book review beloved by toni morrison

ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IndieBound Bestseller

by Toni Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 1987

Morrison traces the shifting shapes of suffering and mythic accommodations, through the shell of psychosis to the core of a...

Morrison's truly majestic fifth novel—strong and intricate in craft; devastating in impact.

Set in post-Civil War Ohio, this is the story of how former slaves, psychically crippled by years of outrage to their bodies and their humanity, attempt to "beat back the past," while the ghosts and wounds of that past ravage the present. The Ohio house where Sethe and her second daughter, 10-year-old Denver, live in 1873 is "spiteful. Full of a [dead] baby's venom." Sethe's mother-in-law, a good woman who preached freedom to slave minds, has died grieving. It was she who nursed Sethe, the runaway—near death with a newborn—and gave her a brief spell of contentment when Sethe was reunited with her two boys and first baby daughter. But the boys have by now run off, scared, and the murdered first daughter "has palsied the house" with rage. Then to the possessed house comes Paul D., one of the "Pauls" who, along with Sethe, had been a slave on the "Sweet Home" plantation under two owners—one "enlightened," one vicious. (But was there much difference between them?) Sethe will honor Paul D.'s humiliated manhood; Paul D. will banish Sethe's ghost, and hear her stories from the past. But the one story she does not tell him will later drive him away—as it drove away her boys, and as it drove away the neighbors. Before he leaves, Paul D. will be baffled and anxious about Sethe's devotion to the strange, scattered and beautiful lost girl, "Beloved." Then, isolated and alone together for years, the three women will cling to one another as mother, daughter, and sister—found at last and redeemed. Finally, the ex-slave community, rebuilding on ashes, will intervene, and Beloved's tortured vision of a mother's love—refracted through a short nightmare life—will end with her death.

Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1987

ISBN: 9781400033416

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987

LITERARY FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More by Toni Morrison

BOOK REVIEW

by Toni Morrison

by Toni Morrison edited by David Carrasco Stephanie Paulsell Mara Willard

More About This Book

NYT Readers Voting on Best Book of Past 125 Years

SEEN & HEARD

Books Removed From Iowa School Libraries

THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD

by Claire Lombardo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019

Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet...

Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt.

Newcomer Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale of an unapologetically bougie couple and their unruly daughters. In the opening scene, Liza Sorenson, daughter No. 3, flirts with a groomsman at her sister’s wedding. “There’s four of you?” he asked. “What’s that like?” Her retort: “It’s a vast hormonal hellscape. A marathon of instability and hair products.” Thus begins a story bristling with a particular kind of female intel. When Wendy, the oldest, sets her sights on a mate, she “made sure she left her mark throughout his house—soy milk in the fridge, box of tampons under the sink, surreptitious spritzes of her Bulgari musk on the sheets.” Turbulent Wendy is the novel’s best character, exuding a delectable bratty-ness. The parents—Marilyn, all pluck and busy optimism, and David, a genial family doctor—strike their offspring as impossibly happy. Lombardo levels this vision by interspersing chapters of the Sorenson parents’ early lean times with chapters about their daughters’ wobbly forays into adulthood. The central story unfurls over a single event-choked year, begun by Wendy, who unlatches a closed adoption and springs on her family the boy her stuffy married sister, Violet, gave away 15 years earlier. (The sisters improbably kept David and Marilyn clueless with a phony study-abroad scheme.) Into this churn, Lombardo adds cancer, infidelity, a heart attack, another unplanned pregnancy, a stillbirth, and an office crush for David. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Grace perpetrates a whopper, and “every day the lie was growing like mold, furring her judgment.” The writing here is silky, if occasionally overwrought. Still, the deft touches—a neighborhood fundraiser for a Little Free Library, a Twilight character as erotic touchstone—delight. The class calibrations are divine even as the utter apolitical whiteness of the Sorenson world becomes hard to fathom.

Pub Date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-385-54425-2

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019

LITERARY FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

Mantel, Woodson on Women’s Prize Longlist

HOUSE OF LEAVES

by Mark Z. Danielewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2000

The story's very ambiguity steadily feeds its mysteriousness and power, and Danielewski's mastery of postmodernist and...

An amazingly intricate and ambitious first novel - ten years in the making - that puts an engrossing new spin on the traditional haunted-house tale.

Texts within texts, preceded by intriguing introductory material and followed by 150 pages of appendices and related "documents" and photographs, tell the story of a mysterious old house in a Virginia suburb inhabited by esteemed photographer-filmmaker Will Navidson, his companion Karen Green (an ex-fashion model), and their young children Daisy and Chad. The record of their experiences therein is preserved in Will's film The Davidson Record - which is the subject of an unpublished manuscript left behind by a (possibly insane) old man, Frank Zampano - which falls into the possession of Johnny Truant, a drifter who has survived an abusive childhood and the perverse possessiveness of his mad mother (who is institutionalized). As Johnny reads Zampano's manuscript, he adds his own (autobiographical) annotations to the scholarly ones that already adorn and clutter the text (a trick perhaps influenced by David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ) - and begins experiencing panic attacks and episodes of disorientation that echo with ominous precision the content of Davidson's film (their house's interior proves, "impossibly," to be larger than its exterior; previously unnoticed doors and corridors extend inward inexplicably, and swallow up or traumatize all who dare to "explore" their recesses). Danielewski skillfully manipulates the reader's expectations and fears, employing ingeniously skewed typography, and throwing out hints that the house's apparent malevolence may be related to the history of the Jamestown colony, or to Davidson's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a dying Vietnamese child stalked by a waiting vulture. Or, as "some critics [have suggested,] the house's mutations reflect the psychology of anyone who enters it."

Pub Date: March 6, 2000

ISBN: 0-375-70376-4

Page Count: 704

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2000

More by Mark Z. Danielewski

by Mark Z. Danielewski

Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

Toni Morrison's Beloved: ghosts of a brutal past

In the final instalment of her series on the novel, Jane Smiley on why Toni Morrison’s Beloved - a sensational story of slavery and racism in America - has endured

I t is clear from Morrison's dedication ("Sixty Million and more") that she intends to embrace the social document potential of the novel, as, indeed, any novel that treats injustice and its effects must do. This acceptance of the novel's power to shape opinion actually frees her to do anything she wants artistically - novelists who are careful to avoid social questions tend to limit their subjects to personal relationships or aesthetic questions that seem, on the surface, to be perennial, though in fact the novelist is usually simply avoiding the social and economic implications of what he or she is saying. For Morrison and most other writers of the 1980s, though, everything about the novel, from plot to style to characterisation, that had once seemed fairly neutral was seen to be fraught with political implications. Like Tolstoy, who also embraced the novel as a social document and openly used it to express his opinions, Morrison had a theory - a vision of slavery and black/white relations in America - that was in some ways old-fashioned, but still inflammatory and unresolved. The task was to remake the old story in a compelling way, and also to separate her own telling from that of earlier writers, especially Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Beloved is not as easy to read as, say, To Kill a Mockingbird, but it is easy to get used to, and once the reader begins to distinguish among the elements, they fall into place quite clearly. As it opens, Sethe, in her late thirties, is living with her 18-year-old daughter, Denver, in a house that the neighbours avoid because it is haunted. The time is the early 1870s, right after the first wrenching dislocations of the civil war and its aftermath. Sethe and Denver live in an uneasy truce with the ghost until the arrival of Paul D, one of Sethe's fellow slaves on her former plantation in Kentucky. Paul exorcises the ghost, but then a mysterious female stranger shows up. She is 20 years old and strangely unmarked - she has no lines in her palms, for example, and her feet and clothing show no signs of hard travelling. She calls herself "Beloved ", and Sethe and Denver are happy to take her in.

Sethe, Denver, Paul D and every other character in the novel live simultaneously in their present and in their history - the chapters of the novel alternate between the two stories: that of the growing contest between Sethe and Beloved; and that of Sethe's life on the plantation, her escape, and the traumatic events that followed her crossing of the Ohio River and her appearance at the home of her mother-inlaw, Baby Suggs. A crucial, revealing and in some ways impossible to assimilate event takes place about halfway through the novel - Sethe's former owner shows up with some officers to recapture the escapees, and Sethe attempts to kill her children. The two boys and the newborn survive, but she succeeds in slitting the throat of the two-year-old.

Everyone is astonished and appalled by this turn of events (which Morrison discovered in an old newspaper account of the period). Baby Suggs is never the same again; Sethe is shunned by her fellow citizens; Denver grows up isolated and suspicious. Morrison is careful, though, to indicate that while this is a pivotal event in the lives of everyone, it is not the climax, or the worst thing to have happened to Sethe and her loved ones. The climax of the historical narrative is, in fact, the night of the escape, when several of the escapees were hanged and mutilated, while the present-time narrative builds to Denver's decision to separate herself from what is apparently a life-and-death struggle between Sethe and Beloved, and to go out and find work and friends that will help her save herself.

