Beloved | 
|  | | | Title: | Beloved | | Author: | Toni Morrison | | Publisher: | Vintage | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 08 June, 2004 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 1400033411 / 9781400033416 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.78 | | Amazon Price: | $10.17 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
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.
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Customer Reviews:
• Bedazzled 15 September, 2008
Having read the book as one of many for my American Literature studies, it left me absolutely confused and caught in the cobwebs of a shadowy, almost unfathomable plot. It simply made NO SENSE for me at all. How much ability of clairvoyance and anticipation does Morrison expect? How much can an author expect a reader at all? More, than an intermediate reader like me can take, I'd like to state.
...
Of course, as a Pulitzer winning book, it must have been a feast for critics, but it was an agony for me.
...
There might be readers who are apt to shed light beyond the ever-so-tightly-woven interactions of the characters, but me, as a not-so-profound knower of Morrisons works, her intention to make people think and act doesn't work out, as BELOVED, rather than makes one act, leaves one bedazzled and confused.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A77CW7641FQRV
• It Was A Struggle... 07 October, 2008
Well I'd like to start off by saying that the prose in this novel is absolutely stunning. Morrison writes with beautiful and poetic language. That aside, I struggled through this book despite the magnificent writing. Firstly, I just want to note that DO NOT ATTEMPT to read this book if you have never read the Bible. Literally every other page is a literary picture of a Bibical image; whether it be the Four Horsemen, Snakes, Sword and Shield, or the Flood. This imagery was very vivid but it becomes so bogged down in symbolism and imagery that it is impossible to evade confusion. One chapter (not labeled chapters although) in particular has a conversation at the end without quotations or names and takes you about 5 rereads to understand it. I read this for International Baccalaureate Advanced Lit Studies (Higher level lit) and even my teacher noted that it will take several rereads to understand the novel. I can see how this is ok for a Lit class but not someone who is reading it for fun; it is definitely not a casual, "hey I need something to read!" book. No casual reader should struggle to basically read a rewritten version of the Bible; avoid this book unless you are planning to attack it, ripping out every little sentence with an image or motif and noting the mood and tone.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A36T2UKFXGK3NW
• Brilliant Novel 28 August, 2008
Beloved is a riveting story, a page-turner. It reminds me of The Turn of the Screw in that you are never certain what was real and what wasn't. Do you believe in the supernatural or is it mental distress? Awesome review of slavery every white American should read. But the story is the thing - and it is really something!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A36S6XCEU3ZH99
• Just B/c It's About Slavery Doesn't Mean It's A Great Book! 05 September, 2008
This is a book about a woman who killed one of her children to keep them from being a slave. (Why did she kill that particular child and not the others?) Later the child comes back, fully living in adult form because of how much they loved each other, or something like that. Get out of here. That's so ridiculous I can't even suspend my disbelief. The mother and the revived ghost-daughter end up being co-dependent and obsessed with each other, and some other drama ensues. The grammar is purposely very poor and some of the chapters were done entirely in poems with a lot of symbolism that didn't really fit into the story, and seemed to be there just because of how it sounded.
There were some good parts to the book, like some of the characters and the talking about the past, but I really think this book is highly overrated, and I'm someone who loves to read; classics, modern books, junk books, you name it. I'm going to be very controversial and say that whatever judges decide books are "great" have a bias: if a black person writes about slavery, the book is automatically considered a classic, just because of the subject matter. (And maybe it's like this with other historic horrors too.) Well I'm sorry, but I still think a book needs to be well-written, regardless of the subject matter. To Kill A Mockingbird was an excellent book about racism, and Amy Tan writes a lot of great books about the lives of Chinese immigrants. These books are about heavy subjects, but the writers actually took the effort and told a real story with a strong plot. I'm sure there are also great books about slavery and that I will find them, but this a mediocre book that just happens to be about slavery.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A160ZFE22Z8EZV
• Hard To Ignore 17 August, 2008
Admittedly, I was lost at times while reading this, read many a chapter and sentence over and over, but by the end, I found the effort more than worth it. I can't pretend to know what it must have been like for women/slaves like Sethe, but if I've now gleaned even an inkling, this was the story that did it.
Much like after reading the Color Purple, I found myself thinking about this story again and again, and would highly recommend it for anyone with the patience to see it through. The pay off is well worth it.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2WEEYTKIULHCZ
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