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A review by fluoresensitive
Beloved by Toni Morrison
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I've read this book three or four times, and every time it finds a new place to hit me. We need to be SOOO serious; this is one of the greatest horrors written, one of the greatest books written period, and the fact that people don't immediately recognize it as an epic piece of southern Gothic horror or afro-gothic is so!
But anyways. So I'm just going to freestyle this, but I've always loved the way none of the Black characters in this book are begging to be forgiven or understood. They simply are who they are. They do what they must. Sethe kills her daughter because it's the only thing her scared mind can think to do; Denver hides at home because it's what she thinks is safest. God, and I also go crazy for the way you never figure out who or what Beloved is! A ghost? Maybe! There are manifestations in the house and strange goings-on. Is she an escaped enslaved woman? Someone recently brought over from the Middle Passage? Who knows! Is she spirit, is she flesh, what's going on! And it's beautiful and nobody knows and it's all so perfectly iconic.
But anyways. So I'm just going to freestyle this, but I've always loved the way none of the Black characters in this book are begging to be forgiven or understood. They simply are who they are. They do what they must. Sethe kills her daughter because it's the only thing her scared mind can think to do; Denver hides at home because it's what she thinks is safest. God, and I also go crazy for the way you never figure out who or what Beloved is! A ghost? Maybe! There are manifestations in the house and strange goings-on. Is she an escaped enslaved woman? Someone recently brought over from the Middle Passage? Who knows! Is she spirit, is she flesh, what's going on! And it's beautiful and nobody knows and it's all so perfectly iconic.