One of the reasons Beloved is a great novel is that it is equally full of sensations and of meaning. Morrison knows exactly what she wants to do and how to do it, and she exploits every aspect of her subject. The characters are complex. Both stories are dramatic but in contrasting ways, and the past and the present constantly modify each other. Neither half of the novel suffers by contrast to the other. Especially worth noting is Morrison's style, which is graphic, evocative and unwhite without veering toward dialect. Even though Morrison rejects realism, using a heightened diction and a lyrical narrative method returning again and again to particular images and events and adding to them so they are more and more fully described, the reader never doubts the reality of what Morrison reports. Just as Sethe recognises Beloved toward the end of the novel, and knows at once that she has known all along who she is, the reader is shocked at the sufferings of the black characters and the brutality of the whites, but knows at once that every torture and cruelty is not only plausible but also representative of many other horrors that go unmentioned in the novel and have gone unmentioned in American history. Harriet Beecher Stowe was accused in her time of exaggerating the cruelties in Uncle Tom's Cabin, and she replied that in fact she whitewashed events to render them publishable. Morrison is her heir, in the sense that she dares to discuss and publish more (though certainly not all) of the truth.

Beloved has held up quite well over the years, despite Morrison being as much a product of her time as any other novelist. The novel seems, for example, more current and compelling than The Unbearable Lightness of Being. One reason for this is that racist attitudes in the United States change very slowly, but another is that Morrison is far more subtle in her exploration of her ideas than Kundera is. Morrison depicts every incident with such concrete expressiveness that the reader takes it in willingly as truth. She is also entirely matter-of-fact in her assertions - equally so about the presence and identity of the ghost as about the character flaws of the whites. No aspect of the novel is presented as speculation, and so to read on, the reader suspends disbelief. In this, Beloved works something like The Trial or The Metamorphosis. With a tale, the reader is asked to suspend disbelief completely and at once. If she can't do it, she won't read on; if she does do it, she is in the mood to accept everything the author asserts as true. The bonus of the tale form, for Morrison, is that she is also tapping into a vital store of black folklore that feeds her style as well as her story.

Beloved is one of the few American novels that take every natural element of the novel form and exploit it thoroughly, but in balance with all the other elements. The result is that it is dense but not long, dramatic but not melodramatic, particular and universal, shocking but reassuring, new but at the same time closely connected to the tradition of the novel, and likely to mould or change a reader's sense of the world.

· 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley is published by Faber at £16.99

Toni Morrison
Jane Smiley

More on this story

Toni Morrison remembered: ‘Her irreverence was godly’

Toni Morrison remembered by Édouard Louis: ‘Her laugh was her revenge against the world’

Toni Morrison: a life in pictures

Toni Morrison obituary

Toni Morrison, author and Nobel laureate, dies aged 88

Toni Morrison: farewell to America's greatest writer – we all owe her so much

'Rest, Toni Morrison. You were magnificent': leading writers on the great American author

Toni Morrison’s genius was the inspiration of my youth

'Love is never any better than the lover': Toni Morrison – a life in quotes

Toni Morrison: 'America is going backwards'

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Common sense media reviewers.

Haunting Pulitzer Prize winner about slavery's impact.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

This book puts human faces on a very difficult per

This book intentionally details disturbing inciden

Author Toni Morrison is the first African American

Several beatings, a strangulation, and a scene in

Characters have sex, including Beloved, who has se

racial slurs and some other swear words

One or two brief scenes of alcohol use by adults.

Educational Value

This book puts human faces on a very difficult period of American history. Though a work of fiction, it will help readers get a better understanding of slavery's injustice and the impact it continued to have on people and their families even after they became free.

Positive Messages

This book intentionally details disturbing incidents to make readers think deeply. Sometimes the best lessons are learned by not glossing over the horrors. The messages in this powerful book bring up a wide variety of sensitive topics, from slavery and racism to school reading lists and censorship. (See our ideas for topics you might want to discuss with your kids.) But the anti-slavery and anti-racism messages and the love of a mother for her children are powerful, important ones for readers.

Positive Role Models

Author Toni Morrison is the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and this book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Her work challenges readers to think about slavery's impact, as well as how racism and injustice continue to shape African-American identity.

Violence & Scariness

Several beatings, a strangulation, and a scene in which a desperate mother murders her own infant with a handsaw rather than have her returned to slavery. There are also scenes of sexual violence, including forced fellatio, a man holding down a nursing woman while another man suckles her breast, and references to men having sex with cattle.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Characters have sex, including Beloved, who has sex with Sethe's lover, Paul D., and becomes pregnant.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

racial slurs and some other swear words (like "goddamn").

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is on many high school required reading lists because it's a classic that will leave a lasting imprint on readers. It's true that Beloved is the 26th book on the American Library Association's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books for 2000-2009 and has been challenged for its violence, sexuality, and more: It features a gritty infanticide, racial language, horrific sexual assaults, and even references to sex with animals. But teens are mature enough to handle the challenges this book presents. At this age they can decide for themselves what they think about disturbing personal and historical events. Beloved is a beautiful, powerful book that will help all readers learn about the horrors of slavery -- and leave them thinking about what it means to be a strong, heroic, or moral person.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

Parents say (10)
Kids say (7)

Based on 10 parent reviews

One of the most beautiful and thought provoking books I ever read

What in the world, what's the story.

Sethe is a formerly enslaved woman who chooses to kill her children rather than allow her family to be captured back into slavery. She succeeds in killing only her second youngest, who later returns to haunt the house in which the family lives -- first in ethereal form and then as a woman calling herself Beloved. The novel takes place primarily in the years after the Civil War, though it often flashes back to the time of slavery. The story moves seamlessly back and forth through time, capturing Sethe's girlhood, her time on the plantation, and the lives of the various secondary characters. When Paul D. arrives and begins helping them see a way past their pain, Beloved's presence becomes all the more vivid.

Is It Any Good?

This a difficult and often gruesome book, but there's a reason it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize: It's a masterful work by one of the best storytellers alive today. In Beloved , Morrison not only will help readers connect to a painful part of American history, but she'll also encourage them to struggle with some difficult subjects, including the possible heroism of a woman who murders her own child.

This is a book whose intention is to disturb: Teen readers might have to grapple a bit with the complex storytelling, as well as with the intense subject matter, but that's sometimes the best way to confront difficult subjects. Parents may want consider reading this classic along with their kids and using our discussion ideas to tackle the difficult topics it raises.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why this book is on the ALA's banned/challenged books list. What do some people find so threatening? Do you agree with them? The book is meant to be disturbing -- but is that ever a reason to ban a book?

This book provides excellent opportunities to talk about slavery, as well as racism and injustice, even as they exist today. In the context of the book, were the ex-slaves truly "free"?

This book is often on high school and college reading lists -- why does slavery continue to be an essential topic to study?

Book Details

Author : Toni Morrison
Genre : Literary Fiction
Book type : Fiction
Publisher : Vintage Books
Publication date : August 1, 1987
Number of pages : 324
Last updated : June 16, 2015

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

The Lovely Bones

Want personalized picks for your kids' age and interests?

Into the Wild

Slaughterhouse-Five

Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines

Civil rights books.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Member Login
Library Patron Login

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR

FREE NEWSLETTERS

Search: Title Author Article Search String:

Reviews of Beloved by Toni Morrison

by Toni Morrison

Critics' Opinion:

Readers' Opinion:

Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
Midwest, USA
Ind. Mich. Ohio
19th Century
Black Authors
Strong Women
War Related

Rate this book

Buy This Book

About this Book

Book summary.

Beloved is Morrison's undisputed masterpiece. It elegantly captures hers trademark touches: elegant prose, fantastical occurrences, striking characters, and racial tension.

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.

I24 WAS SPITEFUL. Full of a baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old--as soon as merely looking in a mirror shattered it (that was the signal for Buglar); as soon as two tiny hand prints appeared in the cake (that was it for Howard). Neither boy waited to see more; another kettleful of chickpeas smoking in a heap on the floor; soda crackers crumbled and strewn in a line next to the doorsill. Nor did they wait for one of the relief periods: the weeks, months even, when nothing was disturbed. No. Each one fled at once--the moment the house committed what was for him the one insult not to be borne or witnessed a second time. Within two months, in the dead of winter, leaving their grandmother, Baby Suggs; Sethe, ...

"Beyond the Book" articles
Free books to read and review (US only)
Find books by time period, setting & theme
Read-alike suggestions by book and author
Book club discussions
and much more!
Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
More about membership!

Media Reviews

Reader reviews.

Write your own review!

Read-Alikes

Genres & Themes

If you liked Beloved, try these:

Let Us Descend

by Jesmyn Ward

Published 2024

About this book

More by this author

From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

The Prophets

by Robert Jones Jr.

Published 2022

A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.

Books with similar themes

Support bookbrowse.

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more

BookBrowse Book Club

Members Recommend

The Stone Home by Crystal Hana Kim

A moving family drama and coming-of-age story revealing a dark corner of South Korean history.

The House on Biscayne Bay by Chanel Cleeton

As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.

Win This Book

The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu

Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.

Solve this clue:

and be entered to win..

Your guide to exceptional books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info and giveaways by email.

