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readingwithgoose's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Racial slurs
Minor: Rape, Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
suchsweetsorrow89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
All in all, it is a wonderful book (though not my favorite of hers), and a part of me cannot wait to read and read it again!
Graphic: Sexism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Rape
cepbreed's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Definitely going to read more Toni Morrison on my own time.
Graphic: Classism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, and Murder
wellreadandhalfdead's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Cursing
Moderate: Mental illness, Stalking, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape
nadia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I didn't fully get the significance of everything, especially some of the more magical realism elements (I think that's what you'd call them), including the ending, but I was able to mostly follow everything and appreciated all of the main themes of the book.
I think my current Toni Morrison ranking is:
1. Song of Solomon
2. Sula
3. Tar Baby
4. The Bluest Eye
My Beloved reread — the only Morrison I'd read before starting this chronological read — is next!
Graphic: Racial slurs and Child abuse
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Racism, and Violence
damnedmuddle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse
zotty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Violence, and Domestic abuse
wifescullys's review
4.5
very crazy enthralling book , jadine and son’s relationship especially, profound and tugging at something deeper and ugly and possessive and pure and good. can’t wait to reread this in 5 years to pick up new motifs/feelings, and 5 years again after that.
Moderate: Child abuse
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Driven deeply by dialogue and character interplay, I think that to get the most out of this book it probably shouldn't be a solo project. Toni Morrison expects you to do the leg work, and pits characters with their own background and motivations on opposing sides of conflict, where there is no winner. It would probably be a good book club read.
Set in Martinique, we hear the story of a young black model who is raised by her aunt and uncle when she is orphaned. The relatives are the home-help of a rich white man who bankrolls the girl's education, and he comes to settle in the Caribbean after his retirement, with his trophy wife and home-help in tow. This once candy magnate, is now estranged from his son, and preparations are made for a Christmas dinner which may yet see his son visit them.
Meanwhile, a young black man jumps ship and finds himself waterlogged and half starved outside their house. He starts hanging about and pilfering pantry items until he is discovered hiding in a wardrobe. Invited to stay in the house and given a makeover, he shakes the whole household's ideas of the appropriate roles, and is a catalyst to some major upheaval, unleashing suppressed rage and uncovering long held secrets.
There is a pile of sexual tension between the model and the vagabond. She has been raised in a white man's house, and he comes from an impoverished black town and has Opinions. They have a lot to discuss. Boy do they. The relationship starts in a place of violated trust (he was a burglar caught hiding in her house?!) and you know that things will never be unconflicted with two people with such personal strength and belligerence.
Under a (metaphorical) rock we find the (also, thankfully, metaphorical) cockroaches of mental illness, child abuse, fear, and bigotry. We discuss the prodigal son and his Anthropology, and white saviour support of Indigenous tribes-people, and are confronted with the conspicuous consumption of fashion as epitomised by a luxurious fur coat made of baby seal pelts.
I am perhaps, not entirely fair with this book. I am too accustomed to books that have a specific theology to sell; a point to make. Be they scientific tomes that explore an idea and come up with conclusions, or YA Fiction that picks a moral side, or has goodies and baddies, they all tend to have a conclusion, whereas this story is left up in the air. It deliberately asks more questions than it answers. While I admire it for that, I also didn't enjoy it as much as I could have, because most of the issues are not new to me, and in summary, it's all quite disheartening.
Graphic: Blood, Alcohol, Abortion, Colonisation, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Stalking, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Child abuse, Classism, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: War and Slavery
engelbrecht's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Child abuse