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Recitatif / To Room Nineteen
Includes book and CD Audio.
Texts and recordings of the stories in English; introductions and notes in Spanish.
Back cover text:
"Cuando Toni Morrison consiguió el Nobel apenas había escrito seis novelas y solo un cuento: "Recitatif". La única pieza de cámara de la genial autora estadounidense recoge la esencia de toda su obra: la lucha por la libertad, la amistad y la convivencia racial se funden en la historia de dos amigas de colores distintos que pasan juntas la infancia en un orfanato. "To Room Nineteen", publicado un año después que "El cuaderno dorado", obra cumbre de la también Premio Nobel Doris Lessing y piedra angular del feminismo de los 60, es uno de los relatos cortos más autobiográficos y brutales de la autora. Narra la dramática historia de Susan Rawlings, una inteligente y atareada ama de casa que vive con su perfecto marido y sus cuatro niños revoltosos en una maravillosa mansión londinense de tres plantas. El problema es que Susan quiere volver a ser la soltera solitaria que un día fue."--Editor.
Texts and recordings of the stories in English; introductions and notes in Spanish.
Back cover text:
"Cuando Toni Morrison consiguió el Nobel apenas había escrito seis novelas y solo un cuento: "Recitatif". La única pieza de cámara de la genial autora estadounidense recoge la esencia de toda su obra: la lucha por la libertad, la amistad y la convivencia racial se funden en la historia de dos amigas de colores distintos que pasan juntas la infancia en un orfanato. "To Room Nineteen", publicado un año después que "El cuaderno dorado", obra cumbre de la también Premio Nobel Doris Lessing y piedra angular del feminismo de los 60, es uno de los relatos cortos más autobiográficos y brutales de la autora. Narra la dramática historia de Susan Rawlings, una inteligente y atareada ama de casa que vive con su perfecto marido y sus cuatro niños revoltosos en una maravillosa mansión londinense de tres plantas. El problema es que Susan quiere volver a ser la soltera solitaria que un día fue."--Editor.
110 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
15 people are currently reading
1680 people want to read
About the author
Toni Morrison
234 books23.4k followersChloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Morrison earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. In 1957 she returned to Howard University, was married, and had two children before divorcing in 1964. Morrison became the first black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s. She developed her own reputation as an author in the 1970s and '80s. Her novel Beloved was made into a film in 1998. Morrison's works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience.
The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities, in 1996. She was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters the same year. President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012. She received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016. Morrison was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020.
Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Morrison earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. In 1957 she returned to Howard University, was married, and had two children before divorcing in 1964. Morrison became the first black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s. She developed her own reputation as an author in the 1970s and '80s. Her novel Beloved was made into a film in 1998. Morrison's works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience.
The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities, in 1996. She was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters the same year. President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012. She received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016. Morrison was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
November 13, 2012
Reading this short piece causes you to read yourself. It examines your own preconceived notions, and it leaves you questioning race and class. This is worth a revisit.
August 3, 2016
No sé el motivo por el cual olvidé marcar que leí este cuento, porque realmente me gustó. Tal vez sea porque lo internalicé o porque lo releería sin problemas. En todo caso, esta historia de dos mujeres (Twyla y Roberta) que son de distintas "razas" (no me gusta la palabra) y se encuentran y se desencuentran me pareció tan lindo como tremendo. Al principio las protagonistas están juntas, después toman rumbos diferentes y se van cruzando en etapas de la vida. Te deja reflexionando un buen rato y tratando de unir las versiones distintas de los hechos que tienen a otra mujer como centro. Eso, precisamente, es lo que las reúne, por más que las situaciones de ambas hayan cambiado.
Creo que para el lector que todavía no empezó con Toni Morrison, este un buen lugar para hacerlo. Y, si ya lo hizo (yo empecé con "A Mercy" y no lo supe apreciar), esta historia seguramente le va a encantar.
Creo que para el lector que todavía no empezó con Toni Morrison, este un buen lugar para hacerlo. Y, si ya lo hizo (yo empecé con "A Mercy" y no lo supe apreciar), esta historia seguramente le va a encantar.