Non-Fiction
Author’s Corner
Reader’s Corner
Writing Guide
Book Marketing Services
Write for us

Book Review

Book Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison

Author: Toni Morrison

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Genre: Historical Fiction, Magical Realism

First Publication: 1987

Language: English

Major Characters: Baby Suggs, Sethe, Beloved, Paul D Garner, Denver

Setting Place: The outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio in the years just before (1855) and directly following (1873) the Civil War; flashbacks to the Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky

Theme: Slavery, Motherhood, Storytelling, Memory, and the Past, Community

Narrator: Third person omniscient, with first-person passages from various points of view

Book Summary: Beloved by Toni Morrison

Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a beautiful, haunting story that is set around the time following the slavery emancipation declaration. It’s mysterious and supernatural , as well as being a love story, a tale of horror, forgiveness, loss and confusion. It’s very poetic and lyrical, full of metaphors and powerful imagery.

Beloved by Toni Morrison tells the story of Sethe, a runaway slave who has left her home in the South but is still living in the past. Her deceased two year old baby supposedly haunts 124, the house in which she and her daughter Denver live. Later, we find out the awful way in which the baby died and that makes the story even more tragic.

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

The house is an ominous character in Beloved by Toni Morrison; it had a life of its own. I felt the hopelessness of Sethe and Denver who had no place else to go.

The love story in Beloved by Toni Morrison is a different kind of love story, a love story that involves a couple, Sethe and Paul D, who were once slaves. How can people move on from being slaves to being in free relationships? As slaves they became accustomed to their loved ones, their parents, children and lovers being sold or running away. The past has left scar marks like the scars in the shape of a chokeberry tree on Sethe’s back.

“Sweet, crazy conversations full of half sentences, daydreams and misunderstandings more thrilling than understanding could ever be.”

For Toni Morrison this is part of her personal history, and she makes herself the voice of this legion of ghosts whose stories some people would like to remain buried and forgotten. With her artistic sensibilities, she takes a real case of a woman pushed beyond the limits of endurance by the system ( Margaret Garner ) and makes it a poem of pain and redemption, of the awakening of individual conscience and of the sense of belonging to a community of the oppressed.

Recent Articles

How to create a compelling author newsletter that actually gets read, the power of “show, don’t tell”: engaging readers through immersive writing, the three-body problem by liu cixin, why books are better than movies, how to transform your commute into “reading” time, related posts:, leave a reply cancel reply.

Sign me up for the newsletter!

Stay on top - Get the daily news in your inbox

Subscribe to our newsletter.

To be updated with all the latest news, offers and special announcements.

Beloved by Toni Morrison Book Review Or Just Some Book Thoughts

Toni Morrison Beloved Book Review Plume 1988 First Edition paperbacksocial.com Margaret Garner Sethe

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is another classic that has taken me a while to come to. Why? As with many revered books, that is a question with a very long answer!

Beloved is obviously in a league all it’s own. I have a lot to learn about READING from it. In all honesty, alot of the book- particularly in the first half- was difficult to fully understand on initial reading. I’m glad I persevered – there is so much about it to note that I’m curious to know what I’d find on re-read

I’m possibly the last person on these internets to read Beloved so I’m not going to re hash plot. If you want that, do have a look here or here . I’m going to write a bit about a few themes and points that struck me

Memory, “Rememory” and shared experience

Morrison’s use and communication of individual memory is what I found most powerful in this novel. There are a few pages where Beloved and Sethe’s combined memories are expressed in tandem. Here, what is being remembered seems to extend before either of their beings . The memories , “rememory” and repetition in this book built an omnipresence that went beyond Beloved, the character or the book. A spirit. This story very is haunting. It is not a book you can read, put down and (ironically) forget.

The role of memory and personal history in Beloved is so significant both in understanding the relationship between the characters and understanding day to day life in slavery away from a Euro- centric focus. A striking point is that the characters had been at some point been bound by slavery and suffered. The trauma of that history was extremely present in every character and yet the focus is more on how Black people behaved with each other- and loved each other, endured within the limited agency they did have. Good or bad, this is what they did do. These were the individuals in a history we think we know. It is not a story from a white perspective and it is not text book.

An important aspect of memory is that people sharing an experience will have different versions of it. An example being how Sethe, Paul D. and Baby Sugar remembered The Clearing vs how the outsiders like Janey remembered The Clearing and Baby Sugar herself. Even the naming of places/ events in personal memories (The Clearing, The Lowest Of The Low)- emphasised the role of summoning the past in this narrative

A fictional story based on an unforgettable real life character

I love books sending me off on a Google trail! Beloved is a fictional novel but so much research went into it. Sethe’s character is based on the real life story of Margaret Garner. She was an enslaved African American woman who, with her family, escaped Maplewood Farm (Kentucky) in 1856, pursuing freedom. Unfortunately, they were caught by the enslaver and law enforcement. Having suffered slavery herself, Garner killed her two year old daughter rather than have her suffer the same fate. Morrison was impressed with Garner’s intellect, ferocity and willingness to risk everything for freedom. She took the inspiration to imagine the characters and stories-Toni Morrison wrote this in her foreword to Beloved:

The historical Margaret Garner is fascinating, but, to a novelist, confining. Too little imaginative space there for my purposes. So I would invent her thoughts, plumb them for a subtext that was historically true in essence, but not strictly factual in order to relate her history to contemporary issues about freedom, responsibility, and women’s “place.” The heroine would represent the unapologetic acceptance of shame and terror; assume the consequences of choosing infanticide; claim her own freedom. The terrain, slavery, was formidable and pathless. (Beloved xvii)

Here’s a link to find out more about Margaret Garner, including the newspaper clippings from the 1850s and differences from Sethe’s character

Another link about the cas e and Toni Morrison’s quotes for context

Toni Morrison wrote so we could read actively

The reader has to work in this story in order to figure out relationships and histories. A lot of it unravels as you read but if curiosity chases you too, you will probably try and figure it out as you go along. It made me think about how a lot of literature I come across now has the thinking done for you, there’s very little to figure out. That’s not a complaint, I like an easy read sometimes but it’s interesting that a lot of books are not asking us to unravel plot any more. Why is that? Or maybe they are and I haven’t been reading those books alot?

Beloved is a gothic/ horror story

I probably should have known the genre going in but I didn’t! This has made me wonder what else I’m missing in this genre.

There is a lot of beautiful writing within such a terrifying narrative. Some of the prose even sounds poetic. I always appreciate stories with a folklore/mythical element woven into it which I think Beloved did. In the characters’ memories and punishments inflicted on enslaved people, it is truly a horror to realise that the characters are remembering depravity that was a matter of routine.

One thing I did find strange though – why didn’t Sethe always know it was Beloved? It seemed obvious

There are some books that beg a second read to absorb properly and this was a difficult read. Both literally and psychologically. I think I will have to read it again to appreciate it properly. I do think this probably isn’t the best Morrison to start with, the style and craft is fairly complex. I am very interested explore more of Toni Morrison’s fiction and there is an extensive catalogue for me to get into. What would you recommend first?

Beloved Toni Morrison Bernadine Evaristo Vintage Publishing 2022

My edition of Beloved is the Plume edition published in 1988 . Lucky to find it secondhand from Crofton Books

New Book Releases 2021 by Black Writers and Writers of Colour list

2021 New Book Releases- Looking Back At My Anticipated Fiction Titles

7 Books By Black British Writers Vanessa Onwuemezi JJ Bola Shola Von Reinhold Linton Kwesi Johnson Lola Olufemi 2021

7 Books by Black British Writers on my reading list in Jan

Just Like Tomorrow (Kiffe Kiffe Demain) by Faïza Guène – Book Review

Men Dont Cry Faiza Guene Sarah Aridizzone Book Review Cassava Republic paperbacksocial

Men Don’t Cry by Faïza Guène Translated by Sarah Ardizzone – Book Review

The Selfless Act Of Being JJ Bola Dialogue Books Black British Writers Book Review

JJ Bola’s The Selfless Act Of Breathing – Book Review

Write a comment cancel reply.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Non Fiction
Monthly Wrap Ups
#roughly200- Short books, 200 pages or less
Black Brit Reading List
By Ghanaians
Indie Bookshops
About/ Contact

A review on the Beloved novel by Toni Morrison

A critical analysis.

Beloved is a novel written by the Author, Toni Morrison, in 1987. It was published around the same time. The novel has been a success because it has been one of the best-selling in America. It has also drawn attention because it has featured on mainstream media such as the New York Times and Oprah Winfrey’s Show. Additionally, the author artistically and realistically presents a number of rather disturbing life issues. They are, but not limited to, African slavery in America, freedom, identity destruction, masculinity, and the concept of home. Though disturbing, readers can really relate to since they still affect our society today. Clearly, realistic representation in Toni Morrison’s Beloved is something readers look for. The book has good readership and more people should read this book.

Ideas in the Novel

This is not only the most dominant ideas in the novel, but also one of the most memorable aspects of American History. It reflects upon how the African Americans were severely mistreated and robbed of their human identity by their counterparts, the white Americans. But, despite the tough times, the African Americans were very hopeful – some, like Paul D in the novel, went to an extent of eloping from the plantations, others, like Sethe, going further to kill their young ones so they never fall prey to slavery. Halle is another slavery victim who also tries to rescue his mother from slavery. Dehumanization in the novel is symbolized by cattle and how they are generally treated.

