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.