March Group Read: Beloved by Toni Morrison

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March Group Read: Beloved by Toni Morrison

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1Tara1Reads
Mar 2, 2015, 11:17 pm

Welcome to the discussion thread for Beloved by Toni Morrison. We will be reading this book in March in honor of Women's History Month. Beloved was published in 1987, but is set after the American Civil War has ended.

Please feel free to discuss the book as you read or wait until you've finished the book---whichever way you like. I would ask that you warn others if your post contains spoilers.

Happy reading!

2Tara1Reads
Mar 16, 2015, 2:25 pm

I am about to start Beloved as soon as I finish my current read.

3BookLizard
Mar 18, 2015, 11:48 pm

Wait list for the e-book is too long.

4Tara1Reads
Mar 19, 2015, 6:38 am

>3 BookLizard: That's alright. You can post here whenever you read the book.

5sturlington
Mar 22, 2015, 2:02 pm

Well, it doesn't look like I will get to it this month either. I will keep this starred so I can come back once I do read it. I'm still interested in discussing!

6Tara1Reads
Mar 23, 2015, 6:41 am

Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and it's on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list if anyone is working their way through that.

I started reading it a few nights ago and am enjoying Morrison's powerful writing.

7Tara1Reads
Mar 23, 2015, 6:42 am

>5 sturlington: I look forward to your thoughts on it when you do get a chance to read it.

8japaul22
Mar 23, 2015, 9:02 am

I read this a few years ago and am not ready for a reread right now. I will be interested in discussing the book when you're done, though, as there is so much in it to debate and discuss.

9otterstamp
Mar 23, 2015, 9:13 am

I'm starting this book today! Can't wait for some lively discussion.

10Tara1Reads
Mar 25, 2015, 2:47 am

Here are some links to other discussions of Beloved. Below is the link to the group read of Beloved for the 2011 category challenge:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/123246

And here is the American Author Challenge thread about Toni Morrison from last April:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/171799

11Tara1Reads
Mar 25, 2015, 2:47 am

>8 japaul22: and >9 otterstamp: Yay for more people wanting to join the discussion. Welcome!

>8 japaul22: I would definitely love to hear opinions of others who have already read the book.

>9 otterstamp: Feel free to post as you go along or once you've finished the book.

12Tara1Reads
Mar 25, 2015, 3:02 am

I am 140 pages into the book so not quite halfway. I have to say I am really not liking it. I have to force myself to pick it up everyday and yesterday I could not be bothered to read a single page in it.

I do not like Paul D. I think the book would be stronger if it focused on the women, Sethe, Denver, and Beloved, instead of bringing in this character of Paul D who disrupts things. I think his rivalry with Beloved is silly on his behalf. I can understand Beloved vying for Sethe's attention as Beloved is the embodiment of her late daughter, but Paul D is a grown man who hasn't seen Sethe for years why does he care so much to have her attention?

I also have a problem with perverse things done to/with animals. So the men at Sweet Home taking their pent-up sexual frustration out on the cows at the farm really bothers me. I didn't need to ever have that in my mind.

I had hoped more for Beloved since I rather liked Sula. Although, to be honest, Sula was one of those books I didn't like much while reading it, but have continued thinking about it since finishing it a few months ago and therefore like it more in retrospect.

13Tara1Reads
Mar 27, 2015, 6:34 am

Beloved



I finally finished! The book did pick up somewhat in the last part.

Morrison's writing is very poetic and that's one part of the book that I definitely enjoyed; she has a unique style. I loved how so many things that were mentioned--details and entire scenes--came back in the end, but usually with added detail or from a different person's perspective.

I had a hard time with the book because I could not connect with any of the characters. I didn't understand Sethe's relationship with Paul D. He comes back in the end to take care of Sethe when she is refusing to get out of bed, and she seems happy to see him. Were they in love? It seemed to me that Paul D just ended up at 124 after he got tired of rambling around Delaware and what not, and Sethe's was the best place he could think of to settle down.

Also, Morrison's style got in the way sometimes. I didn't mind the skipping around in time for the most part, but it was a little too much for me, and I had to think about if what I was currently reading was during Sweet Home, before, after, during Sethe's escape, etc. There was something about the dialect in this book that put me off too. I was never bothered by dialect in Their Eyes Were Watching God or Sula. But "Beloved. She mine." just made me want to bang my head against a wall.

A question I have for everyone is: Did you actually believe the ghost part of the story? I read the book as if it all was really happening, as if the ghost of the crawling already? baby was really terrorizing the house and as if Beloved was really there in the flesh, the physical embodiment of the deceased baby. Did anyone else interpret it less literally and think Sethe and Denver were just crazy and imagining it all?

I liked the humor in the last part during the conversation between Paul D and Stamp Paid. They did not witness the drama that occurred when Edward Bodwin rode up to Sethe's house to get Denver and Sethe went after Bodwin with an ice pick. So Stamp and Paul D discussed the many interpretation of those events that had been going around town. Stamp (I believe it was) said that Sethe goes after every white man that shows up in the yard (referring to the day Sethe tried to kill all her children in the shed). Stamp Paid and Paul D both laugh about it. That really is what Sethe did though, and it makes sense considering someone who didn't even know what a train was and had been in slavery her whole life would be scared of the unfamiliar, especially unfamiliar white men whom she had heard so many negative things about and been victim at the hands of before. It was a humorous but still sad moment. It's humorous because Sethe blindly goes after every white man she sees near her house without knowing some of them are trying to help her. So it's sad that she knows so little of the world and of the kindness that is in some people regardless of color.

Anyway, I guess that's enough babbling for now. I will keep this thread starred to continue the discussion with you all and post again if I have any more thoughts or questions of my own about the book.

14Larry_Burton
Mar 28, 2015, 7:40 am

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15Tara1Reads
Mar 29, 2015, 3:12 am

I thought of another question.

Janey, the caretaker for the Bodwins, asked Denver if Beloved had lines on her hands for confirmation that Beloved really was the deceased baby back in adult form. How would Janey know to ask that?

16sturlington
Apr 12, 2015, 11:16 am

You all may be interested in this wonderful profile of Toni Morrison: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/magazine/the-radical-vision-of-toni-morrison.h...

It definitely inspired me to get to Beloved sooner rather than later.

17Tara1Reads
Apr 19, 2015, 6:33 pm

>16 sturlington: Thank you for posting this. I had always wondered what it was like for people recording audiobooks. I can't wait to read your thoughts on the book when you get to it.