This is directly connected to the theme of slavery. In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, African American slaves such as Paul D. and Sethe experience dehumanizing slavery in the white men’s plantations. But, they get hopeful that someday they will be independent and live a normal human life. So they decide to escape to achieve their dreams. Halle tries to free his mother from the pangs of slavery. After escaping, Paul D and Sethe meet at 124 Bluestone road and together, they continue enjoying freedom.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved represents the idea of home as a place to host a family unit. This is also directly related to slavery because of the way Africans were separated from their homes. After an episode of slavery at the plantations, Sethe and Paul run away to start their own home in Cincinnati. At some point, Paul runs away from his home and goes back when he feels like.

Identity loss

Losing identity means changing very important aspects of personality such as beliefs, values, and behavior. According to Toni Morrison’s novel, slavery does not just mean physically treating African Americans like animals. It also extends to systems and institutions that came up later including naming of individuals. As African Americans, Paul D, Baby Suggs, Sethe, and Halle, have their names reflecting the loss of their identities. The fact that black people helplessly suffered in the hands of other people only backs up the idea of identity loss.

The history of the novel

Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, is about a black woman, Margaret Garner, who escaped from the pangs of slavery in Kentucky in early 1856. She was headed to Ohio, which was a free state. The main theme of the novel is slavery and involves two main characters, Sethe, and Paul D. The history of this novel is very important because it reflects on the history of the entire American black community. This is a history that is still fresh on their minds. Beloved is a piece of American Literature that brings together both Historical fiction and horror. It is also one of the novels that have successfully presented criticism in an uncensored manner and still remained to be one of the best- selling. Up to date, the novel still attracts a lot of readership and continues to do well.

The problems of the Novel

The main problem presented in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, is not being able to comfortably and openly tell her story. This could be explained by the use of symbolism in the novel. Toni Morrison reflects upon the trouble that black people had while trying to trace their identity and origin and deal with their problems. Therefore, she tries to take people back to those dark days of slavery for better understanding. Therefore, narration especially on such traumatizing ordeals can be as hard for any other author.

Plot of the novel

Sethe runs away to start life at 124 Bluestone Ohio as a cook. While here, she lives with her daughter, Denver, and Baby Suggs, her mother-in-law. Baby Suggs dies leaving Sethe and Denver behind. Inspired by her past experiences, Sethe had murdered Beloved, her daughter of 2 years, to save her from slavery. The baby’s ghost still haunts the house. But, Sethe has sort of made peace with it. Paul D arrives at 124 Bluestone and moves in with Sethe and they start an independent life together. They are so in love that Denver, who is now big enough, gets jealous. After some time, the haunting by baby Beloved’s ends. But, a woman by the name Beloved arrives at their home in 124. This startles everyone, especially Sethe, since she had murdered her daughter, who also went by the name Beloved. Both Paul and Sethe are left with no choice but to allow Beloved to stay.

This news spreads like bush fire. Her stay is characterized by financial times so hard the neighbors join hands to offer help. Denver gets a job. One way when going to work, Sethe mistakes her boss for her slave master. She gets mad and attacks him. She is stopped by Denver and other women, leading to Beloved running away forever. Sethe gets mentally ill. Paul D comes back and Sethe gets better. Denver focuses on getting a college education. From then on, the quality of life of black people at 124 gets better.

Description of Main Characters

Noble – loves the fact that she is black.

Loving – Opinions are different, but it was out of love that Sethe saved her child from the cruelty that comes with slavery.

Morally upright – She did not like the idea of murder as protection from slavery.

Self-driven – she is focused on having a better life for her family and herself. She gets a good job and works towards going to college.

Understanding – she doesn’t blame her mother for killing Beloved.

This refers to the baby, the ghost, and the woman.

Baby-like – Ribbons and bright clothes excite the woman just as much as a baby would be.

Loving – he falls in love with Sethe and they live together.

In a nutshell, the impact of Toni Morrison’s Beloved cannot be understated. It is worth reading for a better understanding of our society today.

Rebecca Reads

Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature

Board Books
Fiction Picture Books
Nonfiction Picture Books
Fiction Early Readers & Early Chapter Books
Nonfiction Early Readers & Early Chapter Books
Middle Grade Fiction
Middle Grade Nonfiction
Young Adult Nonfiction
Young Adult Fiction
Children’s Poetry
Short Stories
Biography/Memoir
Reference Books
Speeches/Essays
All Reviews
Beloved by Toni Morrison

abuse , American history 1800s , families , favorites , friendship , love , Nobel Prize , Pulitzer Prize , reread , slavery , violence

Note: I occasionally accept review copies from the publisher. Posts written from review copies are labeled. All opinions are my own. Posts may contain affiliate links. I may receive compensation for any purchased items.

Although I do not like reading violent stories, one of my favorite books has such a poignant message that I love it regardless, or maybe because of, the brutal facts is illustrates.

In Beloved by Toni Morrison, the ghosts of slavery live on, even though it is the year 1873. In one sense, Beloved is literally a ghost story: former slave Sethe and her daughter, Denver, are haunted by the ghost and apparition of Beloved, Sethe’s daughter. However, the true ghost haunting 124 is more significant, for the ghost is not a tangible person, but rather memory. Even eighteen years after her escape from slavery, Sethe is haunted by her past.

When Paul D, one of the slaves Sethe worked with at Sweet Home, re-enters her life, they all must come to terms with their memories. This challenge manifests in the memories of things as simple as color as they struggle to see the world beyond black and white. Further, the tree Sethe carries on her back is a conflicting reminder of both the good memories with her husband (whom she loved) and the horrendous abuse she encountered while at the tree-lined yet cruel Sweet Home.

Sethe’s mother, Baby Suggs, understood how to overcome the ghosts of memory, for she told the black community of Cincinnati to love their hearts.

“Here…in this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard. Yonder they do not love your flesh. They despise it. They don’t love your eyes; they’d just as soon pick em out. No more do they love the skin on your back. Yonder they flay it. And O my people they do not love your hands. Those they only use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands! Love them. Raise them up and kiss them. Touch others with them, pat them together, stoke them on your face ‘cause they don’t love that either. You got to love it, you ! … And all your inside parts that they’d just as soon slop for hogs, you go to love them. The dark, dark liver – love it, love it, and the beat and beating heart, love that too. More than the eyes or feet. More than the lungs that have yet to draw free air. More than your life-holding womb and your life-giving private parts, hear me now, love your heart. For this is the prize.” (page 88)

And yet, that seems to be exactly what Sethe and Paul D cannot do. Paul D can no longer reach his heart, kept inside him like a tobacco tin (page 113), and instead of loving her own heart, Sethe invests in loving her children, even when they are absent.

For a used-to-be-slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous, especially if it was her children she had settled on to love. The best thing, [Paul D] knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you’d have a little love left over for the next one. (page 45)

By telling the heart-wrenching story of just one family of escape slaves, Toni Morrison captures, in Beloved , a part of the black American collective memory ( Sixty million and more ). Like Sethe (and yet so unlike her), a horrible past haunts America’s past. This book is violent, but it is ultimately universal. The message is one we all need. It’s a reminder to all of us of the power of self-love, self-esteem, and friendship:

“You your best thing.” (page 273)

No, this is not a story to pass on (page 274-275). While the collective memory of slavery, and the common bond shared, remains below the surface, the people must learn to live and love themselves despite the past.

As Sethe escaped slavery, a young white girl rubbed her raw feet.

“It’s gonna hurt, now,” said Amy. “Anything dead coming back to life hurts” (page 35).

How true that is, on many levels.

Have you read Beloved? What themes stood out to you?

Thoughts On Rereading

It’s now been two weeks since I finished this reread of Beloved . I loved it just as much upon this reread (which I think was probably the sixth time) as I did when I read it years ago. It had been about five years since my last reread.

Thanks to the reading list I found in my closet a few weeks ago, I know now that I read Beloved for the first time over the course of two days, the summer before my senior year of high school. I also reread it a few times before and during my college years, including a semester in which I studied it and wrote a paper in a class. My paper was pretty unsatisfying, simply because I realized partway through that my writing could never do this book justice.

There is so much meat in Beloved that I cannot possibly capture it, not now and not back when I tried to write about in school. I doubt that any reader can capture the depth of Beloved in one single read, or even, in my case, in six reads. Beloved is meant to be reread to be understood and loved, and that depth is one of the reasons I love it.

What book do you love to reread?

It’s interesting that each reading emphasizes something different for me. Because I read my personal copy of this book for a class, I’d circled and highlighted key phrases, obviously seeking out the key components of a theme. It’s almost amusing to read it now, because every single paragraph has multiple markings, and that seems to take away the purpose of the emphasis. Nonetheless, I loved revisiting it in my copy. I noticed different things, but those issues were still present.

Do you mark up your books? I only did when I was writing papers about them.

