Beloved
February 28th 2007 05:00
Image: amazon.com
After five years our book club has finally revisited Toni Morrison with the reading of Beloved. This is Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of Sethe, a runaway slave and her long struggle for freedom – not just for herself but for her children – ‘her best thing’.
This is an incredibly moving story where we see a mother pushed to the far edges of love and hate and what it eventually does to her and those around her. Our club’s opinions varied from rubbish to pure genius. A few could not find the interest to finish, but for those who did it was agreed that complete concentration was needed to absorb this book. The story is told in fragments and rememories from a variety of characters; all heartbreaking and staggering in their depth and emotion.
It was mentioned how well the book emphasised the plight of slaves and how deeply they felt their lack of freedom. Anne pointed out that that is exactly what the book is about – freedom, and how important it is to people. All people. This book brought many topics to the surface. Racism, the civil war, indigenous peoples and their issues, but our main point of discussion was Beloved. Who was she and was she real? We varied on this also. Some believed yes, she was a real person but those living at 124 Bluestone Road perceived her to be Beloved. Others found her to be ghost like, a vision to Sethe and those around her.
My opinion leans more towards the latter, though not exactly. I felt Beloved came from Sethe, from the tragedy of her child’s death and her own part in it. She was written into the story from Sethe’s mind, completely real to Sethe and becoming very real to those around her, for she was as much a part of the woman as any child would be, alive or dead. Nowadays, I believe you would call it 'multiple personality disorder'. Sethe wanted her daughter back so badly, she simply created her. Beloved then came close to consuming her, as mental illness usually does.
But of course it is all open to interpretation. Just as Morrison meant it to be. This is not an easy read, nor a happy one. I shocked most of the club by saying I loved this book. How could I love such a sad story? Simply because it is so beautifully told and literally weeps compassion.
Terrible things happen in this world, but for them to be immortalised in such a way ensures that they will never be forgotten.
If you want to stretch your mind and your heart strings, give it a go.
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