Beloved- Toni Morrison

This blog is long long overdue (again) and it has been quite some time since I finished reading this book. But I have to publish this abbreviated review mainly to be able to carry on with this blog but also because the book I'm writing about is so important. Here it is.

I'm going to put my cards on the table right at the start of this blog- this is one of the best books I have ever read. For those of you seeking a book review, well I hope you find it here- but impartial this blog will never be. The quality of this novel is truly aspirational and anyone who has ever tinkered with the idea of writing a book should stop what they're doing and pick a copy of it up now and start writing down pointers. It is nothing short of a masterpiece. Right: hyperbole over, let me tell you exactly why I liked it so much.

First of all, the plot- such as I am going to describe it. Beloved follows the story of Sethe, an African-American who twenty years after being freed from slavery, is still coming to terms with the magnitude of terrible actions exacted upon her and that she has exacted. Caught between an imposed and self-imposed ostracization from her community Sethe lives with her daughter Denver and is in the process of rebuilding a life with her erstwhile partner, Paul D. I really want everyone who reads this blog to read this novel so I'm loathe to give out any plot details, suffice to say that just when everything seems to be going well a mysterious young woman appears in her garden, the past and the present begin to collide in a disturbing, haunting way. All of this you can get of the back of the Vintage edition of the novel (although I have paraphrased it a bit otherwise there's no point me writing it).

So plot aside, and in a way it can be put aside in the reading of the novel, the essence of my delight in reading this book is Toni Morrison herself and her mastery both of her prose technique and use of language. Her prose is meticulous, measured in tone from the very first line '124 was spiteful. Full of a baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children'. I'm usually a fan of the swooping narrative, of lines that rise and fall like the melody of a song but this opening line cuts like a knife and sets the tone for the rest of the novel. This sentence immediately subverts the readers expectation- instantly we ask 'how can a baby be full of venom'? This becomes a standard of the novel: as repeatedly Morrison tells you exactly what you need to know, but forever leaves you wanting to know more- an omniscient voice oscillating between comfort and menace for the reader.

It's this extraordinarily structured juxtaposition between the measured and the fantastic, the philosophical and true throughout this novel which makes it so compelling. The story builds through retribution to catharsis, and as such contains the stylistic elements as well as the narrative of an oral folk tale or parable. In this way it feels like the narrative is unfolding organically, even as it moves from the present to the past and back again. But despite its nineteenth century setting, this is a modern book with a confident and talented modern author at its helm. Although I have only read this once so far, I believe this will be a novel that will offer new things to its reader with every reading. And that is perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments any author can achieve.