About the author

Rebecca Reid

Rebecca Reid is a homeschooling, stay-at-home mother seeking to make the journey of life-long learning fun by reading lots of good books. Rebecca Reads provides reviews of children's literature she has enjoyed with her children; nonfiction that enhances understanding of educational philosophies, history and more; and classical literature that Rebecca enjoys reading.

This is on my radar for “very soon”. Whenever *that* is. 🙂

I’m really looking forward to reading this one! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.

I never re-read books, but I think this is one of the few books that really needs to be re-read. I didn’t enjoy reading it, but once I read the study guide, a few more reviews and thought provoking posts like this one I grew to appreciate it a lot more. It is creeping up my favourite book list and I’m sure it would enter the top 50 if I re-read it. One day I’ll try it again. I can see why you love it.

I haven’t read Beloved. I do like rereads though. My taste varies. I love rereading Dune and Hitchhikers, but also classics like A Man For All Seasons and Utopia. I don’t mark the pages but I do put a little postit note there and then put a little note on the postit note.

I absolutely loved Beloved, too, and will be rereading it for sure. Yes it is harrowing but it is gorgeous. This and Song of Solomon are two of my most favourite books of all-time. In fact, I’m rereading The Bluest Eye very soon (for a challenge as well), as that one I’d forgotten much of what happened.

I loved Beloved. I read it as a freshman in college when I had to write a paper on it. I’m glad that I was forced to read it for that reason. Toni Morrison is brilliant but I would not have seen that brilliance if I had given up on the book, and let me tell you, in the beginning I was so lost.

I hadn’t been in the habit of re-reading but I have started re-visiting some of my faves here and there. Sometimes they are exactly as I remember them but often they read completely differently.

I’ve never read Beloved, in fact I only discovered Toni Morrison this year (I knew she existed, I had just never read any of her stuff!)! But the two books of hers that I’ve read have really impressed me; one of the things that I really like about her is that her books pretty much beg to be read over and over again – to me, that is the sign of a great book! After reading your review, I’m really looking forward to Beloved!

As for books that I love to read over and over again, they tend to be comfort reads: Harry Potter books, the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next series, and of course anything by Jane Austen!

I remember when first read Beloved , my high school teacher talked about how leading students through the novel had really changed her own perceptions of it. Before teaching it to high-schoolers, she had always focused pretty exclusively on Sethe, but her students brought her to a deeper appreciation of Denver as an important character as well. I remember one scene in particular, where Sethe and Paul D. are reminiscing, almost fondly, about Sweet Home, and Denver asks something like “If it was so bad, why do you still talk about it like you love it?” That really pointed up to me the complicated relationship the adults have with their pasts – the way they were wounded so deeply, and yet find so much meaning in the small moments of connection they had there. And also just the way in which they haven’t yet articulated a new world for themselves, one outside of slavery – so all their reference points, stories and legends are still very bound up with that time. But Denver represents a sort of transitional figure, one who is receiving the stories of ex-slaves but coming of age in a much different world.

Anyway! I love this novel, too. It’s probably time for me to re-read it. And I’m about to revisit some other old favorites when a group of us do a group read of Mrs. Dalloway and other Woolf novels. I can’t wait!

Lezlie , and AK , when you read it the first time, don’t try to understand it all at once. It is an experience.

Jackie , I think that’s one of the reasons I don’t “rate” books. The longer they simmer in my past, the more I like them (usually). I hope you do reread it, but I’m obviously a big fan of this book!

Bella , I didn’t know there was a book for Man of All Seasons. I wasn’t crazy about More’s Utopia, but I’m glad I read it once.

claire , I know I read Sula and The Bluest Eye but I don’t remember much/anything about them, so I should probably reread. I should probably try Song of Solomon too because I heard it is also incredible.

Nicole , I think that is why I loved being an English major! I got to find the gems in all these great books. Now, of course, I just try to enjoy them, but I still enjoy the search for gems.

I was afraid to reread this one for many years because I worried that I wouldn’t like it. I shouldn’t have worried!

Steph , I do hope you do read Beloved . It’s not meant to be understood at first. But I think the confusion relates to the state of mind of all the characters. Ah, so well done in my mind.

I thought I loved rereading Harry Potter. But this is my second time rereading the series, and I’ve stalled on book 5. It’s a tragedy, but I think I’m tired of Harry Potter. Maybe I just haven’t waited long enough.

Emily , That aspect stood out to me a lot this time around: Denver’s question, and her “in-between” stage of life. I kept seeing that conflict in Sethe’s thoughts and conversations too: she wanted to love the memories of her husband, but then felt guilty because that was all at Sweet Home. Ah, I wish I was back in class, sometimes.

I may need to read Woolf along with you guys. I may have before, but I don’t remember. It was back in the day when I wasn’t paying much attention, I was just reading to turn pages.

I have a copy of Beloved all ready and waiting to be read, so I know I will get to it eventually. And I am ok with books being kind of confusing in the beginning, or at least I am when it’s Toni Morrison writing. I read A Mercy earlier this year (which was compared A LOT to Beloved, probably because they both look at slavery) and it is similar in that the beginning of the book doesn’t really make much sense until you’ve reached the end. Oh, but how I loved A Mercy. It befuddled me, but I still enjoyed it, and can’t wait to read it again!

So nice that you found that reading journal from high school! I wish I had my old notes and journals about books.

This is a perfect time to remind people about BELOVED, with Banned Books Week coming up.

This is such a painful and yet beautiful book. It’s one I’d like to re-read too for sure. Another one I’ve been meaning to re-read is Middlesex – it’s my favourite novel and it’s been way too long!

Haunted is a good word for this story. We read some Toni Morrison in my women’s literature course in college, and that was right around the time the move version Beloved came out. So our teacher had us see the movie as an assignment, and I was blown away by the story. I read the book shortly after. I don’t remember all the details, but I remember it being a book I’d re-read.

The Bluest Eye is the only Morrison book I’ve ever read. I liked it but I didn’t really love it.

I don’t re-read very often. It either has to be a VERY good book, part of a series so I can re-familiarize myself, or something I read as a kid and would like to revisit.

Steph , I’m so glad to hear that you loved A Mercy ! I still haven’t read it, so now I’m looking forward to it.

Dawn , I think it’s easy to see why it’s been challenged: it’s quite violent. But hey, let’s not kid ourselves: slavery was violent!

Nymeth , I’m a big fan of rereading this book, obviously!!

Anna , I can’t imagine a movie of this book! It’s the wonderful language that I love!

Ladytink , I read Bluest Eye and wasn’t emotional drawn in as I was with this one. I just love this book! I reread a lot (or at least I love to!)

Sethe in a sense represents America. She was fettered and haunted by a past so dark that it hovers over all aspects of her life. It’s a timeless American classics because it captures the worst of slavery.

I have a copy of Beloved ready and waiting, so hopefully I get to it soon. I have heard wonderful things about the book and I love Toni Morrison.

Matthew , you put it so well! I agree, I think Sethe is America, among other things!!

Stephanie , I do hope you get to it soon!

I’ve been wanting to read Toni Morrison for a while, but I’m not sure where to begin. Is Beloved a good starting point? It sounds quite intimidating, to be honest!

Great post. I read this book more than five years ago and the images it still haunt me. It truly is violent yet beautiful at the same time. This post has inspired me to re-read it.

Tuesday … don’t ever be intimidated to read Toni Morrison. All her novels are great stories that move quickly. Yes, there is an extra layer of symbolism buried beneath the surface, but you don’t have to fully understand it to enjoy the books and take something meaningful away from them.

tuesday , Book Club Guide says what I probably would have: don’t be intimidated. I think Beloved is a good start. I’ve read a few others but they don’t have the universal message that Beloved does re: slavery, American history, and love. Then again, I just don’t think I loved the others because I always compared to Beloved. I’m sure they were good too.

The Book Club Guide , definitely a book to reread! I love it.

[…] Toni (Wikipedia) Beloved: Reviewed at Rebecca Reads Jazz: Reviewed at Rebecca Reads Sula: Reviewed at Evening All Afternoon Song of Solomon: Reviewed […]

Session expired

Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.

Oh hi there It’s nice to meet you.

I'm rebecca reid. i've been blogging about books i've read since 2007., sign up to receive recently published reviews and thoughts on books in your inbox when they are published..

We don’t spam! You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Beloved NYT Review by Margaret Atwood

This page is referenced by:.

Ms. Morrison's versatility and technical and emotional range appear to know no bounds. If there were any doubts about her stature as a pre-eminent American novelist, of her own or any other generation, ‘Beloved'’ will put them to rest. In three words or less, it's a hair-raiser. - Margaret Atwood

The occasional excesses of rhetoric (and sentimentality) in ‘Beloved’ may reflect an anxiety that in Morrison that she attributes to her heroine: a need to overfeed and overprotect her children…One of the ironies of the novel is, in fact, that its author hovers possessively around her own symbols and intentions, and so determines too much for the reader—flouting her own central moral principle and challenge. For throughout ‘Beloved,’ Morrison asks us to judge all her characters, black and white, according to the risks they take for their own autonomy and in honoring that of others. - Judith Thurman

[Morrison] treats the past as if it were one of those luminous old scenes painted on dark glass—the scene of a disaster, like the burning of Parliament or the eruption of Krakatoa—and she breaks the glass, and recomposes it in a disjointed and puzzling modern form. As the reader struggles with its fragments and mysteries, he keeps being startled by flashes of his own reflection in them.

