It took me awhile to know what to say about this book or even want to put it into words. It is haunting and powerful. I think the other worldliness does more to impress the horror and displacement of slavery. Beautifully sad and evocative. ( )

Beloved is a powerful story that tells the story of a African American community struggling to attempt to create an identity and come to terms with the past tragedies that they all had to endure. The introduction of the 'ghost' in the story creates an unusual atmosphere because the reader is never really sure who or what she is. All that can be truly said is that she is Beloved.

Toni Morrison's masterful literary skill seeks to draw the reader in and make them have a true understanding on the lack of identity through various methods such as not defining who is speaking in a subtle way and identifying characters through the ghost or the past. The lack of explicit character definition forces the reader to have to ask 'who am I and what creates that identity'. ( )

This has been required reading for me in both high school and college. This time around, however, I was old enough and involved enough to actually understand and appreciate this book. So while I hated it in high school, my feelings have changed. It's very powerful, and I can respect and comprehend more of the history. The story, overall, is so fascinating that I had to research the actual events that inspired Morrison to write this. Reading it in a classroom setting helped me understand it, but it was so emotional that it will definitely be one I read again for pleasure. A true classic. ( )

This book is my absolute, all-time favorite. Perfect writing, great story line, interesting characters. ( )

"124 was spiteful. Full of baby's venom."

Summary of the Book
Seethe was a slave at Sweet Home Plantation. The Garners, who own the plantation, are nice and respectful towards Seethe and the other slaves. But after Mr. Garner dies, Mrs. Garner has to bring in Schoolteacher to help. Schoolteacher and his nephews abuse a pregnant Seethe, sell the slave Paul D. and Seethe's husband, Halle, and kills Paul D.'s brothers. Seethe manages to escape to Ohio, sending her children on ahead of her to her mother-in-law's house. However, after she arrives, Schoolteacher finds her. Still badly scarred by slavery, Seethe tries to kill her children rather than see them become slaves. She succeeds in killing her toddler daughter. The other two eventually run away and all that is left is Denver, the child she was carrying when she arrived in Ohio, to house 124.

Seethe is now haunted by the memory of slavery, the memory of killing her child, and the ghost of her murdered child. Paul D. shows up one day and is now living at 124 as well. Seethe is finally starting to relax and think there are things to hope for when Beloved shows up. Beloved is a 19-year-old girl who cannot remember her name or where she comes from. However, through a series of strange events over a span of time, Seethe and Denver come to believe that Beloved is Seethe's murdered daughter. Beloved's presence helps soothe Denver's loneliness, but brings back floods of locked-away painful memories for Seethe and Paul D. that they are forced to deal with. But when Beloved disappears because she has no identity, the reader is left wondering if Beloved is a real person, a medium to communicate with the dead, or a psychological invention of those in 124 to help them deal with slavery and its aftermath.

Thoughts about the Book
This book was a difficult read for me. First, there was a lot of skipping around and jumping between past and present events with little or no segues, which had me a bit confused for most of the book. Second, this is another book full of very intense subject matter.

There are several themes running through this book: slavery, loss, anger, identity, motherhood, and ghosts, or the supernatural. Beloved is not just another book about slavery, either. It covers very intense aspects of slavery, including sexual assault/rape and the psychological damage of slavery. Seethe and Paul D. and Beloved were physically free, but they were not mentally free of slavery. They were haunted by it constantly.

Despite the challenge of the book jumping around, I found the book to be a great work of literary art. This book would make a wonderful book group selection if you have not read it. Just take a look at the questions I have off the top of my head:

* Why does Seethe stay in 124 where the ghost of her murdered daughter is haunting her?
* How do you create an identity for yourself after being a slave?
* Is Beloved a real person, or was she a psychological invention, created to deal with the pain and loss?
* Do you think Seethe still believes she made the right choice in killing her child?
* What happened to Halle? ( )