Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) in Retro Chapter Chicks

Jul 31, 2016 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: african-american, magical-realism, historical-fiction, literary-fiction, audio, concierge, library, pulitzer, ohio, kentucky

Audiobook read by the author.

From the book jacket - Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not truly free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

My reactions
This Audiobook read by the author.

From the book jacket - Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not truly free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

My reactions
This is a challenging book to read (and to listen to) because Morrison uses multiple narrators, switches time frames without notice, and dribbles out clues to what really happened in a way that keeps the reader off balance and unsure where the story is headed. Sethe is an enigma – emotionally and physically scarred, she seems to have given up, waiting for a sign that she has been forgiven for what she has done in the past, for the impossible decisions she had to make. Those who care about her – her daughter Denver and friend/lover Paul D – are left to compete with Sethe’s guilt as they vie for her love and attention.

I did think the “atmospheric” writing sometimes got in the way of the storyline. And Morrison tells a horrific story of a mother trapped in an environment that is toxic and cruel, where her life and that of her children is meaningless. As Sethe’s desperation, fears and hopes are revealed I find myself changing my mind about her, alternately wanting to shake her or hug her.

Still, I loved Morrison’s use of language; I felt immersed in the story, the timeframe, the magic, the brutal reality. Here’s one example of her poetic turn of phrase:
…where blueberries grew, tasting so good and happy that to eat them was like being in church. Just one of the berries and you felt anointed.

Morrison read the audiobook herself. She obviously has a keen sense of exactly the atmosphere she wanted to convey. Her delivery is breathless, slow, and almost hypnotic; she frequently stops for a breath after every three or four words. I did not like this at first, but over time her delivery grew on me. However, I do think I may have missed some key elements by listening, rather than reading the text. ...more

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Jul 24, 2014 Kris (My Novelesque Life) rated it liked it

2.5 STARS

"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 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. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved." (From Amazon) ...more

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