This novel gave me nightmares and yet I sat up late, paradoxically smiling to myself with intense pleasure at the exact beauty of the singing prose. - A.S. Byatt

Toni Morrison has written a rich, mythic novel about slavery and its power to imprison a person long after the chains are gone.” - Cheryl Merser

Morrison's style is both bleak and tender. She writes of the unthinkable without histronics. Her triumph is that through metaphor, dreams and a saving detachment, she melds horror and beauty into a story that will disturb the mind forever. - Penny Perrick

Toni Morrison has constructed her powerful narrative on the cadence of contending voices, the murmur of words thought but unspoken, and the circling motion of memory as it edges slowly but inexorably nearer to the things most deeply buried in oblivion. - Merle Rubin

Toni Morrison has been silent for six years, since the publication of her acclaimed Tar Baby , but her quiet time has been supremely productive. With Beloved, Morrison again flexes her considerable strength in capturing the song of speech, the color of human life and the intimacy of oppression. - Anne Saker

Search This Blog

The nature of things.

Books, gardens, birds, the environment, politics, or whatever happens to be grabbing my attention today.

Beloved by Toni Morrison: A review

I cannot imagine what it is like for the Nobel Prize selectors to evaluate literature in different languages. It seems to me to be an impossible task. I wonder also whether it is in some degree politically and regionally- based.

It's an interesting question. I suspect that political considerations do enter into the decisions as they would almost have to.

You are right. I don't think Morrison intended Beloved to be enjoyed. It was uncomfortable, at best, and it was horrifying. I read it in the 1990's, along with The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon. It may be time for a reread.

Rereading books like this one is always a revelation to me. I'm amazed at what I missed the first time around.

Great review of this book! I tried to read it once but didn't make it through it. Maybe I should try again.

It is a difficult read for sure, but definitely worth the effort.

None of us are the same people we were 20 years ago, or, for that matter, two years ago. I have a small list of books I disliked when I was younger but think I should give another chance to. I'm happy you gave this book another chance, and that you found great value in it.

There was value in it even the first time I read it, but the story is so horrific it was hard to appreciate it.

Thank you so much for sharing this

I'm always happy to share.

I have not read Beloved. Great review as usual, Dorothy, you write very thorough book reviews and I love them. Beloved sounds like it is a fantastic read, but a book that would be too difficult to read in some respects due to what you described.

It is certainly difficult to read. I had to take frequent breaks. But it is such an important book for explaining a part of our history that usually doesn't get sufficiently explained.

Thank you, Dorothy Borders, for sharing another review of a great piece of literature. I read this book just as the movie, starring Oprah Winfrey, was released. As an Black American of a certain age, I have heard, by word of mouth, the horrific and subhuman conditions savagely heaped on my enslaved African ancestors. I can't describe my pain when I think about this so I choose not to stay in that mindset. Love your blog, especially the week in birds. Be blessed!

Your pain at these stories is certainly understandable, especially to anyone who has read Morrison's book. Thank you for your kind comment.

It makes me so angry when people want books banned. Just ugh. While I've not read this book I've heard many great things about it.

Trying to ban a book is always a stupid and ultimately useless enterprise because it invariably backfires.

I read this novel long ago ... and think it shook me to the core (as well as The Bluest Eye). But I don't remember it well now and would probably need to do a reread it. Isn't it crazy how it became an issue in the Virginia Governor's race?! Oh gosh the Dems need that state to be Blue. Huge race at stake. I'm holding my breath for Virginia, but it's pretty conservative in places.

I have a cousin who lives in Virginia Beach and she's very nervous about the outcome of the race. At this point, we can only hope for the best. It just seems incredible to me that Virginians would elect Youngkin.

Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison

124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.

And thus starts one of the best, yet most devastating, novels I have picked up in a long while. Every time I returned to where I left off, picking the book up to start another reading session, it seemed heavier and burdensome, weighted by the raw sorrow that permeated its pages. When I put the book down, I would have to sit quietly for a bit to process the raw realities it presented in the novel—the sickening reality of American slavery, the tragedy of memory, guilt, and regret, and the truth that history reverberates long into the future and haunts for generations.

The story follows the residents of house 124, a black family dismantled by their former enslavement, some years after the end of the Civil War. They are haunted by a raucous, and at times violent, spirit of a baby. It drives away the two young boys of the family, leaving Sethe, her mother-in-law Baby Suggs, and her daughter Denver alone with the spirit and isolated by their surrounding community.

This is a ghost story, but a ghost story unlike any I have ever read before. It focuses on the haunting of the soul, that things cannot be unseen, unfelt, unremembered. The baby ghost is Sethe’s own child, who she killed some years before the Civil War ended, when confronted by her captors who wished to force her family back to the plantation. She would rather kill her own then allow the child to go back to the horror of enslavement. As a result of this terrible event, she is forever haunted by the death of her baby, as well as her life as a slave, the life that brought her to such drastic measures. The following passage describes memory haunting her:

She shook her head from side to side, resigned to her rebellious brain. Why was there nothing it refused? No misery, no regret, no hateful picture too rotten to accept? Like a greedy child it snatched up everything. Just once, could it say, no thank you? I just ate and can’t hold another bite?

The haunting turns from an unseen spirit into a flesh and blood entity, taking the form of a young woman named Beloved who enters Sethe life yet again to consume her with her weighted guilt and memories.

This is a work by an extraordinary author. There is a reason Toni Morrison’s novels are hailed as classics and a reason why this particular novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She has a gift for making prose flow like poetry. Heart-achingly beautiful passages and sentences season the novel throughout. The format and style of Toni Morrison’s writing changes between chapters and sections, depending on the point of view of the narrator, and it is masterfully done. It does not feel odd nor does it create difficulty in reading, it only succeeds to solidify the themes of the novel. I added more books by Toni Morrison onto my to-be-read list, as I crave even more of that spectacular writing.

I would like to briefly address the online article on Tor.com that prompted me to read this book. The author argues that Beloved has not been welcomed into the horror genre, when it is in fact a classic of horror. I had a hard time deciding whether I agreed with the author or not. As I said before, this is a ghost story unlike any I have ever read. The terror was hardly in the ghost itself. The true terror within this novel has nothing to do with the supernatural and everything to do with the reality of severe cruelty and the dehumanization of an entire people. It’s the horror of being reminded that slavery existed, that these terrible things happened, and that it’s only been about 150 years since it was legally abolished. So, maybe Beloved is a horror novel, but it is in a class of it’s own.

Illustrator, designer, and lover of books with a specialization in all things dark and spooky.

Review: everyone but myself by julie chavez, review: death in the dark woods by annelise..., review: the jinn daughter by rania hanna, review: masters of death by olivie blake, review – order from chaos: the everyday grind..., review: the housemaid by frieda mcfadden, review: aftershock by zhang ling, review: the puzzle master by danielle trussoni, book review: motherland by paula ramón.

[…] in Cincinnati in the mid-1800s, Beloved deals with guilt and consequences that come from […]

नई संसद : परंतु क्या महिलाओं के…

When will the feminist movement become intersectional, breaking barriers – the inspirational journey of…, the future of socially responsible investing: why…, climate change’s gendered impact: stories of women…, bharat mata : not an idea supported…, where are the women, महिलाओं को क्यों नहीं आने दिया जाता…, power impacts consent, “it is patriarchal and sexist to suggest…, book review ‘beloved’ by toni morrison.

By Arthita Banerjee

Toni Morrison was a writer extraordinaire, her impact on people’s lives went far beyond the page. She was the very first black woman to be awarded the Nobel prize for Literature, laying the groundwork for generations to come. We all stand tall on her shoulders, to say the least.

Her best known work, the ‘ Beloved’ , moves in terrains nobody has dared explore before.

When you think of a story addressing, revisiting slavery- all it normally does is tread along the sidelines, use grisly, graphic tales of horrors in an attempt to educate, by invoking a sense of pity.

Morrison, however doesn’t want you to look at the black experience through a monochromatic lens. She implores you to look for the complex shades of grey, even in the most enduring and trying times. While you maybe disgusted by the actions of the characters but you are never to see them as less than people, puppeteered by the slave masters and a mere product of the cotton plantations.

It’s truly an extraordinary task to write a review for Toni’s magnum opus but if I must mention, it’s an equally daunting task trying to take it all in the first time you read it – her nurtured, her nemesis, the beloved.

Morrison demands you really read her book. It is of little consequence that you may be familiar with the writing style of a Faulkner or a García Márquez, when you sit down with Beloved, you need to have a little artistic interpretation of your own, as a reader, otherwise it ain’t cutting ice with her writing.

