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Mark Stone's Reviews > Beloved

Beloved by Toni Morrison
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did not like it

I don't give books low marks lightly. If anything, I am prone to being carried away by the author's enthusaism and rate books more highly than they deserve. I am an aspiring author, myself, and that also leads me to be kind to the books.

That being said, I really hated this book.

I like fantasy and magical realism. I find the dreams and allegories that live just underneath the skin of the world we can more readily see and touch endlessly fascinating. I like my stories intense and emotional, and I like it when characters are so full of passion that it obscures their sense of the world around them.

That being said, I really hated this book.

I found Beloved incomprehensible to the point of absurdity. It's one thing to have a book that is full of magic and poetry or to have a character's passion overwhelm their ability to describe the world from time to time, but I also need to know what is going on. For the story to grab me, I need to know what the story is.

Did I mention that I really hated this book?

I know it's trendy to read Toni Morrison, but I recommend this book to absolutely no one. I found it a borderline insulting waste of my time.
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Reading Progress

Started Reading
October 1, 2001 – Finished Reading
July 31, 2007 – Shelved

Comments Showing 1-50 of 242 (242 new)


message 1: by svnh (last edited Aug 25, 2016 01:27PM) (new) - rated it 5 stars

svnh i always find it difficult to reconcile when people imply that they enjoy suspending disbelief, but then revert to "I need to know what's going on".

that being said, i think that a lot of what compels beloved's popularity is not toni morrison's trendiness (on that point, i agree with you. i'm not really a toni morrison fan), but rather the fact that you don't really have to know "what's going on" in this book to get it.

you don't have to believe in ghosts, you just have to know that they're here, in this. you don't have to believe that "beloved" is only the "already-crawling baby girl".

i think that the exposure of the kind of racist, soutern ideology (still persistent, if in smaller ways) and the traumatized psyche of the characters is the most fascinating part of this novel, not the fantasy or the magic or the ghost stories: the struggle for some kind of escape from not only physical enslavement, but psychological enslavement by the past.


message 2: by Mark (last edited Aug 25, 2016 01:27PM) (new) - rated it 1 star

Mark Stone Today, I was speaking to a customer at the bookstore where I work, and I managed to articulate the concept a little more clearly.

What I am trying to say is that I like to know what is happening around the characters - what they are perceiving, experiencing, and so on. Now, what is happening around the characters need not make any sense; it need not even be really happening. What I need to understand is the basic who, what, where, and when of the scene.

To mix my media, the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena is a good example of the way I like my trippiness. The series is full of strange scenes that seem at odds with the scenes surrounding them. A serious fan of the series who has watched it more often than I have explained these scenes, saying that they are often symbolic of the action and aren't really happening to the characters at all. Instead, they reflect something important about the real action, and are thus more true (and therefore, more worthy of portrayal than the actual action).

So, when a character transforms into a cow or two girls exchange personalities, these things aren't necessarily happening. While it isn't clear what is actually happening within the narrative, what I am watching is clear. I am watching a girl turn into a cow. I am watching a pair of roomates exchange personalities.

For a literary example, how about One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez? In many ways the book is an extended allegory. The action we read is symbolic rather than actual. Perhaps it is symbolic of a family's experiences, perhaps it is an allegory for Latin American history, or perhaps I have no idea what the book is meant to mean. However, the scene where a baby is born with a pig's tail and is eaten by ants and the scene were a vicious general manages to shoot himself in the chest such that the bullet bypasses all his vital organs and deals no lasting damage whatsoever are both written very clearly. I may not know what the scenes mean, but I know what I am being presented with.

In Beloved, on the other hand, I often felt that I did not understand the action I was presented with. The narrative seemed to dissolve into nonsensical impressions.

I agree about what was fascinating, though. Those themes were powerful. I just didn't like how they were presented.


Sami Strate pretend its about an abortion then why dont you, silly one


Shane While I can't say that I completely agree with you, I can certainly say that I don't enjoy Morrison's writing style. It wears me out. And it's encouraging to know that I am not the only person in the world who isn't "ga-ga" over Morrison's books.


Ariel I understand what you are trying to say about disliking how the actions were presented. You like concrete presentations of things whether they make sense or not( correct me if I'm wrong). Personally, I didn't mind the abstraction of it all. It helped me to concentrate more on the characters and their situation. And to be honest, I don't think it was that difficult to understand.


Chris You say that you "need to know what's going on". That's understandable, but what must also be understood of literature is that making the message understood is not just the job of the writer. It is the job of the reader. As I read your review, I could only feel as if you did not really try hard to actively participate in the literary process. Sometimes the messages are not spoonfed. However, when you do find the message after many reread pages and confusing moments, it will often be much more glorious than the spoonfed message of simple plot.


