Beloved : Book Review

 



#dyrtjunechallenge
Week 2 : Reading a book with a red cover 

Favorite quote: “Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

Book review

Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre: Fiction/Horror

Beloved is that kind of a read that leaves you with an expression as though you have seen a ghost.( pun intended)

Based on a true story and set in 1873,  it chronicles the horrific lives of former slaves. The book starts off with a description of the house 124 where a woman named Sethe resides with her 18 year old daughter named Denver and a baby ghost. One day when Paul D- an old friend from the past shows up, Sethe is once again forced to confront her past. 

As the story progresses, we get to delve deep into the lives and experiences of each character. This includes Denver’s birth under strange circumstances, the pain, suffering and hardships endured by these former slaves and their quest to earn their rightful freedom. We also get to understand Denver’s loneliness and how she finds solace by the presence of the ghost in the house. Things take a turn with the appearance of a strange woman named Beloved at their doorstep. 

The story oscillates between the past and the present, moving across timelines and memories. It starts off in third person and then moves to first person from the point of view of the different characters. The language is raw, dense, colloquial at times and comprises of a lot of metaphors. 

Morrison’s vivid descriptions of the characters takes the readers along their respective journeys. It gives you an idea about life in the 1870s. She captures some powerful themes here- racism, freedom, family, home and the mother daughter relationship. The vibe of the story is certainly dark with its disturbing content. The supernatural element lingers throughout the book along with other horrors subjected to mankind. 

 Beloved is no easy read. It’s elicits an important message of how one can never escape the past which always comes back to haunt you in some sense. It’s sad, brutal and haunting. And yet this book must be read to make us realize the value of the treasure we are blessed and which we often take for granted- Freedom.  

As Morrison quotes in the book-“ to get to a place where you could love anything you chose—not to need permission for desire—well now, that was freedom.”
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