REVIEW: Beloved (Toni Morrison)

Book: Beloved

Author: Toni Morrison

My rating: 4.5/5.

Premise: Terrible, unspeakable things happened to Sethe at Sweet Home, the farm where she lived as a slave for so many years until she escaped to Ohio. Her new life is full of hope but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe's new home is not only haunted by the memories of her past but also by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

[⚠️CW: slavery, racism, abuse, rape, grief]

Beloved is a heavy book - it covers slavery, rape, mental health and grief. We follow Sethe and her daughter Denver as they both face their inner demons so to speak. The story shows us how many ex-slaves struggled to come to terms with what they've experienced and we see how this has impacted their lives. You get a sense of the trauma these characters have gone through, helping you see things from their point of view. This is one of those books that I think you get more and more out of with each reading. The writing is very metaphorical so I found the first 200 pages confusing. It also wasn't clear when we moved from present day to memories and back again. There were a couple of chapter's from Beloved's point of view that I just didn't get. But in the last 100 pages a lot of it clicked and I understood what had been happening. By the end, I was blown away! There are still some things that need to click into place for me, but hopefully a reread in the future will help. A powerful book!