, introduce you to a different culture and environment, and I don't think I found much of that in the book.

However, the book is redeemed by Toni Morrison's ability to convey the characters' feeling and thought in chilling detail and intimacy. She was able to put into words what most writers only dreamed of writing with regard to the complexities of human emotion. Aside from describing the emotion of the characters, the book also constantly tries to evoke an emotional response from the reader. For me, the part where I was affected the most (if not the only time) would have to be the masterpiece of the last chapter. Since emotions were properly conveyed, the reader would then be pushed into having sympathy for the slaves, giving a new understanding of the hardships they faced.

Beloved tackles many different  things mainly the evil that is slavery and how it affects everyone it comes in contact with. The book also teaches us that in order to move forward, one must face the ghosts of the past, though Morrison decides to tell this message in a more outright manner, with Sethe dealing with the ghost of her dead baby. 

This novel lacks narrative and description of the setting but redeems this with the intensity of emotion described and conveyed.

If you are not easily moved and not into the depths of human emotion, like in my case, then don't hesitate to pass with this book. But if you aren't, then this would be one great read.

Rating: 5/10

Favorite Passage: "And it grew. It spread until it invaded the whites who had made it. Touched them every one. Changed and altered them. Made them bloody, silly, worse than even they wanted to be, so scared were they of the jungle they had made."

- (Paul D on how slavery also affects the white people, making them "worse than even they wanted to be")

Edition: Vintage Classics (Vintage Morrison)

Length: A little over 300 pages, supposed to be a short read, but it took me longer.

Time Read: 1 Week