The book is definitely not your run-of-the-mill linear tale, there is no beginning and no end to it, just juxtapositions of the horrors of the past, told through flashbacks, memories and dreams, all effortlessly blending into the present – a constant reminder of how alive the past is. The narration and the structure of the book is also compounded by an ever-switching point of view of the characters. Even the dead ones, sometimes, have their bit to say.

Beloved, is a tapestry of the imperative, very distinctive black experience that’s hard to look in the eye. Distinctive, because the characters have a voice of their own, devastatingly enough, not a choice, but you learn the complexities in their own words, through their own nightmares, their doings as well as their undoings. Her writing is almost lyrical, poetry flowing like prose and her words, definitely incomparable. By her storytelling, she manages to elegantly dignify even the indignation suffered by her people.

Set in the mid 1800s, the book is based on the real life account of Margaret Garner, a fugitive slave on a Kentucky plantation, who, in an attempt to escape the slave catchers along with the letter and the spirit of the unforgiving law- the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and out of utter desperation, does the unthinkable.

The great American painter, Thomas Satterwhite Noble, historically represents the very story in his painting ‘ The Modern Medea ’. A wood engraving of the art-piece can be found at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Margaret’s story, told through Morrison’s Sethe, explores the physical, emotional and to an extent spiritual devastation wrought by slavery.

The central character in the book is Sethe, and the book opens with the words, “Sth, I know that woman.” Several linguists argue that “Sth” is the sound of a woman grinding her teeth, it’s metaphorically conclusive for her actions which you are left free to judge but it’s sure to alter your perception, through her journey.

The story follows the residents of house 124, a black family dismantled by their former enslavement, some years after the end of the Civil War. Sethe, along with the two young boys of the family, her mother-in-law Baby Suggs, and her daughter Denver live haunted by a raucous, and at times violent, spirit of a baby. It works its way into driving her family out, one after the other and ultimately her own community ends up isolating her.

The story seams into gothic fiction, but it’s unlike any you have read before. It focuses on the haunting of the soul, that things cannot be unseen, unfelt or unremembered. The baby ghost is Sethe’s own child.

Toni was disappointed that the book wasn’t “welcomed into the horror genre, when it is in fact a classic of horror.” However, as a reader I thought that the terror that is felt in the book is hardly about the ghost itself. It has so little to do with the supernatural and everything to do with the reality of the severe dehumanization of an entire people. It’s the horror of making the reader acknowledge that slavery existed, and Toni banging the ceremonial gavel with the order that it should and it must, haunt us all.

First transgender artiste to receive a Padma Shri, Narthaki Nataraj now gets appointed in TN Advisory Committee

Roadmap for a brand new wave of feminism.

Editorial Team

Related posts, meet the van gogh sisters: secrets, interests & dispositions, devaki jain’s memoir : the brass notebook, what sanya malhotra’s character in “photograph” teaches us about love.

15 Inspirational Toni Morrison Quotes You Need to Hear Right Now

Morrison may be gone from this earth, but her words will continue to live on and inspire year after year..

These are hard times. No one can deny that. During hard times, we all can use some motivational words from an elder. Late author Toni Morrison may no longer be walking this planet, but her words and works are undoubtedly still influencing generations of writers.

Whether it’s her fictional pieces like “Beloved,” “The Bluest Eye,” and “Sula” or her personal essays such as “The Source of Self-Regard: Essays, Speeches, Mediatations” and “Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination”—Morrison’s contribution to this word are vast and wide.

So it’s because of this, we’d like to take a moment to honor her words, her wisdom and share a handful of quotes that you might need to hear right now and every day after.

“Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”

Novelist Toni Morrison discusses her venture into playwriting in Albany. Morrison has earned a reputation as one of America’s best fiction writers with her four novels.

“I didn’t want to speak for Black people and I wanted to speak to, and to be among them… it’s us. So the first thing I had to do was to eliminate the white gaze.”

Toni Morrison- “Beloved”

Toni Morrison attends the Carl Sandburg literary awards dinner at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum on October 20, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois.

“You are your best thing.”

Toni Morrison, American writer, Grande Hotel et Milan, Giuseppe Verdi’s room, Milan, Italy, 23rd November 1994.

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

Toni Morrison- “Song of Solomon”

Toni Morrison photographed in New York City in 1979.

“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

Toni Morrison, American writer, novelist, editor, Italy, September 2012.

“You think because he doesn’t love you that you are worthless. You think that because he doesn’t want you anymore that he is right — that his judgement and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Don’t.

It’s a bad word, ‘belong.’ Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn’t be like that. Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can’t even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, because the clouds let him; they don’t wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him.

You can’t own a human being. You can’t lose what you don’t own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don’t, do you? And neither does he. You’re turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can’t value you more than you value yourself.”

Toni Morrison’s 1975 Keynote Address at Portland State University

Toni Morrison performs at the Jazz At Lincoln Centers Concert For Hurricane Relief at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 17, 2005 in New York City.

“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.”

Toni Morrison to Her Students

Toni Morrison: Award-winning New York author reads tonight at Harbourfront’s International Festival of Authors.

“When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”

Toni Morrison’s 1987 New York Times Article

Toni Morrison smiles in her office at Princeton University in New Jersey, while being interviewed by reporters on October 7, 1993

“My world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer. It just got bigger.”

Toni Morrison- “The Source of Self-Regard”

Toni Morrison (1931 - 2019) during the annual Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner at the University of Illinois-Chicago Forum, Chicago, Illinois, October 20, 2010.

“Don’t let anybody, anybody convince you this is the way the world is and therefore must be. It must be the way it ought to be.”

Toni Morrison, 77, is photographed in her New York apartment .Toni Morrison, in her New York apartment.

“In your rainbow journey toward the realization of personal goals, don’t make choices based only on your security and your safety. Nothing is safe. That is not to say that anything ever was, or that anything worth achieving ever should be. Things of value seldom are. It is not safe to have a child. It is not safe to challenge the status quo. It is not safe to choose work that has not been done before. Or to do old work in a new way. There will always be someone there to stop you.”

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.”

Toni Morrison- “The Bluest Eye”

Toni Morrison poses with her 1977 novel entitled “Song of Solomon” on September 21, 2012 during a reception sponsored by the US ambassador Charles H. Rivkin (R) at his residence in Paris, as part of the 10th America Festival.

“Beauty was not simply something to behold; it was something one could do.”

Toni Morrison- 2011 Rutgers Commencement Address

Toni Morrison, American writer poses during portrait session held on September 21, 2012 in Paris, France.

“Your life is already artful — waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art.”

Toni Morrison- Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

“Make up a story. For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul. You...can speak the language that tells us what only language can: how to see without pictures. Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation.”

Beloved Based on the Book by Toni Morrison - Summary and Analysis

Publisher description.

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Beloved tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Toni Morrison’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Summary Great set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Beloved by Toni Morrison includes: Historical context Chapter-by-chapter summaries Character analysis Themes and symbols Fascinating trivia Important quotes Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Beloved by Toni Morrison: A Nobel laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison weaves a heartbreaking tale of legendary proportions. Set in post–Civil War Ohio, Beloved is the story of an escaped slave haunted by her past. Although Sethe is no longer enslaved, she is not yet free from her memories of the child and husband she buried, of the brutal violence on the plantation she fled, of life and of death, and of everything in between. Beautiful, unflinching, and profound, Beloved is Morrison’s crowning achievement and is one of America’s greatest novels. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.

More Books by Summary Great

Books That Changed Lives 2024: Top 7

ALBAWABA Books have the remarkable power to inspire, educate, and transform our lives, Throughout history, certain books have left an indelible mark on readers, influencing their perspectives, beliefs, and actions.

Here's a curated list of the top 7 books that have profoundly impacted lives across generations and cultures.

Best Books That Changed Lives: Top 7

1. "to kill a mockingbird" by harper lee:.

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," addresses themes of racial injustice, moral growth, and compassion in the segregated American South.

Through the eyes of young Scout Finch, readers confront deep-rooted prejudices and learn valuable lessons about empathy and standing up for what is right.

2. "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank:

Anne Frank's diary offers a poignant and intimate glimpse into the life of a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis during World War II.

Her courage, resilience, and unwavering optimism in the face of adversity continue to resonate with readers worldwide, reminding us of the human spirit's strength and endurance.

3. "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho:

A timeless allegorical tale, "The Alchemist" follows Santiago, a shepherd boy, on a journey of self-discovery and fulfillment of his dreams.

Paulo Coelho's philosophical narrative inspires readers to pursue their passions, listen to their hearts, and embrace life's adventures with courage and determination.

4. "1984" by George Orwell:

George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, "1984," offers a chilling portrayal of a totalitarian regime where individuality is suppressed, and truth is manipulated.

Through its stark warnings about surveillance, propaganda, and authoritarianism, the novel prompts readers to question power structures and defend freedom of thought and expression.

5. "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle:

In "The Power of Now," spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle offers transformative insights into the nature of consciousness and the importance of living in the present moment.

Through practical exercises and mindfulness techniques, Tolle guides readers towards inner peace, enlightenment, and spiritual awakening.

