Beloved

I read a couple of Morrison's novels for class in high school, and really liked one of them (Song of Solomon), so I was pleasantly surprised to receive what I suppose is her most famous work as a gift. It was made into a movie by Oprah Winfrey, but I haven't seen it so I came at it with a clean slate. It's easily the most "literary" thing I've ever read outside of required coursework, and at times can be pretty grueling. Her prose is difficult, but if you can get your head around it it's some of the most elegantly descriptive you'll ever read. As happens to me a lot, I read the beginning long before the rest, but once I forced myself to really read it, it came quicker and I finished it in short order. I didn't like it as much as Solomon, but anyone really interested in the genre of literature should probably try it.

The plot is quite a bit darker than what you'd usually expect from a Pulitzer winning novel, or at least what I'd expect. Actually, I read The Shipping News too. And To Kill a Mockingbird wasn't exactly roses and cake for everyone either. Forget what I said, just know the plot is pretty dark. It starts out as a fairly normal slave story, but the unusual story progression, constantly jumping back and forth to different points in time to slowly unravel what really happened, reveals quite a lot of horrible things that happened in the time period. It focuses on a mother trying to live on after losing most of her children and attempting to find happiness again when some people from the past return, and the main characters are developed extremely well, as Morrison is good at doing. She never shies away from some of the things we might try to ignore, and the results are pretty impressive. The plot isn't as interesting as she's done before and it got a little out-there in the end, but it's still a good book. Not my favorite literature but probably deserving of its praise.