- Library Binding: 255 pages
- Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (January 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0791051943
- ISBN-13: 978-0791051948
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.5 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 689 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In Sula, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature, tells the story of two women--friends since childhood, separated in young adulthood, and reunited as grown women. Nel Wright grows up to become a wife and mother, happy to remain in her hometown of Medallion, Ohio. Sula Peace leaves Medallion to experience college, men, and life in the big city, an exceptional choice for a black woman to make in the late 1920s.
As girls, Nel and Sula are the best of friends, only children who find in each other a kindred spirit to share in each girl's loneliness and imagination. When they meet again as adults, it's clear that Nel has chosen a life of acceptance and accommodation, while Sula must fight to defend her seemingly unconventional choices and beliefs. But regardless of the physical and emotional distance that threatens this extraordinary friendship, the bond between the women remains unbreakable: "Her old friend had come home.... Sula, whose past she had lived through and with whom the present was a constant sharing of perceptions. Talking to Sula had always been a conversation with herself."
Lyrical and gripping, Sula is an honest look at the power of friendship amid a backdrop of family, love, race, and the human condition. --Gisele Toueg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Hearing an author read her own work creates a special ambiance. To hear Morrison read a short, unabridged novel published 24 years ago, to hear in her voice how much she still values the writing, well, who could ask for more? The only drawback is that Morrison, while very much in tune with her characters, often lets her voice drop to a whisper, making these tapes difficult to listen to while driving and almost impossible on a highway with the window open. On the page, Sula is one of her more clearly defined novels?the friendship and later hatred that envelopes the lives of two black women from "the bottom"?but the imagistic nature of the writing means listeners may have to replay passages if they want to follow the action. A small price to pay for a masterpiece.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly with "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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First Sentence
In that place, where they tore the nightshade and blackberry patches from their roots to make room for the Medallion City Golf Course, there was once a neighborhood. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
In that place, where they tore the nightshade and blackberry patches from their roots to make room for the Medallion City Golf Course, there was once a neighborhood. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
2.5 I've Read Better Morrison,
By
This review is from: Sula (Paperback)
This is the story of two black girls, Sula and Nel who become the best of friends in 1973 small town in Ohio. It is both a coming of age story and the trials and tribulations of adulthood, with little opportunity. Both women follow different paths but eventually converge.I have heard so many wonderful things about this little book that I had to see what all of the fuss was about. I read Morrison's The Bluest Eye for a women's studies course in university years ago and really got a lot out of it, so I was quite hopeful with Sula. What I got, was what seemed like stereotyping. It seemed like Morrison was almost poking fun at her own culture. While the reader new what was happening, the story seemed to be intentionally confusing and ambiguous. From the description on the back cover of this book, it says: "Together, they create an unforgettable portrait of what it means and costs to be a black women in America" Granted, this book was written in 1973, but I pray that this does not define "what it means" to be a black woman anywhere! I won't go as far as saying that this book is a waste of time. I wouldn't have finished reading it if I thought it was, but Morrison can and has done better.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enchanting and Compelling Masterpiece,
By
This review is from: Sula (Paperback)
Toni Morrison's second book, Sula, is a short beautifully written story about the nature of freedom in early and mid-century america: the nature of freedom , that is, for an African-American woman. In subtle and powerful ways Morrison shows how racism and sexism shape the roles and possibilities of female blacks in america. She shows how women bear these roles, and faced with no other option, live with a grace and dignified quietism.In to the midst of this she introduces the character of Sula, easily one of the most memorable characters every to grace the pages of an American novel. Sula lives for herself, to find herself, to be herself; and it turns everything on its head. The novel is lighter in tone than some of Morrison's later masterpieces and yet with stunning economy of language and unforgetable characters she creates a full and challenging portrait of a community that is both a pleasure to read and unforgetable. If you haven't read Morrison, this is probably the best place to start. If you have, then this is another wonderful novel, easily one of her best!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Heartfelt Novel,
By
This review is from: Sula Oprah Number 36 (Mass Market Paperback)
I read this novel for my AP English class and I was glad I did. This novel blurs the lines between conventional good and evil. Sula is supposed to the evil one and Nel the good but their actions sometimes do quite the opposite. For example, Sula killed a boy (evil) but did it by accident when she was playing with him so he wouldn't be lonely (good), for Nel just wanted him to go away (evil). When Sula realized she had killed him, she was broken-hearted (good) but Nel didn't care about it except for the fact that someone might have seen them (evil). Yes it might seem that I am painting Sula to be a good person but she isn't for she did sleep with her best friend's husband. Sula kept the town together for without the bad example of her ways, wives neglected husbands and mothers neglected children.One theme is of a mother's love but in this way too, Morrison blurs the line. Eve cut off her leg to raise money to care for her children and she jumped out a window to save her burning daugther, yet killed her son, Plum, when she realized his drug addiction was turning him into a child again. This novel will make you think. It's packed with irony, symbolism, and many themes. A sad one being why a town is called "The Bottom" when it is in reality on top of a hill. This is a heartfelt story of two young women who grow up with different backgrounds, coming together out of necessity. Sula is a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and feel confused with your emotions. Its a wonderful book and I wish it hadn't ended so quickly.
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