Sam M’s Reviews > Beloved > Status Update

my (much too long) reading hiatus is over!! i found this at a thrift store which seemed like the perfect opportunity to hop back in.

cant get over how beautiful Morrison’s prose and dialogue are, every line seems embedded with a multitude of different meanings. it just gets heavier and heavier, favorite character so far is Stamp Paid

loooove Baby Suggs and her backstory. one of my fav things about how Morrison writes is her dialogue w multiple people, it flows between dif characters without evr feeling confusing. happy that finally the “benevolent” slaver (Garner) is under criticism from certain characters

damn. i thought Paul D might pull thru faithfully, but no dice. his chain gang story was fantastic but so horrible, Morrison appproaches this kind of thing in a no holds barred manner.

Denver… ur a lil freak. The paragraph where she talks about being seen by Beloved was perfect.

also, love how esoterical Beloved is becoming. freaky shit going on, especially with the zero footsteps or breaths

more freaky ghost shit!! the story of Sethe’s pregnancy with Denver was immersive as fuuuck, love how the white girl is surface-level “good” but still a racist shit. speaks volumes about the good nature of humans being corrupted by bigots. i loved how the story was interwoven with the three girls visiting the Clearing where Baby Suggs(, holy,) would do rituals and prayers with the other 124 residents.

at this point, Paul D has a grudge against Beloved simply for being at 124 and “shining”, but he opens up towards Sethe and tells her about how Halle witnessed the boys taking her milk. this was such a well-written and sensitive bit, especially with the “I’m less than a rooster sat on a tub” line.

Beloved is such a weird character in the best way, completely understated while clearly being a little freaky. the cracks between Denver and Paul D deepen, Sethe grows closer to the strange woman, and we learn a little more about Sethe’s mom and the people who raised her, as well as the “benevolent” (clearly being sarcastic if you cant tell) slave owner’s wife, who doesn’t punish Sethe and gives her a gift

Paul D has officially won Sethe over and is staying with her and Denver! i love the dynamic between the three of them, it’s a melodramatic situation thats fairly typical elevated that much more by Morrison’s brilliant and numerous layers and themes of humanity, femininity, the Black experience, and good ol ameriKKKa.

so far Toni Morrison’s prose is as luscious as everyone describes; each sentence has its own rhythm and flow, and she transforma sentences that could be unremarkable otherwise into these intensely memorable lines. the supernatural aspect is incredibly interesting, the idea of the house being haunted by Sethe’s baby or mother is terrifying; but perhaps not as terrifying as the men in the book!