January 10, 2015
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS:
What I find the most interesting detail of Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is that the reader is not told which girl is white and which one is black. In a story about the nature of preconceived ideas and their consequences, this plays a role in making the reader feel like the two protagonists. Roberta speaks about Maggie, “I really did think she was black. I didn’t make that up. I really thought so. But now I can’t be sure” (HAAL 2407). The reader might feel the same way about Roberta and Twyla, being compelled to examine any potential preconceived notion involving both race and class. Twyla says, “But I was puzzled by [Roberta] telling me Maggie was black. [...] She wasn’t pitch-black, I knew, or I would have remembered that” (2406). Earlier in the story, Twyla describes Maggie as being “sandy-colored;” neither one or another color as well (2397). Even so, there is a possibility that Maggie’s sandy-colored skin was indeed black, but not perceived as such by Twyla at that time.
What I find the most interesting detail of Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is that the reader is not told which girl is white and which one is black. In a story about the nature of preconceived ideas and their consequences, this plays a role in making the reader feel like the two protagonists. Roberta speaks about Maggie, “I really did think she was black. I didn’t make that up. I really thought so. But now I can’t be sure” (HAAL 2407). The reader might feel the same way about Roberta and Twyla, being compelled to examine any potential preconceived notion involving both race and class. Twyla says, “But I was puzzled by [Roberta] telling me Maggie was black. [...] She wasn’t pitch-black, I knew, or I would have remembered that” (2406). Earlier in the story, Twyla describes Maggie as being “sandy-colored;” neither one or another color as well (2397). Even so, there is a possibility that Maggie’s sandy-colored skin was indeed black, but not perceived as such by Twyla at that time.
October 9, 2015
Read here: http://www.nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/5...
Beautiful short piece on race in America.
The ambiguity of thought, action, and character highlight issues that exist within the United States in one way or another. It's a beautiful work that is easy to access, though, I do use a word of caution for potentially less adept readers, it's intentionally confusing/vague in its definitions of what racial backgrounds the two central characters come from.
I wish I could state this better, but this is a good, quick story that had much to say. Why 5? I am on an oddly euphoric literary high (read something that was convoluted and crappy, then I read this) and may not be as objective as I should be. I will say it doesn't deserve less than 4, however.
Beautiful short piece on race in America.
The ambiguity of thought, action, and character highlight issues that exist within the United States in one way or another. It's a beautiful work that is easy to access, though, I do use a word of caution for potentially less adept readers, it's intentionally confusing/vague in its definitions of what racial backgrounds the two central characters come from.
I wish I could state this better, but this is a good, quick story that had much to say. Why 5? I am on an oddly euphoric literary high (read something that was convoluted and crappy, then I read this) and may not be as objective as I should be. I will say it doesn't deserve less than 4, however.
March 18, 2022
4.5 Recitatif examines the friendship of two friends Twila and Roberta-one white the other black. But who is black and who is white? Toni Morrison challenges the reader by saying...why does it matter? Racial binaries, self contained bisects and the division of encounters with those not like us. But are we really all that different from one another? This short story challenged me and I am glad about it. Read this book!
October 26, 2013
When I lived in Missouri, I often saw blacks with blacks, whites with whites at campus. Two groups didn't mingle with each other as if there were always an electrostatic barrier between them, and nobody dared to touch it. This silent, invisible wall puzzled me, because they were all Americans to me, all the same race to the foreign eye from an Asian country.
The story has two female characters, Twyla and Roberta. One is white, and the other is black, though the author doesn't clarify which is which. The two aren't sure if Maggie was black or not, and their memories of the past, tinted with different ideas about race, also differ from each other.
Like they do, we might be looking at things through colored glasses and conjuring up differences all the time. Racial distinction is not made by physical characteristics, but by our imagination, by our consciousness of race.
The story has two female characters, Twyla and Roberta. One is white, and the other is black, though the author doesn't clarify which is which. The two aren't sure if Maggie was black or not, and their memories of the past, tinted with different ideas about race, also differ from each other.
Like they do, we might be looking at things through colored glasses and conjuring up differences all the time. Racial distinction is not made by physical characteristics, but by our imagination, by our consciousness of race.
March 5, 2015
This short story confuses you in a very good way. It is really well-written!
October 7, 2012
Participatory reading naked and solidified by Morrison's writing mastery.
A plot paralleling the civic rights movement peeps into the lives of two women protagonists for five times and always catches them in a racially insecure situation, while not providing even a single clue which of these women is black and which is white. Omitting this information leaves a reader with some serious thinking about the motives and actions taken by each side (meaning those two girls) and probably also about racial stereotypes and prejudices both cunningly hidden behind the lines and cunningly revived from the reader's mind.
In the end a scent of literary experiment rather remains over some well-thought-out-and-delivered message, but the story definitely deserves a readworthy status.
