"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
A dead child, a runaway slave, a terrible secret--these are the central concerns of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved. Morrison, a Nobel laureate, has written many fine novels, including Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, and Paradise--but Beloved is arguably her best. To modern readers, antebellum slavery is a subject so familiar that it is almost impossible to render its horrors in a way that seems neither clichéd nor melodramatic. Rapes, beatings, murders, and mutilations are recounted here, but they belong to characters so precisely drawn that the tragedy remains individual, terrifying to us because it is terrifying to the sufferer. And Morrison is master of the telling detail: in the bit, for example, a punishing piece of headgear used to discipline recalcitrant slaves, she manages to encapsulate all of slavery's many cruelties into one apt symbol--a device that deprives its wearer of speech. "Days after it was taken out, goose fat was rubbed on the corners of the mouth but nothing to soothe the tongue or take the wildness out of the eye." Most importantly, the language here, while often lyrical, is never overheated. Even as she recalls the cruelties visited upon her while a slave, Sethe is evocative without being overemotional: "Add my husband to it, watching, above me in the loft--hiding close by--the one place he thought no one would look for him, looking down on what I couldn't look at at all. And not stopping them--looking and letting it happen.... And if he was that broken then, then he is also and certainly dead now." Even the supernatural is treated as an ordinary fact of life: "Not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafters with some dead Negro's grief. We lucky this ghost is a baby," comments Sethe's mother-in-law.
Beloved is a dense, complex novel that yields up its secrets one by one. As Morrison takes us deeper into Sethe's history and her memories, the horrifying circumstances of her baby's death start to make terrible sense. And as past meets present in the shape of a mysterious young woman about the same age as Sethe's daughter would have been, the narrative builds inexorably to its powerful, painful conclusion. Beloved may well be the defining novel of slavery in America, the one that all others will be measured by. --Alix Wilber
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
£ 2.95
Within U.S.A.
Book Description paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_396952078
Book Description Condition: Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP94699716
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.95. Seller Inventory # G0701130601I3N00
Book Description paperback. Condition: Good. used copy with some wear to covers, sunning to pages ,no markings/stains or stickers. fast shipping with tracking number. Seller Inventory # LE-0124-11-22-2023
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This is a collection of short stories, demonstrating Tabucchi's themes of ambiguities and twists of fate - the treacherous memory, the hidden intent, the useless remorse, the little misunderstandings that can change a life and subtly alter perception. Antonio Tabucchi's writings have been translated into eight languages from Italian and this is the first of several to be published (by Chatto) in the UK. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001307104
Book Description Condition: Good. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has hardback covers. Clean from markings. In good all round condition. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,600grams, ISBN:0701130601. Seller Inventory # 9523261
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. uk1st.edition.1st.printing/near fin e hardback-usual page edge browning in near fine dustwrapper. Seller Inventory # kkkwroomkmd
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardback, first edition. Seller Inventory # c00886
Book Description Condition: Good. Book is in Used-Good condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain limited notes and highlighting. 1.28. Seller Inventory # 0701130601-2-4