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Beloved | 
 enlarge | Author: Toni Morrison
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $5.97
You Save: $8.98 (60%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  89 reviews
Sales Rank: 215
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 1400033411
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781400033416
ASIN: 1400033411
Publication Date: June 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 84 more reviews...
 Thought Provoking. January 5, 2009
This book was actually supposed to be one of the books for a class I cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. It was also listed as one of the best American novels of the past 25 years...so I kept it even after canceling the class. While it was an interesting story and a thought provoking read, I had a hard time with this book for a few different reasons.
Writing Style
The narrative was written in a close third person following very closely alongside the minds of a few main characters, Sethe primarily but also Denver, Paul D and some other characters who showed up later (Stamp & even Beloved herself). The voices used were likely fairly authentic to the voices of mid/late-1800 recently freed slaves in America. The grammar was a little mixed up at times, but generally very understandable.
The grammar wasn't as difficult to follow as the actual style of the voices themselves. Often, I was caught in a sort of stream-of-consciousness type narrative from one of the characters. Being pulled that far inside the character's head made it difficult for me to keep my bearings or perspective clear. The roundabout way subjects were treated left me confused and really slowed down the reading for me while I tried to keep the message straight. I'm not sure if this disorientation was intentional or if it's my own personal distance from this type of character that made it hard, but that was my primary complaint with the book.
Characters, Setting, Tone, etc.
The characters were well created and very alive to me, especially as the book progressed. Even though the 'stream of consciousness' writing hung me up a lot, it also helped me get to know the characters better. I felt like I understood Sethe and Denver much better after getting into their heads.
The settings fluctuated back and forth for me...sometimes they felt extremely real and vivid and other times they felt very flat and clapboard/2-d.
My biggest complaint with the characters and the setting was that I often lost site of the fact that this was set in the mid-1800s in a post-civil-war/abolitionist nation just rising out of slavery. The tone of the novel was often the largest element, and that tone often didn't ring "post-civil-war" to me.
Again, it could be my distance from the subject but many times through the book, it was almost a shock to be reminded that these characters had just recently been living on a plantation as slaves. Most of the time while I was reading, my mind conjured up a more contemporary setting...people living in a poor borough in the 1900s, perhaps even the late-1900s.
Maybe that should be a compliment to the story rather than a detractor...it shows that this is a Timeless sort of tale that could easily happen 150 years ago or last week.
Themes
This novel presented a number of strong messages.
The racial message was naturally there loud and clear. It came as a strong reminder of the horrific reality that was slavery in the U.S.A...and the racism that followed after abolitionism...and even today. I loved the line where Sethe comments that she has her freedom now, but she's still not free.
That sense of freedom leads into another major theme, that of Identity. Sethe and these other ex-slaves are trying to redefine themselves in a world that has chewed them up and spit them out. Beyond the slave reference, Sethe and her family have an added stigma because of Beloved. All of the characters come face-to-face with their own identity (or lack thereof) and have to take major actions to determine what they want to become.
The other major theme that struck me was that of Family and of relations within the Family. Most of what Sethe did was for her family. She was driven to escape slavery to protect and provide a better life for her family. She ran with her kids in tow to the tool shed when the white authorities came, because she had to protect her family. She went to prison for her family. She lived alone and stigmatized in a haunted house in an effort to keep her family whole. And yet, her actions also served to drive her family apart. Her sons leave as soon as they feel physically capable of doing so. Her remaining living daughter Denver is totally estranged and practically ignored by her. Going back to the "identity" factor, Sethe hasn't really learned how to be a mother and has to learn what it means to create a family in the world she's living in.
Overall
Overall I had a hard time with this book. It was a very slow read for me, often talking itself in circles and leaving me confused. Still, I found the story very interesting and thought provoking. I felt awful for Sethe and her family and for the trials they had to endure. Even though, as I mentioned above, I felt that the 'slavery' theme often got overshadowed, I was still struck by the awful fact that slavery did exist (still exists some places in the world) and just how awful it was. Even the "good" slave owners (of "Sweet Home" where Sethe ran from) were despicable and made me shrink in shame.
It was a good book, but hard to read. I don't know how good the movie was, but if it's true enough to the book, I might recommend watching that rather than trying to push through the book.
Still, it's worth reading if only to get a new insight into the world of slavery and racism that raged (and still lingers) in America and the world.
***
3 stars
 couldn't put it down December 17, 2008
After the first 15 pages and adjusting to her style, the story grabbed me so tight, I sat all day Saturday until I finished the book. Haven't done this in 20 years or more. Stellar, view-altering, yummy, and soul searching angst. Read it, weep, smile and learn.
Jessica Lopez November 5, 2008
In the award-winning novel by Toni Morrison, BELOVED was one of the many books that I enjoyed reading with a heart-warming passion. It lead me by the hands through the struggling story of Sethe, a runaway slave, trying to let go of her past. As her and her family move to a farm in a house called #124, Sethe realizes that she hasn't left all the torment she has been haunted by behind. She's lost so many along her life, that she's not even sure she can survive on her own, so she leans on Paul D. to help her along the way. Even though it was tough to follow through the book, with the different scenes being mentioned to help readers understand the many struggles Sethe has gone through, but you learn that Sethe has been through a lot in her life.
For eighteen years, Sethe and her daughter Denver, have lived in #124 in Ohio, secluding their selves from the people around them, she meets a man by the name of Paul D., her long-missing husband's friend, and they begin to reveal the stories from their great escape of slavery. As her young daughter Beloved haunts her, a ghostly figure who calls herself Beloved moves in and gradually takes over the household and begins to demand and take over Sethe's soul, which breaks her soul.
This book is a marvelous book that taught me the meaning of struggle and letting go of your past.
Oh My God! Are You Kidding Me? November 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a FIVE STAR book. It's fantastic... but it's beyond that. It's the greatest American novel since Huck Finn. No kidding. It's an American Classic. I can't believe there are people that would give this less than FOUR or FIVE stars. It's obvious that they didn't read or understand the book on any level.
This is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It will change you and open your mind. It's absolutely haunting and beautiful. If you're looking for brilliance give this book your attention.
Raw & Powerful October 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Toni's Morrison's Beloved is a hard, frustrating, and emotionally draining piece of literary art. Saying this, her prose is written like something I've never read. She throws you in the middle of the narrative and does not tell you why her characters are saying or acting like they are. It is a finely written detective story that is heartbreaking. Everyone needs to read this Nobel Prize novel. If you believe yourself to know about slavery and how slaves "survived" on plantations and farms, Morrison will open your eyes to the reality of that life. Set between 1855 and 1873, Morrison weaves a raw tale about Sethe, a former slave, and her daughter Denver living in a house haunted by the ghost of Sethe's third child who was murdered. The book is hard to read because of the graphic images burnt into one's mind as one reads it, but also, because you have to be patient; Morrison will reveal to the reader what has just happened in a scene a few pages or chapters later. This is the beauty and genius of Morrison's writing. You will never be the same after reading this book.
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