A plot paralleling the civic rights movement peeps into the lives of two women protagonists for five times and always catches them in a racially insecure situation, while not providing even a single clue which of these women is black and which is white. Omitting this information leaves a reader with some serious thinking about the motives and actions taken by each side (meaning those two girls) and probably also about racial stereotypes and prejudices both cunningly hidden behind the lines and cunningly revived from the reader's mind.
In the end a scent of literary experiment rather remains over some well-thought-out-and-delivered message, but the story definitely deserves a readworthy status.
February 27, 2022
Twyla's and Roberta's races are kept ambiguous throughout the story. We know that one is white and one is Black, but which is which?
Toni Morrison forces readers to think through different lenses, looking deep into the racial codes that are completely removed.
“The very thing we can do is at least listen to what has been done to a person, or is still being done, it is the very least we owe the suffering.”
“We are all somebody, yet we cast others into a role of nobodies.”
BRILLIANT!! Just brilliant!
Toni Morrison forces readers to think through different lenses, looking deep into the racial codes that are completely removed.
“The very thing we can do is at least listen to what has been done to a person, or is still being done, it is the very least we owe the suffering.”
“We are all somebody, yet we cast others into a role of nobodies.”
BRILLIANT!! Just brilliant!
February 27, 2017
Ešteže máme ten multikulturalizmus a etnických autorov, inak by ma v tej škole porazilo... :D
August 7, 2019
Recitatif tells the story of American two women, from childhood to adulthood, during the mid- to late-twentieth century. It's clear from their interactions that one character must be white and the other must be black, but it is impossible to definitively tell which is which.
In the first part of the story I thought Twyla was white and Roberta was black because of Twyla's remark about Roberta's hair, and because of the descriptions of their mothers.
Later, when they meet as adults, Twyla remarks that Roberta's people have everything easy; given this remark and the stances they took on school education, I decided that Twyla was black and Roberta was white.
While I concluded, after my second or third reading, that this later impression is the correct one, I appreciated the uncertainty, the fact that although they are clearly from different sides of the racial divide, and come into conflict over this difference, it is possible for each character to be from either side.
And now, after reflecting further, I believe that Morrison did not intend there to be a "right" answer at all; she was asking us to be aware of the presumptions we make about people, and to examine the reasons for these presumptions - not providing us with a puzzle to solve. It is hard to imagine any other author being able to make this experiment work, and it's quite unlike anything else I've ever read.
In the first part of the story I thought Twyla was white and Roberta was black because of Twyla's remark about Roberta's hair, and because of the descriptions of their mothers.
Later, when they meet as adults, Twyla remarks that Roberta's people have everything easy; given this remark and the stances they took on school education, I decided that Twyla was black and Roberta was white.
While I concluded, after my second or third reading, that this later impression is the correct one, I appreciated the uncertainty, the fact that although they are clearly from different sides of the racial divide, and come into conflict over this difference, it is possible for each character to be from either side.
And now, after reflecting further, I believe that Morrison did not intend there to be a "right" answer at all; she was asking us to be aware of the presumptions we make about people, and to examine the reasons for these presumptions - not providing us with a puzzle to solve. It is hard to imagine any other author being able to make this experiment work, and it's quite unlike anything else I've ever read.
Read
August 17, 2024In this story we meet Twyla and Roberta who spent 4 months together as roommates in a shelter. Morrison’s craftmanship, character development, language in this short story is amazing. The story removes racial codes from the characters and Morrison allows the reader to think for themselves – draw the conclusion of which of the characters is white and which is black.
June 20, 2015
Utmanar ens förutfattade meningar på ett sätt som få andra texter jag läst.
March 6, 2018
Only read Recitatif, giving it 4 stars because of Maggie.
April 12, 2020
Very good book. Doesn’t leave any clues or social queues about what race each girl was.
February 25, 2022
Reading this one and only short story ever written by the superbly talented ,Toni Morrison, was a self examination of my own preconceived racial stereotypes.
Rich in descriptive language, Recitatif is the story of two eight year old girls, Twyla and Roberta, left by their mothers at St Bonaventure shelter. We do know the girls are of different races, but never does the author specify which is which. The reader is left to decide how the meaning of various cues identifies presumed characteristics of black or white people.
Which is more likely to dance all night? To be sickly? To smell like Lady Esther dusting powder? To bring food on a visit ? Have big wild hair?
And yet, no matter how closely or carefully we read, never ever is the essential mystery of racial identify elucidated.
