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Toni Morrison opinions?
  • Charlotte_SometimesCharlotte_Sometimes
    Posts: 1,757Member
    I just read "Beloved" and "The Bluest Eye" because they were given to me.   I don't think I'll be reading any more of her stuff.   I'm pretty smart and usually capable of understanding deeper meanings, grasping literary themes, symbolism, etc.  I've taken enough Lit classes, I'm not some uber-intellectual but I get along.  But these two books were both just too out there for me and in both cases the tense would change in an abrupt way so it was hard to figure out whose point of view she'd switched to.

    I liked Beloved a bit more as a tragic ghost story but "The Bluest Eye" was just depressing as hell.  I don't shy away from disturbing tales of tragedy and abuse and all that, but I expect some bit of hope *somewhere*... especially in fiction.  I've read memoirs that were far more upsetting but also had some triumph somewhere for the protagonist, however small.   If I just want total and abysmal darkness I could just read the newspaper.  Or write my own damned memoir! ;)  (Just kidding)

    I'm not super picky and will read pretty much anything but I would pass up Toni Morrison's other stuff in the future, I think, based on these.  We watched the movie too (Beloved) after I finished the book and  DW and DS20 were totally lost, I kept having to explain the plot, and my son actually fell asleep (he never does that).  So, considering all the praise heaped on her work, I don't really get it.

    I started reading another book right after, called "In the Forest" by Edna O'Brien and it's more confusing writing.  I don't know what the point is of making the reader puzzle out WTF is going on when writing fiction.  I was so frustrated within the 1st chapter I wanted to rip it up!   It was free too so whatever.

    Now, I am reading "The Help" on loan from a friend and I am already liking it just one chapter in.  I get very upset when I don't have a good book going. ;)
    "But a lesson must be lived
    In order to be learned"

    Ani DiFranco, Manhole
  • CrashCrash
    Posts: 8,207Member
    I keep meaning to post a list of books that I reread on a regular basis that are not a run of the mill author. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Or the next day. Or never.

    You wanna just come over? Lol.
    See ya in another life, sister!
  • Charlotte_SometimesCharlotte_Sometimes
    Posts: 1,757Member
    LOL would be easier!   When I was a little kid I would sit on the toilet and read the shampoo bottles.  Or anything with words on it.

    And I do realize that I have a quote from the same book I am bashing, as my signature line.  But hey, I never said it was 100% bad.  ;)
    "But a lesson must be lived
    In order to be learned"

    Ani DiFranco, Manhole
  • FreeToBeMee
    Posts: 643Member
    Beloved is notorious for being one of those books you really dont get until you read it a second time. I've probably read it 3 times and see something new each time. I heard the movie was positively horrid. The Bluest Eye is one of my favorites actually. But definitely not the most uplifting thing in the world.
  • fatchickonabikefatchickonabike
    Posts: 5,511Member
    Meh. That's my opinion of Toni Morrison.
    "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof bullshit detector.” - Ernest Hemingway
  • BellaBefanaBellaBefana
    Posts: 8,188Member
    hmmmm, never heard of either, but in spite of my incessant need to read things I don't really have to think about much (i'm the same way with movies, i do too much reading which requires intense concentration to want that for entertainment), maybe I'll give them a try.

    If you want something a little more intellectual, but still entertaining (and maybe a little smutty) I recommend Gabriel's Inferno and Gabriel's Rapture by Sylvain Reynard.
    Bite me, cupcake!
  • jacigirl6354
    Posts: 199Member
    I've not read the Bluest Eyes, I did read Beloved, and I agree, the second time, I "got it". I didn't think the movie was horrid, again, just another case of the book being far superior to the movie. I too need some semblance of hope at the end of all the dreary! I don't think I would read any more of her books, either.
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