Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved

by Toni Morrison

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Page Length: 324 pages

Genre: African American, Literature

I have very mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, it is a brilliant story of an African American family transitioning from slavery to freedom. In that regards it is a brilliant piece of literature and I can understand why it is cherished.

Yet, the writing is extremely confusing. The story seems so abstract at times that I found myself completely lost. When I would catch up on what was happening I was still very disconnected to the characters. A huge part of that may be my own cultural disconnection. However, I think it was also done on purpose by Morrison.

The story was disturbing. How it was told was even more disturbing. I am not a huge fan of disturbing. However, even with that opinion, I do see value in reading this book. There is also a high likelihood
that you will fall in love with it. It seems to be the type of book that you love or you hate. While I can appreciate both sides I ultimately was not very fond of this book. I did rate it three stars because Morrison is a genius writer, the story has value, and I could understand how others could really connect to this book.