What about the pathetically described kitchen maid, Maggie, who by virtue of her disabilities is the lowest of all at the orphan home, subject to the cruelty of children who find the perfect scapegoat? Was she black or white?
Life moves forward, and Twyla and Roberta find themselves living nearby to each other as adults. Can their connection withstand the passage of time?
At the heart of this story is the role race places in the big divide among Americans. No matter how “ hard” I read I could not find substantive evidence to answer the essential question- which girl was which race? Can we even try to bypass racial identity while reading various stereotypical descriptions and scenarios?
Kudos to the late Ms Morrison for a brilliantly conceived and written story.
Rich in descriptive language, Recitatif is the story of two eight year old girls, Twyla and Roberta, left by their mothers at St Bonaventure shelter. We do know the girls are of different races, but never does the author specify which is which. The reader is left to decide how the meaning of various cues identifies presumed characteristics of black or white people.
Which is more likely to dance all night? To be sickly? To smell like Lady Esther dusting powder? To bring food on a visit ? Have big wild hair?
And yet, no matter how closely or carefully we read, never ever is the essential mystery of racial identify elucidated.
What about the pathetically described kitchen maid, Maggie, who by virtue of her disabilities is the lowest of all at the orphan home, subject to the cruelty of children who find the perfect scapegoat? Was she black or white?
Life moves forward, and Twyla and Roberta find themselves living nearby to each other as adults. Can their connection withstand the passage of time?
At the heart of this story is the role race places in the big divide among Americans. No matter how “ hard” I read I could not find substantive evidence to answer the essential question- which girl was which race? Can we even try to bypass racial identity while reading various stereotypical descriptions and scenarios?
Kudos to the late Ms Morrison for a brilliantly conceived and written story.
March 11, 2022
This is a republication of Morrison's only short story, originally published in 1983. Twyla and Roberta meet in an orphanage when both little girls are abandoned by their mothers. One girl is black and one is white. But we are never told which is which. Morrison did that on purpose. She wanted to see if she could write a story that was obviously racial, without revealing the race of either character. Twyla and Roberta form a friendship during their brief time together at the orphanage. And their paths cross again several times in later years, with mixed results. They disagree about the race of a rather pitiful orphanage employee, Maggie, and about what precipitated an incident when Maggie fell down. I have my own opinion about which of the girls was white and which black, but I won't provide it here. Read the story for yourself, and you'll see how ambiguous it is, and how automatic - and how often wrong - some of our assumptions are.
May 8, 2018
This is a review for Recitatif (I didn’t read the other portion). I enjoyed the short story, but it was a little choppy and, as a result, seemed to lack depth and conflict resolution throughout. I think this would work out much better as a full length novel or a play. It made me want to know more about all aspects and all characters, which I suppose is a good thing in that it was captivating. It was like tasting a bite of a delicious steak or a piece of cake but not being allowed to eat the rest.
April 10, 2017
It makes you think ... The short story talks about two girls, Roberta and Twylla, one is white and one is black, all though it is never mentioned which one has which skin colour (for me Roberta's white and Twylla black). It tells a very intersting story of America and the racial issues that are still there (and all over the world).
March 31, 2019
American Literature II is a class that I am currently taking. During this class we are required to read novels, poems, and short stories that we might not have ever read otherwise. Some are good and some are bad; however, all are legendary and useful for the overall growth of literature everywhere.
April 15, 2020
Excellent short story by Toni Morrison which deals with one's own concept and notion about race.
I listened to LeVar Burton read this on his podcast and was unaware of the depth of this story until Mr. Burton explained Miss Morrisons clever writing and then I had to listen again to garner why I chose and how I chose the races of each character. An excellent and good read.
I listened to LeVar Burton read this on his podcast and was unaware of the depth of this story until Mr. Burton explained Miss Morrisons clever writing and then I had to listen again to garner why I chose and how I chose the races of each character. An excellent and good read.
September 14, 2023
Toni Morrison do not miss at all. My second book I read by her (actual this was a short story) and this one was mesmerizing. The way she keeps you guessing who is who, and the way she masterfully keeps two ethnicities ambiguously, through all of their experiences, words, loved ones, actions and everything, it is absolutely stunning. Good short read. Recommender👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽.
May 28, 2020
My ratings:
1 star - Could barely finish it. Would not recommend.
2 stars - Finished it, that’s it. Would not recommend.
3 stars - Not bad, but not great. Neutral about recommending.
4 stars - Decent read. Would likely recommend.
5 stars - Absolutely loved it. Would definitely recommend.
1 star - Could barely finish it. Would not recommend.
