Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I worship this woman and think of Paradise as an almost ideal novel (and not only cuz I lived all up in there), but this latest one is utterly disappointing throwaway fluff. Unless you're a completist fan, DO NOT BOTHER. If you have never read her, I absolutely FORBID you to start with this one.

She stated that she intended to show how hard it was for black soldiers coming back from the Korean war. Yeah, that woulda been cool if she'd given us the tiniest glimpse of that instead of an utterly charmed city-to-city lucky-break bonanza where a hard trip was made effortless by non-stop offers of everything from gratis housing to free new shoes.

I had hoped that Morrison would do her usual demystifying and antiromantic thang when the abused rescued girl gets home and gets homey treatments to salve her wounds, where the down-home folk remedies are more horrifying than their cruel white science infliction because whole communities are kept in ignorance by the vast normalized reality of institutionalized white "superiority." They are actually horrifying and ignorant, but presented in syrupy "it's-all-good-cuz-yer-home-now-girl" bullshit that she used to make fun of. So when they make homegirl sunburn her vajayjay to rehabilitate her womanhood, it works, and makes her able to get around well enough to discover the requisite Morrisondeepdarksecret which has no bearing on her life nor that of anyone she knows so it's all like what's the f*ing point.

I will always be a fan of hers, even if she continues riding on this out-of-gas kinda book, and anyone can have a dip in performance, and I know my lame ass doesn't deserve to kiss one page of Beloved with my profane lips, but I still have the right to voice my disappointment. In fact I think I'll turn back right now to Paradise's description of that canyon formation. Jeebus Kraiyst is that some writin'