Jacob Israel Chilton I realize I'm a bit late to this thread, but if you're still listening *original poster*, would you mind posting a passage that you found "incomprehensible". I'm fairly certain that we "Goodreaders" could mobilize an interpretive community capable of glossing a given bit of dialogue &/or narrative description. I must confess, I do have a sneaking suspicion that you will not find a passage from Morrison's novel that will present itself to you as a suitable example of the kind of obfuscation you accuse the author of, & I think this for a couple of reasons: (1) if you spend enough time looking at a given passage of /Beloved/ you will likely find that it is not that confusing; & (2) you very probably would find it embarrassing to post something that so many of your fellow readers could fairly easily explain in more or less satisfactory ways.

That being said, if you do NOT post a passage that you find "incomprehensible to the point of absurdity" or that "seem[s:] to dissolve into nonsensical impressions", I will consider you a tool & promise to boycott any writing you do attempt to publish in the future (although it sounds like I wouldn't be missing very much).

A final thing (& this might really be the litmus test I have been looking for): do you read/appreciate any 20th or 21st century poetry? If not, then I TOTALLY get why you wouldn't appreciate Morrison's language (which can be rather *poetically* ambiguous, but very productively so). Toni Morrison writes poetic novels in the vein of Woolf, Faulkner, Beckett, & Pynchon. All very difficult; all very worth the difficulty.

Anyhow,

BelovedLover


Rachel I disagree with you.

I did NOT want to read this book at first. I was assigned it in class. It was incredible though. I never wantedd to put it down.

It can get confusing, yes. But Morrison's use of "Stream of Consciousness" was wonderful in my opinion.

Although Beloved herself showed little emotion, Sethe's emotion was fervent. It also brings a great realization to just how horrific slavery was. We all know it was a bad thing, but to kill your own child because slavery is worse! That is incomprehensible.

It wasn't magic that brought Beloved back. African religion believes that the dead are reincarnated. They also believe that a soul can stay and haunt those that are still left in the family.
All this book needs is a little research and understanding of the authors style.

This was a great novel.

Toni Morrison may be a "trend," but all in good reason.


message 9: by Dinah (new)

Dinah It sounds to me like you simply didn't understand the book at all. Maybe at the time you read it, Beloved was too advanced for you. Maybe if you read it again after letting some time pass by, say, a few years from now, you'd probably understand it better. You don't like what you don't understand, right? I'm not saying that you *have* to like the book, though.


Fatihah Mark, I LOVE YOUR REVIEW and i dont understand how people can be so pompous as to say your dislike of the novel sprung from your lack of ability to 'appreciate art' and/or 'understand'. How so very impertinent!

i feel that the writer has played with her own lucidity and expect the same with the readers; which is mighty bourgeoisie of her!
Why diminish the value of art and simplicity for something as abstract as this? Dont tell me people cannot understand the novel simply cause people cannot relate and feel the writer. What a load of expensive crap is this? we all can appreciate the gravity and Guernica and Manet's maximillian just fine without having to struggle through its confusion. But when a work of art is simple addressed to selected few who can 'understand' it, its in all earnest, a load of selfish haughtiness.


message 11: by R. (new) - rated it 1 star

R. Kyle Its like that South Park episode.


message 12: by Alan (new) - rated it 4 stars

Alan Mark, stick to your fantasy books then, and leave grown-up books to grown-ups. This is a great novel. What's most glaring about your abysmal review, is that you completely fail to see that the same truth about the genres you enjoy hold true for a novel like 'Beloved': It's not "about" what it's about. The ideas the author works into the book have to be given a setting and characters. They are just the world the ideas come to life in.


Patrick It's incomprehensible because what the characters went through is incomprehensible. The narrative structure is confusing and all effed up because the characters' understanding and relationship with the past is confusing and all effed up. In other words, the content of the book matches the narrative structure.

If the reader is frustrated and angry, the characters because he can't understand what is going on, it's because the characters are frustrated and angry that events like this can ever happen. The reader is forced to figure everything out because that's what the characters are doing: trying to figure this shit out.

Hope that helps. Beloved is a masterpiece.


Donna I love this book. I'm not going to try to make anyone who dislikes it enjoy it, but I just have to say this book is not difficult to understand. I've heard so many people say that, including the teacher who assigned it to me. If you actually pay attention while you're reading, I really don't see how you could miss anything. It's a surprisingly straightforward plot, it just appears complicated because of the time jumps.


message 15: by Lambert (new) - added it

Lambert Where o where is Mark Simmons?


kisha I can definitely understand you not liking it bc its not everyone's cup of tea. But this book is a book that you have to be patient with. You have to do some research and then read it....then reread it and read cliff notes lol and then reread it again. Its not an easy read. but dont say you didnt like it bc it was challenging. Challenge yourself to understand it and then say "You know what I still dont like it" then I can respect your opinion of the book a little more. I love a good challenge which is why I loved the book.


Desiree Loeven I didn't like it either. Good writing, good material, no heart.


Joanna I'm sorry... "no heart"? Did I read that correctly? This book specifically deals with love and devotion, memory and loss, repentence and atonement in every possible form. This book is all heart.


Oscar Calva What I find hard to understand is why so many readers have a crush on "stories", "plots", "characters" and such mundane objects on a novel... let your mind get loose and construct the story the way you want to read it, read without trying to understand, get carried by the lyricism of the book... it's not as fractured, fragmented or unreachable as Joyce, Rulfo or Faulkner by the way (not as magnificent either)...


Michael Carolin Maybe it's because I read House Made of Dawn just before I read Beloved (HMoD is far more incoherent), but I thought Beloved wasn't nearly as incomprehensible as you. Yes, it didn't follow a generic, regular plot progression; but it had enough present scene mixed in with memories to make sense in my eyes.


message 21: by Latrice (new)

Latrice Puckett I understand that the book is hard to get, but maybe you should have started with an easier Toni Morrison book to ease into it later. She is an amazing author with many if her works being on the literature list for AP in schools. I think you should give her another chance


message 22: by j (new) - rated it 4 stars

j  w ah i totally get why you hate this book. i definitely had to struggle to get into the book - incredibly difficult to fall in love with it. but once you do you'll eat it right up. you gotta be sitting in the right comfy chairs though, or you'll get on the wrong side of it.


message 23: by Joe (new) - rated it 5 stars

Joe Love Patrick and Oscar hit the nails on their heads. Nice job guys.


message 24: by Erin (new)

Erin Oh, thanks for explaining One Hundred years of solitude. That book has been plaguing me for a good fifteen years. I got all his other works immediately but that one was frustrating.


Christopher Okay, the narrative wasn't the most straightforward but there's not reason why you shouldn't understand what's going on. Especially if you're an aspiring writer...


Drahcir10001 I read it when it came out in cheap paperback - bought at airport to read on holiday. I had no expectation except an 'easy' 'commercial' read but was blown away. I have not been as affected by any other book since. Soon after I read Bluest Eye (loved), Sula ( not so much) and Jazz (liked) when it came out. The shock of the central premise and the gothic horror feel seemed to me an 'easy to enjoy' approach to a difficult subject. The pitch of the writing (wrought/overwrought) worked in this context. If the opening shock and 'ghost' elements do not fully engage your imagination then I can understand that the writing style is then out of context and the whole thing becomes a mannered exercise in literary effects.


Jeanette Morrison gives a hint in the second chapter on exactly how the book is going to go: "As soon as one strip of husk was down, the rest obeyed and the ear yielded up to him its shy rows, exposed at last. How loose the silk. How quick the jailed up flavor ran free." One just needs to be patient until one reaches the point that the first leaf is pulled down and the rest is revealed.


message 28: by Keir (new) - rated it 2 stars

Keir Thomas "Mark, stick to your fantasy books then, and leave grown-up books to grown-ups."

What an awful comment. This OP has every right to dislike this book.


message 29: by Keir (new) - rated it 2 stars

Keir Thomas You can pay all the attention you want and still dislike the book.


Sophie While I understand where you're coming from, I'd like to make something clear to any prospective readers. 'Beloved' is ridiculously challenging 鈥撀爐he writing is very ambiguous. However, it is just one of those books that's meant to be reread. Once you do figure out what's happening, it is incredibly rewarding. 'Beloved' is seeping with beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) metaphor to the point where I literally cried.

This book is certainly not for everyone, and you should enter it with caution, but I can honestly say that it is the best book I've ever read.


Betta How can you hate this book?? It's written fabulously and it has such a deep meaning!

Sethe is just an extraordinary character, she goes through so much because of what slavery has done to her and thanks to this we understand what she is really feeling.

Beloved also gives the reader a chance to comprehend how slavery scars you for life, you cannot run away from it, no matter what.

Hence I think this book should be read carefully and should be analyzed too while reading it because a superficial read will not be the same due to all of the meanings it has


message 32: by Nick (new)

Nick Edwards It baffles me how an aspiring author can not understand this book. If you really found this incomprehensible it worries me how much you will be dumbing down for the readers when you write your own fiction. This is highly challenging writing, but incredibly rewarding and enchanting.


Marija Cabuskina it is a confusing book, but the confusion is there for a reason. it lets you feel more deeply what it is like to be a slave and be confused and dragged to strange places with strange people all your life.


Marija Cabuskina it is a confusing book, but the confusion is there for a reason. it lets you feel more deeply what it is like to be a slave and be confused and dragged to strange places with strange people all your life.


message 35: by Paula (new)

Paula Blohm Why did u read a book about slavery if u like fantasy?


