Beloved by Toni Morrison
(Format for this read: Audiobook)
This is the 2nd book of Toni Morrison’s that I have read…and my admiration and amazement at her talent continues to grow.
It’s hard for me to even think of words to describe my review of her work because it is so multi layered and deeply emotional.
I have had to sit with my thoughts and feelings since I finished this yesterday…so I’ll try my best to verbalize.
Before I do, here is the summary:
“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. “
At a friend’s recommendation when I told her I was reading this book, I watched a documentary about Toni Morrison on Hulu called “The Pieces I Am.”
I greatly valued hearing her voice and the voices of people who were close to her explaining her life and her work.
One of the things she said was that the reason WHY she started writing the books she had written was to have work without the “white gaze”…words and stories and characters about the black experience FROM black voices and FOR black voices.
No explanations, no watering down harsh realities.
This does not mean white people can’t or shouldn’t read her books…
but it means her books do not cater or tend to whiteness…
she unapologetically writes for black people to let their truths be told in ways they want to tell them..not in the ways they are told by white society to tell them.
The driving force in this book is about a mother’s fierce love for her children…the extreme means she would go to to protect them…the unrelenting connection to them that breaks all supernatural boundaries.
This story is also deeply about the unabashed horrific reality that was slavery in our country. There is no whitewashed history in these pages.
The violence, the abuse, the disgusting dehumanizing that took place legally on American soil for years upon years. In fact, this book is based on a real life story Toni Morrison read while researching for another book she was writing.
She read about a woman named Margaret Garner, who escaped from slavery in Kentucky with her four children and husband….I will not say more details because it will give away a lot about the book.
The characters in this book are bound and damaged by many chains…literally and figuratively….The strength they possess and hold on to though is fierce and steadfast and astounding.
Another friend recommended I look up all the symbolism in the story and I was so grateful for that information…things like the color red, trees and a tin tobacco box are metaphors for things much deeper than their surface use.
I have to admit that while reading this book there were times I thought to myself “I don’t know if I can keep going.”
I was in such a state of heartache and sorrow over hearing the words and knowing that there are millions more stories of women, men, children, families just like this one…or even worse.
I had to tell myself “This isn’t about you and your feelings. This is about listening…and learning…and empathizing. And also repentance. And lament. Focus on that…not yourself and your comfort.”
This is a haunting and beautiful piece of literature which won a well deserved Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Toni Morrison writes in a unique and melodic and powerful way that digs deep into your heart, soul and mind.
I know I’m not expressing my thoughts well here and there is tons more swimming around in my brain and heart I want to say …but I will leave it at this…
You will not be the same after you read Toni Morrison’s work.
And you shouldn’t be.