Dolors's Reviews > Love
Love
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Morrison directs a cacophony of voices, hazy facts and anachronistic timelines that converge into the ever-changing, multi-faceted meaning of “love�.
At the center of the story, the ghostly figure of Bill Cosey, the iconic owner of a prestigious hotel located in the East Coast in the forties; and orbiting around his powerful absence, the shifting testimonies of different women who played an important role in his life� and death.
Can a man grieving for the loss of his wife and son find solace in youth without being a child molester?
What kind of love bonds two girls to a lifetime of malicious rivalry, jealousy and yearning that sprouted from misunderstanding and shame?
How many women slaved over in the shadows, adoring the public icon of a man, both evil and saint, while racial discrimination ripped apart families and exploited their children with total impunity?
Morrison’s prose resembles a mournful chant to the fatigue of living, the burdens of loving and the permanent scars caused by loss. Offbeat lyricism from an omniscient narrator who remains anonymous until the last pages of the book brings light into the obscure rhythms of this fragmented puzzle.
The man remains elusive: friend, benefactor, father, lover and abuser. His haunting presence diminishes as the fate of those who loved him resolves itself regardless of the past.
Contrarily, the women of his life become perfectly delineated; their voices reach such perfect clarity that they challenge moral distinction and years of censure and repressed silence to achieve communal vindication.
And love, with all its cruel beauty, triumphs over despair, even when life is nothing but a tenuous reflection of the things that could never be.
At the center of the story, the ghostly figure of Bill Cosey, the iconic owner of a prestigious hotel located in the East Coast in the forties; and orbiting around his powerful absence, the shifting testimonies of different women who played an important role in his life� and death.
Can a man grieving for the loss of his wife and son find solace in youth without being a child molester?
What kind of love bonds two girls to a lifetime of malicious rivalry, jealousy and yearning that sprouted from misunderstanding and shame?
How many women slaved over in the shadows, adoring the public icon of a man, both evil and saint, while racial discrimination ripped apart families and exploited their children with total impunity?
Morrison’s prose resembles a mournful chant to the fatigue of living, the burdens of loving and the permanent scars caused by loss. Offbeat lyricism from an omniscient narrator who remains anonymous until the last pages of the book brings light into the obscure rhythms of this fragmented puzzle.
The man remains elusive: friend, benefactor, father, lover and abuser. His haunting presence diminishes as the fate of those who loved him resolves itself regardless of the past.
Contrarily, the women of his life become perfectly delineated; their voices reach such perfect clarity that they challenge moral distinction and years of censure and repressed silence to achieve communal vindication.
And love, with all its cruel beauty, triumphs over despair, even when life is nothing but a tenuous reflection of the things that could never be.
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Reading Progress
April 1, 2017
–
Started Reading
April 1, 2017
– Shelved
April 3, 2017
–
61.88%
""No matter what your place in life or your state of mind, having a star-packed sky be part of your night made you feel rich.""
page
125
April 7, 2017
–
Finished Reading
April 8, 2017
–
100.0%
""Up here the solitude is like the room of a dead child, the ocean has no scent or roar. The future is disintegrating along with the past. The landscape beyond this room is without color.""
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202
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Terri
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Apr 03, 2017 09:38AM

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Feeling is reciprocal, Terri. Thanks for your lovely, kind words! :)


I had previously read this beautiful letter, Deea (I am subscribed to this wonderful cultural magazine and receive a weekly email). If somebody knows about love, that's Steinbeck. What great advice he gives to his son... Thanks for reminding me of it! :)

Ah nice, I also like this magazine a lot. I really loved the letter and it made me crave to read more Steinbeck. :)
A great review, there is deep emotions that you bring to the surface and make visible.


It definitely is, Lisa! Thanks for taking the time to read, as always!

Glad to hear so, Samra. Thanks as usual for your supportive comments! :)

Thanks, Joudy, what a great remark. Morrison does the same in her books, the feelings are just underneath the surface, but made more stronger because they are not plainly visible.

I might join you in the re-reading, Teresa. Morrison is definitely worth many re-reads!

So thankful for your deference, Marita. I keep missing reviews myself and have the habit of checking my GR friends profiles from time to time as well.

Thank you, Ilse. Nothing ever escapes your keen eye. You caught up on the aspect that most captivated me about this novel: the elusive meaning of love. I have no doubt Morrison will speak to you in multifarious voices, a discordant choir that will keep you up till the late hours, musing over the real meaning of essential things in life.




I totally understand that, Markus. There's a book for every reader and for every time. I am glad this review dispelled any doubt on this one. Thanks for taking the time to read, as always!

Oh yes, you sure get the picture, Cheryl. Morrison's characters have all the foibles you might think them capable of, but they never hide it. That cheekiness is most appropriate for Morrison's jazzy style. This is not an easy book to read, the timeline goes back and forth, and it takes a while to put all the puzzle pieces together, but when they fit, one sees the picture so clearly that the reward is way bigger than the effort. With your knowledge of Morrison, I bet you'd guess where the story is headed much sooner than I did... Thanks as usual for your perspicacious comment, Cheryl!

Many thanks, Debbie, you are very kind with me! I really felt a bit out of my depth with this book. It required some focusing on my part to connect the dots, and then I struggled to write about it without giving away the key factors that make this read such a beguiling story. Heh, I'll stop babbilng now... maybe you'll get what I mean to say when you revisit Morrison! :)

Simi, what an interesting connection! The women in this story are united (and cursed) by the haunting presence of the man that separated them, but in a way, they remain linked through an invisible bond, a chord of disharmony and communion that fluctuates with time, so your reference is spot-on! You just shed new light into the meaning of the story and added a new angle to read into the relationship between the female protagonists.
As I said before, what a gift your presence is, and how blessed we are to have you back!:)

Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read and for your kindness, Lisa! :))


Great comment here, Deea. You are right in linking these books together (I still have to read "Jazz") and in stating Morrison's skill to portray complex issues like racial bigotry. I truly admire her ability to bring poetry into her stories that serves as a conduit to highlight her discourse. She is an author to continue reading, and I am glad we're both on the same page, Deea! Thanks as always for your always perceptive comments.

One solution to the mystery, Dolors, is that you convey the essence of books so well that the readers of your reviews get to read them by symbiosis:-)

Heh, thanks Fionnuala, that is the most tactful way to say that all my reviews (hopefully only of Morrison!) blend together, i.e., that I repeat myself! I am probably guilty...but what can I do? I am that kind of person, I just hope I won't be unbearable in my older years when flaws tend to become more accentuated! ;P


You're probably right, Fionnuala, but it's like the songs we like and we never get tired of listening to. They never get old. I have that feeling with specific writers: Steinbeck, Banville...and maybe I should add Morrison to the list now you've made that point...

You're probably right, Fionnuala, but it's like t..."
Her books may sound like that they are the same (the themes, the language), but I haven't found that they are, even when I was primed to do so, as with A Mercy.

You're probably right, Fionnuala, ..."
She's a versatile writer, Teresa, I agree with that. But I think her style is similar but never quite the same, it waxes and wanes, or at least in the 4 novels I've read by her. The one that struck me as quite original in tone and themes was Song of Solomon. She is worth being read and re-read, whatever the case...

Yes, my plan is to do that one day. I've read all of her novels, but so far I've only re-read "Beloved".


Many thanks Flo! If you haven't read any Morrison, I would suggest Song of Solomon as a starting point. Her prose is not light, and one needs to be in a specific mood to get into her jazzy style, but I believe she is an author to explore, when the time is right! Thanks again for taking the time to read, Flo... particularly when I know it's so tight at your end.