Beloved, by Toni Morrison is a classic historical fiction novel told from the perspective of Sethe, an escaped slave who would do anything for her family. Sethe’s past is marked by an abundance of horrible things which she cannot forget, including the murder of one of her children. Upon her escape from Sweet Home Farm, she wants nothing more than to live out a peaceful life with her remaining daughter. However, her life is quickly shaken up when she is visited by a strange woman known as Beloved, who bears striking resemblance to the child she lost so long ago
The Pros: Beloved is a beautiful novel with symbolism that is absolutely amazing to read and dissect. Even the structure of the book plays into the story, and it was extremely fascinating to discover how Morrison constructed the novel as a whole to build Sethe’s story. Despite the fact that I had to read this book for school, I found myself very interested in the actual story and I greatly enjoyed reading this book.
The Cons: Beloved is a very hard book to read. The story is difficult to follow if you aren’t paying close attention and the wording can be difficult and confusing to understand. However, despite these difficulties, I believe Beloved is truly a fascinating novel, and I don’t think you should let its intimidating structure and composition intimidate you into missing out on such an eerie, yet beautiful story.
As a whole, I gave Beloved a five-star rating because once I got past all my confusion and dug deeper into the story, I truly enjoyed the writing. If you are interested in analyzing a difficult, yet rewarding piece, Beloved is for you. If you read more for leisure, I’d suggest you might skip out on this book.