Beloved - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

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.

Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

"That woman is crazy, [but] ain't we all?" December 30, 2005
120 out of 130 found this review helpful

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of 1988, Toni Morrison frees herself from the bonds of traditional narrative and establishes an independent style, just as her characters have freed themselves from the horrors of slavery and escaped from Kentucky to Ohio. Revealing the story of Sethe and her family as they survive the brutality of the farm, only to encounter torments even more punishing than whippings after they escape, Morrison presents scenes in a seemingly random order, each scene revealing some aspect of life for Sethe, her boys, her dead baby Beloved, and the new baby Denver, both in the past and in the present. Moving back and forth, around, and inside out through Sethe's recollections, she gradually reveals Sethe's story to the reader, its horror increasing as the reader makes the connections which turn disconnected scenes into a powerful and harrowing chronology.

As the novel opens, Sethe and Denver have lived in #124, a house in Ohio, for eighteen years, refusing to socialize and enjoying no company. When Paul D. Garner, one of the Sweet Home men and a friend of her long-missing husband, arrives on her doorstep and moves in, Sethe slowly reveals her long-buried nightmares, and the two share their stories of the events leading up to their escape. Most haunting to Sethe is the death of her young daughter Beloved, shortly after the escape from the farm, though the reader does not know for many pages the shocking manner of her death. When a ghostly figure who calls herself Beloved arrives at #124, shortly after Paul D., Morrison creates mystery and a heart-stoppingly tense atmosphere when Beloved moves in. As Beloved gradually takes over the household and seems to demand and then possess Sethe's soul, the sorrow which has burdened Sethe seems close to breaking her.

The sadism of some slave-owners, the devices used to torture, and the desperate measures some slaves took to protect themselves and their loved ones come fully alive here, the horrors growing as the reader gradually discovers the real source of Sethe's torment. By forcing the reader to make the connections, instead of spelling out details in a traditional narrative, Morrison strengthens the impact of the novel and its brutal revelations. Symbols of water, rain, snow, and ice connect the disparate scenes, and the use of shadows and the ghostly character of Beloved keep the reader on tenterhooks until the action is eventually resolved. A powerful, atmospheric, and shocking novel, Beloved is also a searing indictment of slavery and the damage it has done to the fabric of life, damage that cannot be repaired until it is fully recognized through novels such as this. n Mary Whipple

1 out of 5 stars

I only read it because I had to April 26, 2006
106 out of 184 found this review helpful

I hated this book. I didn't like the style it was written in at all. I understand why she used a ghost in the story but it doesn't work for me. I felt she was too heavy-handed with the symbolism and it made it hard to empathize with any characters. It wasn't that I didn't understand the "complexity" of the novel, I just found it annoying to read. If I hadn't been reading it for an English paper I would have set it down and not picked it up again. I'm glad I enjoy reading because overrated books like this could turn a person off for a very long time. It wasn't as boring as The Book of Ruth, but if I were going to recommend any of Morrison's books, I'd say stick with The Bluest Eye or Song of Solomon.

1 out of 5 stars

Dull and obvious, contrived and dull June 19, 2006
47 out of 89 found this review helpful

I read this twice--once because I had to read it and once because I had to teach it. Both times I was stupefied by its thick, plodding, contrived plot and bizarrely drawn characters. I do not understand why on earth this book has received the altitudinous praise it has received. I would not choose to teach it again and I would not recommend it. Maybe something else by Morrison (who I feel is an "okay" writer, but certainly not an American great) would do.
Apparently, some people gush and gaa-gaa over this tome. Had I been the editor in charge or yea-ing or nay-ing it, there would not have been any reviews on it today.e

1 out of 5 stars

Awful June 10, 2006
38 out of 89 found this review helpful

Forced and contrived. Even worse in the fact that the parts not involing a perverted-ghost-baby-women are pretty good and intresting, the ghost-baby-women who is supposed ti represent slavery (?) is just over the top. Not a single person in class liked this. Shows how far american lit still needs to go.

1 out of 5 stars

This book is trash March 31, 2006
36 out of 78 found this review helpful

I read this in college. Awful and literally disgusting to read. The impact of slavery still resonates with us today, by bringing a ghost into the story it makes it fantasy and I found it impossible to take this book seriously. Toni Morrison is the most overrated author in America, it's only because of Oprah (the most overrated "personality" in America") that she is popular.

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