6. "Beloved" by Toni Morrison:

Toni Morrison's haunting novel, "Beloved," confronts the legacy of slavery and its enduring impact on African American identity and memory.

Through its lyrical prose and powerful narrative, the book explores themes of trauma, survival, and the quest for freedom, leaving a profound impression on readers.

7. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki offers invaluable financial wisdom, revealing the contrasting mindsets between the wealthy and the middle class.

Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, it challenges conventional beliefs about money and wealth accumulation.

IMAGES

75 Covers of Toni Morrison’s Beloved From Around the World ‹ Literary Hub
Beloved by Toni Morrison
75 Covers of Toni Morrison’s Beloved From Around the World
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Tony Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison

VIDEO

Beloved Novel Summary| Toni Morrison| Summary in Hindi
Toni Morrison checks white interviewer for racist question
"Beloved" (1998), A Fan Trailer by JMP
Beloved by Toni Morrison
"Beloved" by Toni Morrison

COMMENTS

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison. 3.95. 435,592 ratings21,479 reviews. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison's Beloved is a spellbinding and dazzlingly innovative portrait of a woman haunted by the past. Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is ...
BELOVED
Our Verdict. GET IT. New York Times Bestseller. IndieBound Bestseller. Morrison's truly majestic fifth novel—strong and intricate in craft; devastating in impact. Set in post-Civil War Ohio, this is the story of how former slaves, psychically crippled by years of outrage to their bodies and their humanity, attempt to "beat back the past ...
Toni Morrison's Beloved: ghosts of a brutal past
As it opens, Sethe, in her late thirties, is living with her 18-year-old daughter, Denver, in a house that the neighbours avoid because it is haunted. The time is the early 1870s, right after the ...
On Reading 'Beloved' Over and Over Again
On Reading 'Beloved' Over and Over Again. Salamishah Tillet, a Pulitzer-winning critic, discusses the book she has read the most over the course of her life — Toni Morrison's classic novel ...
Beloved Book Review
Read Common Sense Media's Beloved review, age rating, and parents guide. ... Author Toni Morrison is the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and this book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. ... It's true that Beloved is the 26th book on the American Library Association's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books for 2000-2009 and ...
Beloved by Toni Morrison: Summary and reviews
Book Summary. Beloved is Morrison's undisputed masterpiece. It elegantly captures hers trademark touches: elegant prose, fantastical occurrences, striking characters, and racial tension. Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.
Book Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Book Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison. Beloved by Toni Morrison is a beautiful, haunting story that is set around the time following the slavery emancipation declaration. It's mysterious and supernatural, as well as being a love story, a tale of horror, forgiveness, loss and confusion. It's very poetic and lyrical, full of metaphors and ...
Beloved by Toni Morrison Book Review Or Just Some Book Thoughts
Morrison's use and communication of individual memory is what I found most powerful in this novel. There are a few pages where Beloved and Sethe's combined memories are expressed in tandem. Here, what is being remembered seems to extend before either of their beings . The memories , "rememory" and repetition in this book built an ...
Book Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Full Review "Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another." I've been looking forward to reading Beloved since I started my project of reading all of Toni Morrison's fiction (in order) earlier this year. It's "the big one" — the one that won the Pulitzer and led her to win the Nobel Prize.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beloved book. Read 17,390 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison's Beloved is a spellbinding...
A review on the Beloved novel by Toni Morrison
Beloved is a novel written by the Author, Toni Morrison, in 1987. It was published around the same time. The novel has been a success because it has been one of the best-selling in America. It has also drawn attention because it has featured on mainstream media such as the New York Times and Oprah Winfrey's Show.
In Fight Over 'Beloved,' a Reminder of Literature's Power
Toni Morrison with her novel "Beloved" in 1987. The book has become a flashpoint in the Virginia governor's race. Credit... David Bookstaver/Associated Press
Beloved by Toni Morrison Book Review
In Beloved by Toni Morrison, the ghosts of slavery live on, even though it is the year 1873.In one sense, Beloved is literally a ghost story: former slave Sethe and her daughter, Denver, are haunted by the ghost and apparition of Beloved, Sethe's daughter. However, the true ghost haunting 124 is more significant, for the ghost is not a tangible person, but rather memory.
Beloved NYT Review by Margaret Atwood
For throughout 'Beloved,' Morrison asks us to judge all her characters, black and white, according to the risks they take for their own autonomy and in honoring that of others. - Judith Thurman. In her piece for The New Yorker, Judith Thurman argues that the "drama of Toni Morrison's Beloved engages us in history." To preface this point ...
Beloved (novel)
Beloved is a 1987 novel by American novelist Toni Morrison.Set in the period after the American Civil War, the novel tells the story of a dysfunctional family of formerly enslaved people whose Cincinnati home is haunted by a malevolent spirit.The narrative of Beloved derives from the life of Margaret Garner, a slave in the slave state of Kentucky who escaped and fled to the free state of Ohio ...
Beloved by Toni Morrison: A review
Beloved by Toni Morrison: A review. I first read Beloved thirteen years ago. I hated it. It had, of course, been a highly acclaimed novel, thought by many critics to be Morrison's masterpiece and it had won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. Morrison went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 based on her body of work.
Beloved: Study Guide
Beloved by Toni Morrison, published in 1987, is a powerful and haunting novel set in post-Civil War Ohio.The story revolves around Sethe, an escaped enslaved woman, and her haunted past. The ghost of Sethe's dead daughter, known as Beloved, returns to haunt her, and the novel delves into the impact of slavery on individuals and communities.
Beloved
Beloved, novel by Toni Morrison, published in 1987 and winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The work examines the destructive legacy of slavery as it chronicles the life of a Black woman named Sethe, from her pre-Civil War days as a slave in Kentucky to her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873.Although Sethe lives there as a free woman, she is held prisoner by memories of the trauma of ...
Beloved: Full Book Summary
Beloved begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Sethe, a former slave, has been living with her eighteen-year-old daughter Denver.Sethe's mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, lived with them until her death eight years earlier.Just before Baby Suggs's death, Sethe's two sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away. Sethe believes they fled because of the malevolent presence of an abusive ghost that has ...
The New York Times: Book Review Search Article
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $18.95. ''BELOVED'' is Toni Morrison's fifth novel, and another triumph. Indeed, Ms. Morrison's versatility and technical and emotional range appear to know no bounds. If there were any doubts about her stature as a pre-eminent American novelist, of her own or any other generation, ''Beloved'' will put them to rest.
Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison
The haunting turns from an unseen spirit into a flesh and blood entity, taking the form of a young woman named Beloved who enters Sethe life yet again to consume her with her weighted guilt and memories. This is a work by an extraordinary author. There is a reason Toni Morrison's novels are hailed as classics and a reason why this particular ...
Beloved Trilogy by Toni Morrison
Book 1. Beloved. by Toni Morrison. 3.95 · 435386 Ratings · 21462 Reviews · published 1987 · 345 editions. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison's Belo…. Want to Read. Rate it:
Book Review 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison
Book Review 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison. by Editorial Team June 14, 2021 June 28, 2021 1611. Share 4. By Arthita Banerjee. Toni Morrison was a writer extraordinaire, her impact on people's lives went far beyond the page. She was the very first black woman to be awarded the Nobel prize for Literature, laying the groundwork for generations ...
15 Inspirational Toni Morrison Quotes You Need to Hear Right Now
Late author Toni Morrison may no longer be walking this planet, but her words and works are undoubtedly still influencing generations of writers. Whether it's her fictional pieces like ...
A Beginners Guide to Toni Morrison
In Beloved, Morrison leans into the teaching and less into the gratification, ... reviews, and speeches from 1971 to 2002. ... Edited and contributed to by Toni Morrison, Burn This Book: ...
BOOK REVIEW Beloved by Toni Morrison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5) Surprisingly, I
45 likes, 5 comments - samtaylor.bookzApril 5, 2024 on : "#bookreview #fivestarbook #beloved #tonimorrison #thriftedbooks #bookblogger #usedbooks #classicbooks #bookish #bookreviewer #bibliophile #booksbooksbooks #bookworm #bookstagram BOOK REVIEW Beloved by Toni Morrison ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5) Surprisingly, I never read Beloved in high school or college and last year I read my ...
Beloved Based on the Book by Toni Morrison
So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Beloved tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Toni Morrison's book. Crafted and edited with care, Summary Great set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary…
Books That Changed Lives 2024: Top 7
Here's a curated list of the top 7 books that have profoundly impacted lives across generations and cultures.Best Books That Changed Lives: Top 71. ... Toni Morrison's haunting novel, "Beloved ...
BOOK REVIEW "Freeing yourself was one thing ...
12 likes, 4 comments - sydaleeeJuly 18, 2022 on : " BOOK REVIEW "Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another." Beloved, by Toni Morrison T..." 📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚 "Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another."
Review Time . . Beloved by Toni Morrison . . ⭐ ...
6 likes, 1 comments - kara.book.faerieFebruary 28, 2023 on : " Review Time . . Beloved by Toni Morrison . . ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5) . . Synopsis Sethe ...