Reviews with content warning for Grief - Beloved

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Beloved by Toni Morrison

181 reviews

mapricot1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

😭😭😭😭
was unsure how i felt about this book for a lot of me reading it but i think the ending really pulled it all together. as someone who usually reads books for escapism, defs hard to read books like this that are full of trauma and heavy themes, but v important to consume as a privileged white person especially so

the ending for me really drove home how like,,,, inconsequential everything that the characters did and that happened was. i feel like most books end with a note of "even if not much changed, it affected the lives of some people, and they will remember it forever, and isnt that beautiful" and this book instead was like. there are horrors upon horrors upon horrors. and maybe their circumstances improved. but there were still horrors upon horrors upon horrors after that. and it didnt change anything. it didnt warm peoples hearts or keep a flame going or get turned into tall tales, whether good or bad. there were horrors upon horrors and then people forgot. they forgot about it until they couldnt remember these people at all or what they had done or even remember that there was something there before that they had remembered. heartbreaking 😭😭 but also, its a very realistic book. that's just kind of how it is. like that's truly just how the world works, beyond our romanticised tales of it. i also loved the theme especially at the end of the land containing stories, the evidence of those stories is also erased after time, like everything is, but i love the idea that when you look upon land there are layers of histories and stories and experiences and memories layed upon it. i think thats a really beautiful way of looking at it.

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afroza's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I know this is supposed to be a Great Book. I wanted to like it a lot. And some parts, I do. But, I’m really thrown off by some of the choices Morrison makes in terms of what is emphasized or brought up again and again. I’m a bit too perturbed by some of those more obscene moments that it takes me out. I didn’t care for how the situation resolved- it came off rushed and, because there was so much of the build-up to the magical occult moments, underwhelming and frustrating. Only Denver is one I can sympathize. I did learn a lot, however, but I’m not raving about this book to others, nor will I likely read it again in the future.

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helenaps99's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A very powerful classic. The narrative moved a bit slowly in the first half but it picked up in the second half and finished really beautifully. I liked the rotation of the POV between different main and minor characters, it provided well-rounded storytelling and showed the biases and short sights of characters like Paul D and Stamp Paid. Sethe’s POV, of course, was the most powerful, I loved her character and what she represented as a woman, a mother, and a former/fugitive slave. I wish I had read this and was able to discuss it in school, there are probably a ton of little nuances that I missed that give greater weight and clarity to the story.

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simplychi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

When I first tried to read this book, I put it down after about 30 pages and didn’t try again for months. I finally got into the swing of reading and decided to give this another try for black history month and I’m glad I did. Ms. Morrison’s mastery of prose is so admirable. The text is complex and definitely requires focus to not loose the gravity of what is being conveyed. I remember at one point Paul D says he didn’t even cry watching a man he loved more than a brother being roasted so the people doing the roasting could see what man tasted like. I read that sentence like 5 times. That sentence was written so casually but described something so horrific and gut wrenching and I think that was the point. Slavery was so casually inhumane. Black folks were dehumanized so routinely it didn’t get a second thought after a while. At its core beloved is about memory or “rememory”. Memories shape the lives of these characters. Memory can be a prison in a sense, restricting, engulfing. But also binding in that it anchors us to community. “Beloved” is gripping, it’s difficult, it’s commanding. I will definitely be reading “Jazz” and “Paradise” next to complete the trilogy.

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alyhowell's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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beereads12's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This was a challenging read for myself but well worth it. Despite flashing between the past, present, and different viewpoints to tell Sethe's (and Beloved's) story, I thought it pieced together quite seamlessly. In the end I do wish we got a bit more info on some characters (Amy, Buglar, Howard, Halle, Ella), but I also think

allowing Sethe, Denver, and Paul D to move on only after Beloved is driven away with help from the community

is what makes it a good/hopeful ending.

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miss22's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emrosch's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

It took some time for me to get used to the writing style and language, but once I did I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The language is poetic, raw and honest. The story is emotional, painful and important.

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jling09's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The rating has nothing to do with the book or the writing and has everything to do with my inability to understand it while reading. I struggled, but that doesn't mean this book is not good. Toni Morrison was a Nobel prize laureate for a reason.

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