Robash First of all paula blohm...think a bit more....now,mark stone i do agree with you and have this book.two stars for very similar reasons...you are not alone


Christopher I always feel it weakens a review when "I know it's trendy to..." or "I know you're SUPPOSED to like..." creeps in there. So you don't like it? No one says that you have to read it or like it and a lot of people thinking it is good or otherwise should have no bearing on your opinion whatsoever.

I didn't think it was anything very special and I struggle to see why she's a Nobel Laureate (but then I've only read this by her) but I certainly didn't find it "incomprehensible" at all. Facts were revealed piecemeal and not necessarily in chronological order but I think this technique, which is often cocked up and ruins a book, is actually done very very well in Beloved.


message 38: by John (new) - rated it 5 stars

John Hanson "I find the dreams and allegories that live just underneath the skin of the world we can more readily see and touch endlessly fascinating. I like my stories intense and emotional, and I like it when characters are so full of passion that it obscures their sense of the world around them."

And you give this story a single star when it clearly meets all of your criteria?


Gracie The purpose of this book being hard to comprehend is to mirror the understanding that former slaves had of their won lives. In an interview, Toni Morrison spoke about how difficult it was to write Beloved because EVERYTHING in the novel was intentional. Maybe you should re-read it and give thought to every element of style and purpose thrown in there, because that's what gives the book its importance and it's impressiveness.


Elizabeth Louis I thought it was a horrible waste of time. So much so that I am not going to spend the time analyzing my thoughts and feelings about the book and typing them out or discussing them because I have wasted enough of my time on this book already. I do agree with the original post. Thank you for writing it! Now it's time to move on to something more interesting. Too many great books out there to waste time on this one!


message 41: by Toni (new) - added it

Toni I am truly surprised at the number of people who are willing to put someone down and imply the person was less smart for not liking a book. I thought that we, as readers in this community, we supposed to be tolerant of others' views and discuss our differences of opinion in a civilized manner. We are all different with different tastes in books and we may disagree on what constitutes a worthy read. That, however, does not give you the right to call people names and bully them because they felt otherwise. Telling someone what they are supposed to get out of a book and how they are less sophisticated for not getting it, negates the individual reading experience that we all have the right to. Just my two cents.


message 42: by Tina (new) - rated it 1 star

Tina McCarthy Thank you! Hate this book!


message 43: by Randee (new)

Randee Ditto.


message 44: by John (new) - rated it 5 stars

John Parks Reading it now. Though it was tough at the onset Beloved becomes more and more lucid as the narrative unravels itself. Honestly, I think if you're having a tough time, then you aren't giving enough of yourself to this book. This has been an incredibly rewarding experience so far, and with a little patience this book is anything BUT incomprehensible. I'm sorry it didn't hand it to you on a platter with the vegetables separated from the noodles.


message 45: by Michelle (new) - added it

Michelle King I personally tried my hardest to finish it. I even renewed it for another week at the library. I just couldn't get through it for whatever reason. Maybe I will attempt it again.


message 46: by Andy (new)

Andy Feeney I think the subject matter of the book is just very hard for white readers like me to accept and understand. But it's a great book IMO. If you hate it, I don't blame you - but I think you're wrong, reacting defensively.


message 47: by Katie (new)

Katie Seitter I haven't finished it so I hesitate to comment on this. BUT, to say you hate this book is imo to acknowledge you care very little for the history of slavery. You're right, at points it's hard to follow, and I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one feeling that way. but I felt that though I was confused, if I just kept reading the meaning of what I read a page before becomes clear. Often I would go back and reread that page now that I understood. It was frustrating at first, but now I kind of like it. I haven't read a book like this, so I can see why it won a nobel prize. I would encourage anyone reading this comment to take it with a grain of salt, I don't feel that this person who "enjoys fantasy" really understands reality.


Genevieve Johnson I teach Beloved in my AP Lit class. And I will say this, it is intended to make you uncomfortable, to make you think and to give you the POV of someone who has just escaped a horrific ordeal. Morrison says that the reader is 'kidnapped' meaning you do not have control and you slip into these horrible flashbacks as if you were living vicariously through someone with horrible ptsd. That's how it's supposed to be. It is a difficult but very rewarding piece and I think if you read it with others and had what was incomprehensible explained, you'd end up enjoying it as much as my students do, every year. No matter if they are male, female, white, black, Asian, etc. I just think you need to take some of those things into consideration when reading pieces like this.


Diana You must be dead inside to hate a book like this - you could not understand what it's portraying but it's so full of meaning and feeling, it's raw and confusing, it's hard to believe anyone can actually say they hate it. Slavery is no easy topic and maybe the white folks are too quick to dismiss it.


message 50: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth Perez Wow you can't have your own thoughts on a book because you're white? Diana you should really read 1984.


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