2 stars - Finished it, that’s it. Would not recommend.
3 stars - Not bad, but not great. Neutral about recommending.
4 stars - Decent read. Would likely recommend.
5 stars - Absolutely loved it. Would definitely recommend.
May 5, 2018
This review is for Recitatif. (I didn't read To Room Nineteen)
It was pretty haunting.
It was pretty haunting.
May 17, 2018
Subtle, brilliant, heartbreaking.
May 9, 2018
A Review in Two Fragment Sentences
Interesting concept, not enough follow-through. Should have been a novel instead.
Interesting concept, not enough follow-through. Should have been a novel instead.
February 22, 2017
perfect book for any class on race in America
May 13, 2014
This is a short story by Toni Morrison and it can easily be found for free on the interwebs. This should be incentive enough to read the thing, but if you want more info, here goes.
I am a self-professed Toni Morrison fan-girl. I love her, and this story did nothing to change my opinion. This terse little gem is nowhere near as dense as Beloved or Song of Solomon or Practically Everything in Morrison's Impressive Oeuvre. The writing is straightforward with bits of beautifully precise figurative language (a woman with legs like parentheses).
The story follows five seperate encounters between two women, one black, the other white. The first encounter takes place when they are just young girls in an orphanage and they continue intermittently over the course of several years. The racial makeup of these two women is significant because Morrison never tells us which of her characters is black and which is white. While reading this, you pick up on hints along the way that may help you piece together the characters' identities, and then later you'll find that you have evidence to support the opposite view. Morrison's withholding of that information forces the reader to confront the very real stereotypes that we use daily to determine the ideas, motives, and behaviors of others. We have this desire to fit people, and literary characters, into these specific boxes that will at least inform if not totally dictate their behavior. We hate to admit it to ourselves how we rely on snap-judgement and profiling, but Morrison, in a brief twenty pages proves that we are anything but post-racial.
I am a self-professed Toni Morrison fan-girl. I love her, and this story did nothing to change my opinion. This terse little gem is nowhere near as dense as Beloved or Song of Solomon or Practically Everything in Morrison's Impressive Oeuvre. The writing is straightforward with bits of beautifully precise figurative language (a woman with legs like parentheses).
The story follows five seperate encounters between two women, one black, the other white. The first encounter takes place when they are just young girls in an orphanage and they continue intermittently over the course of several years. The racial makeup of these two women is significant because Morrison never tells us which of her characters is black and which is white. While reading this, you pick up on hints along the way that may help you piece together the characters' identities, and then later you'll find that you have evidence to support the opposite view. Morrison's withholding of that information forces the reader to confront the very real stereotypes that we use daily to determine the ideas, motives, and behaviors of others. We have this desire to fit people, and literary characters, into these specific boxes that will at least inform if not totally dictate their behavior. We hate to admit it to ourselves how we rely on snap-judgement and profiling, but Morrison, in a brief twenty pages proves that we are anything but post-racial.
December 9, 2014
Recitatif is about two children who are friends from childhood—one black and one white. The main characters’ lives intersect over many years. The prime point about the story is that Morrison never tells us which character is white and which is black. By doing so, she is intending to reveal the fact that human beings have tendency to categorize people immediately.
This short story left me contemplating the use/usefulness of race in literature in a way that I hadn't considered before; race always seems to be present, so I've never had to look for it. I'm well aware of the author's experimentation with the absence of a clearly stated race in this text and that awareness left me searching for other indicators and characteristics that would reveal the race of the characters. The search was very revealing in terms of racial stereotypes. At different times in the novel I was convinced that I had "figured it out", only to change my mind a few passages later.
Is race really that important to a character/story, person/life? I think it's a good time to get this story back in circulation. Race remains a relevant discussion and I believe people will be able to bring more to the dialogue after experiencing what it's like to search for and rely on race to provide context and critical information.
This short story left me contemplating the use/usefulness of race in literature in a way that I hadn't considered before; race always seems to be present, so I've never had to look for it. I'm well aware of the author's experimentation with the absence of a clearly stated race in this text and that awareness left me searching for other indicators and characteristics that would reveal the race of the characters. The search was very revealing in terms of racial stereotypes. At different times in the novel I was convinced that I had "figured it out", only to change my mind a few passages later.
Is race really that important to a character/story, person/life? I think it's a good time to get this story back in circulation. Race remains a relevant discussion and I believe people will be able to bring more to the dialogue after experiencing what it's like to search for and rely on race to provide context and critical information.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews