Reviews

Sula by Toni Morrison

yenhpad's review against another edition

fast-paced

4.25

raniareads_'s review against another edition

emotional

4.5

peytondani's review against another edition

5.0

i am blown away by how compact this book was vs how utterly impactful it was. morrison’s writing is stunning as always and her ability to craft characters with so much depth amidst a narrative with so much happening is truly otherworldly. in 174 pages she created real, layered characters and balanced the nuances of the quotidian day to day of Black girlhood with bouts of serious trauma that doesn’t feed into itself. somehow she throws it in and moves on quickly in a way that just works. it doesn’t feel haplessly included in the slightest, but perhaps treated with the avoidance the characters show it, and maybe that’s why it works so well. i don’t know how she does it, but this is one of the best books i’ve ever read.

t33_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Started: 05/16/24
Ended: 05/18/24
Format: Digital [Kindle]
Audiobook [Audible]
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.0

Enjoyed it and of course with Toni narrating her work is chef’s kiss.
I will be doing a re-read of this. 

Highly recommend if you want literacy
gold, makes you get comfortable with the uncomfortable. 

bohavi's review against another edition

3.75

A family saga, or rather a short novel about the poor community of a town in the black mid-West from the 1920s until 1960s. The story is presented in vignettes, each member getting equally weighted attention, Sula emerging as a protagonist solely due to the storyline’s longer lingering on her character. Still, the omniscient narrator is unreliable, revealing only cut-outs of each character‘s past and present endeavors. Equally, the narrative style and point of view changes frequently, in line with the convoluted relations among the members of the community. The novel represents themes of race, segregation, post-war PTSD, communal identity as well as mistrust, guilt, pleasure, vanity, and death. All the while, it is embellished with beautiful metaphors about plants, rocks, and farm life.

„Shadrack rose and returned to the cot, where he fell into the first sleep of his new life. A sleep deeper than the hospital drugs; deeper than the pits of plums, steadier than the condor‘s wing; more tranquil than the curve of eggs.“

erivalh's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

abbeyreading's review against another edition

4.0

I knew Toni Morrison would not disappoint and I was right of course :)

thepletts's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jordanrisa's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“My lonely is mine… Your lonely is somebody else’s. Made by somebody else and handed to you. Ain’t that something? A second hand lonely.”

Toni Morrison has a way with words. Beautiful and eerie, a story that follows two friends on divergent paths of womanhood — one taking on traditional roles and one taking a path of rebellion and unconventional. An American classic that reflects on friendship, gender and regret. 

madisonsv's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5