Review of the book Beloved by Toni Morrison | Teen Ink

Review of the book Beloved by Toni Morrison

May 2, 2022
By 3kramerl BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
3kramerl BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Beloved by Toni Morrison is a fictional narrative. Written in 1993, but based in Cincinnati Ohio in the year 1873. Sethe a mother of a dead daughter who haunts her and her family. Her mother in law Baby Suggs has been struggling with depression with the loss of her own 8 children. Baby Suggs has 8 children by 6 different men. Baby Suggs only has one daughter that has not passed on or that has been taken from her. Her name is Halle. But sadly, Baby Suggs passed away when Sethe’s 2 sons were born. Howard and Buglar. Howard and Buglar both ran away from home because they had some unpleasant experiences with the haunting of the little sister who passed away. Throughout this story there have been many encounters with Sethe's dead daughter. And there has been a turn of events when Sethe's husband comes back out of the blue. And Denver doesn’t approve of the husband, Paul D, coming around. After him leaving Sethe for work and being at the Sweet Home plantation, Denver had enough. She got annoyed by him always being there and asked when he was planning on leaving. Which is surprising because Denver wants what is best for her mother. And Paul D makes Sethe happy.  But Denver had different thoughts of Paul D around. She had enough.

 And with that, it made Paul D question his masculinity as a person. But Sethe is mortified by Denver’s behavior but refuses to allow Paul D to criticize her daughter. Paul D interprets this as a sign of intense motherly love and thinks it is dangerous for an ex-slave to love anything too much. Paul D has learned to love the individuals in his life only partially, so that he has enough love left over for the next person when the first is taken away.

Another thing that I noticed throughout this story. Is that there tends to be a lot of “haunting”. As in, Sethe's life has been haunted as she grows older. Her whole life she has been haunted by her past. And now her dead daughter has also come back to haunt her. Which is interesting to me as a reader. Which I find is a major theme throughout this story. Which is something different that most authors don't make as a theme. Which is another interesting thing about this story that I found weird. Haunting. Why haunting? What was the meaning behind the haunting? Did the writer herself deal with something that has been haunting her life that she wanted to rewrite it in a different form? There are a lot of questions I have about this book.

 But besides all the questions I may have for the author, this book is a very good reader. The author did an amazing job with the narration and the story line in this book. And the repeating incident of the haunting made me want to continue reading. This is a 10/10 book. I suggest you read it if you like a fictional narrative that relates the worlds history. 



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