Beloved, by Toni Morrison

Beloved, by Toni Morrison.  Very dark, like an Oprah book.  Post Civil War life of Sethe, an escaped and then later, an ex-slave.  Freedom is not easy.  Missing husband.  Terrible owner comes back before the end of the war to take Sethe and her children back to horrible conditions.  Sethe, to make sure her children never live like that, does the unthinkable.  She succeeds in killing one daughter and hurting her two boys.  But is the girl child dead?  The story confusingly goes back and forth in years.  The reader isn't sure who is remembering.  Or imagining.  A mystery girl appears and takes a dominant role in the story.  Or does she?  Then there are pages of rambling, disjointed, perhaps insane poetry like words.  Only took one good thing from this.  No matter how poor the Black families are, having each other is more important than any thing else as they have lived a life of parents, siblings, husbands, wives and children disappearing at the whim of former owners.  No matter what the problems of health, wealth, jail, fights, pain and insanity, the real and near real family holds together, lives together, and forges on together. Only 1 out of 10.  I couldn't keep track of what was happening and what was real.  Pulitzer Prize winning novel in 1988.  I didn't get to vote.


Oh dear.  I said it was dark like an Oprah book and I just found out Oprah starred in the movie of this book!!