Beloved: Amazon.ca: Toni Morrison: Books

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Toni Morrison gently reads her own Pulitzer Prize-winning work in the unabridged version of this riveting tale of ex-slave Sethe and the beloved ghost that haunts her. While Morrison makes occasional odd pauses in her reading, what is lost in smoothness is more than made up for in quiet intensity as the author reads words obviously deeply felt. Her intimate knowledge of the characters and their motivations lends this reading an authority that helps the listener sort out the breaks in time and dialogue in this complex story of a woman coming to terms with her enslaved past and the loss of her husband and baby daughter. (Running time: 12 hours, eight cassettes) --Kimberly Heinrichs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Set in post-Civil War Ohio, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel concerns a runaway slave and her daughter, whose lives are disrupted by a former slave, a spirit and a woman named Beloved. According to PW, this "brilliantly conceived story . . . should not be missed."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence
124 WAS SPITEFUL. Full of a baby's venom. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

533 Reviews

5 star:		(255)
4 star:		(102)
3 star:		(83)
2 star:		(38)
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3.9 out of 5 stars (533 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Beloved, Nov 29 2000

By

Melissa Domingcil (Kauai, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beloved Tie In (Mass Market Paperback)

In a whirlwind of broken thoughts and memories, Toni Morrison is able to leave Beloved's reader desperate for more. Morrison uses unconventional methods to attract and capture the reader's attention. By telling Sethe's story in scattered fragments, the reader is forced to read on to keep from being left in the dark. Beloved is an example of what a fugitive slave would do to prevent her biggest fear from coming true. Morrison sets up this fear with extensive background knowledge. Morrison takes generic occurrences often stereotyped with slavery and transforms them into unimaginable horror. At some points, it is almost understandable why Sethe felt she had no other choice but to spare her children from slavery. Morrison's Beloved challenges the reader's beliefs as far as the supernatural is concerned. In the very beginning, the characters force the reader to accept ghosts and angry spirits as every day incidents. It comes as no surprise to the reader when Beloved's true character and whereabouts are revealed. Morrison's unique style makes Beloved the incredible novel it is. Her artistic flare and talent make Beloved stand out against a mass of boring detail.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Ghost Story or Psychological Thriller?, Jun 1 2011

By

Mia Manns (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Beloved (Paperback)

This is not a story to pass on. At least, that's the refrain of this dark tale of life after slavery. It really is a story that should be passed on, because it seems as though we've forgotten the horrifying brutality of slavery in America. If the novel ends by saying that this is not a story to pass on, it begins by dedicating itself to the "sixty million and more" black slaves brought across from Africa, a few million of whom died on the journey across. Many stories of freedom focus on the stiff upper lips, the singing in the fields, the heads held high against all adversity, despite every misfortune thrown against them, and the awaiting of a brighter future.

Morrison's story is much darker than these. She focuses on the rape, the murder of children, the demeaning treatment of men and women alike, the comparison of slaves to animals and the horrible living conditions. Her characters deal with the trauma from being treated like they weren't human beings. They are bred like animals. They lose their "offspring" to their oppressors. These characters learn their worth in dollars, giving them no control over where they will go or what demeaning work will be forced upon them. To love is to risk losing the beloved. Even twenty years after the abolishment of slaves, Sethe still has to ask, "Would it be all right? Would it be all right to go ahead and feel? Go ahead and count on something?"

Beloved can be read as a ghost-story (though by no means a straight-forward one) or a psychological thriller. Something is haunting Sethe, and whether the ghost of her baby or the guilt for her own actions, the haunting is spiteful and venomous. This is a story about the trauma of the past living on in the present, and it is, in fact, a story to pass on, it's just not a story to carry around in your heart, letting it's trauma cause you pain. The tragedy of Beloved is that if you could just let it all go there's so much in the world of freedom to live for.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Religious Experience Not Entirely Comfortable for Skeptics, Dec 10 2007

By

Carol Read - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beloved (Paperback)

This novel is a religious experience, derived from the Exodus of the Hebrew Bible (deliverance from slavery), the miracle healing stories of the Christian Gospels, the Book of Revelations (the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse") and African spirituality. The escaped slaves, Sethe and Paul D, and Sethe's daughter, Denver, get healed from the lasting trauma of slavery, including Sethe's murder of her second-youngest child, Beloved, a murder committed out of love, to prevent Beloved being taken into slavery. In the process of this healing a ghost-made-flesh (Beloved) has sex and gets pregnant. What I loved about this book are Morrison's characters, whom I felt I knew; Morrison's honesty and compassion, and the absolutely gorgeous writing, especially the passages describing the countryside. At the same time, I sometimes felt slightly manipulated, the kind of awkward feeling I get watching talk-show interviews about "important issues." The material is profound and moving, but the presentation at times a little canned. This is only a tiny criticism. Overall, I think, the book is a masterpiece. The subject matter, spiritual liberation from slavery, has a universal message.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars relentlessly middlebrow
I felt I ought to read this book since it won the recent New York Times writers' and critics' poll for the best work of fiction of the past quarter century. Read more

Published on Jun 14 2006 by T. McDonell

5.0 out of 5 stars I be-loved this book
Beloved by Toni Morrison was a very interesting book. In this book the protagonist named Sethe tells here story about when she was going through slavery. Read more

Published on Feb 17 2005 by D.Haines