Reader Response
Goodreads: The overall rating to Beloved on Goodreads was a 3.76, and had more good reviews then bad ones. Most of the good reviews said it was a great book to read, "Beloved was a great American horror novel. I got chills, physical chills-over and over while reading this book. It has the scary element to it" (Jessica 1). People that rated this book recommended it to anyone with 'human' emotions, if you have broken hearts that are in search of mending, and it make's a good mother's day gift. The few that gave it a bad review said they hated the book, they thought the characters like Beloved were annoying and confusing. People started to read half way through the book, and then stop reading and give up because they didn't like it to continue.
Barnes and Noble: The overall rating to Beloved on Barnes and Noble was a 4, a better rating then Goodreads. Again, had more good reviews then bad ones. Reviewers on Barnes and Noble said "It was like nothing I've ever read before"(Anonymous 1). I also seen another person talk about the idea of Toni Morrison's haunting novel, like on Goodreads someone thought it was a great American horror novel. Beloved was an amazing book and a must read. Some readers said they went into the book with a bad attitude and got half way through the book with a totally different mind and really got into it and loved the rest of the book. Another said it was the "most moving,soulful story of the slavery experience I have ever read"(Anonymous 1). There were also a few bad reviewers but only like two or three. They said they had a "hard time with the book, it was confusing and annoying, and you had to reread some parts and try to absorb what they were saying to better understand" (Karatepen 1). Which was also similar to Goodreads in the bad reviews on Beloved.
Amazon: The overall rating to Beloved on Amazon was a 3.9. About the same as Barnes and Noble. Amazon had more good reviews then bad ones. The good reviewers said Beloved it truly a great book, a must read, and hard to put it down. "The story is not one of suffering, but one of persevering through the insufferable" (Bennet 1). A few others said Beloved was a beautiful poetic Novel. Shows great emotions in the characters and such real feelings. Also connected to what people said in Goodreads and Barnes and Noble that idea of a classic, haunting story about slavery. The only bad reviews I saw said it was sometimes hard to read and understand and could be a complex novel at times. Which I also saw in the Goodreads and Barnes and Noble.
Positive reviews: I totally agree with the good reviewers comments. Beloved is a great book and a great read. It does show true feelings through the characters and has that haunting story because of the death of Baby Suggs and her haunting the past traumas.
Negative reviews: I also agree with some of the negative reviewers comments. Beloved at first when I started to read it was kind of boring, and I didn't know what to expect from the beginning. At parts of the book it was confusing and difficult to pick out where the characters were, or what they were talking about. But I tried to read the book out loud to better hear and get more of a feeling what was going on. But I disagree with the reviewers that said it was an awful book, and that no one should bother to pick it up and read it. The characters were not annoying at all, I think all the characters have there own special place in the book that is unique and fits them right. Everyone has there own opinions, but I think the people that started reading the Novel Beloved that quit in the middle and gave up, should go back and finish the book because it gets better after the beginning.
Sources:
Bennet, James S. "Beloved." Amazon. N.p., 8 June 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <https://www.amazon.com/Beloved-Toni-Morrison/dp/1400033411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492221938&sr=8-1&keywords=beloved>.
Jessica. "Beloved." Goodreads. N.p., 26 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149.Beloved?from_search=true>.
Karatapen, and Anonymous. "Beloved." Barnes & Noble. N.p., 8 June 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beloved-toni-morrison/1001875673?ean=9781400033416>.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Critical Commentary
Article: Approaching the Thing of Slavery: A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved.
By:Sheldon George
The main point of this article is based on the characters past experiences of suffering.The life of Sethe and what she had gone through in her past, and the ghost that still haunts her. When Sethe talks about "Sweet Home as a place from her past that is "still there," not just in her "memory," but "out there outside [her] head". Speaking of her traumatic enslavement at Sweet Home, Sethe asserts, "even though it's over—and done for—it's going to always be there waiting," because "that place is real"(George 1). That is an example of how Sethe's memories from her past seem to be gone to her, but in reality will never leave her, "that things just stay (George 1). Which is also the case for other characters and what they went through. Baby Suggs was killed by her own mother, she will obviously have that trauma the rest of her life that she wants gone from her mind but will always be there with her. Paul D and what he went through in Sweet Home, finding about what Sethe had done. There is a lot of traumas that these characters went through which is what this article is greatly expressing. The writer Sheldon George also talks about the idea of repetition in Beloved. The "repetition plays in the lives of both it's African American characters and many of the members of it's contemporary African American Audience" (George 1). The repetition of the novel's African American characters and what identity they have. The characters used in Beloved like Sethe, have some real life character that they are based off of. Sheldon George also states that "Beloved, intended to the reader to feel and experience " what was happening (7). Reading this article helped me better understand the idea of the "ghost". How baby suggs is haunting Sethe's past and that a lot of the African American Slaves have also experienced haunting's in there lives because of the trauma they all went through dealing with slavery. This interpretation helped me better understand why Sethe acts the way she does. Why Denver thinks her mother is crazy, and why Baby Suggs is haunting her family member's and where she grew up at 124. I agree with the Author's interpretation. From all our in class discussions, I feel what he had to say was very accurate. The haunting's Sethe dealt with, the idea about trauma and racial identity's is seen throughout the whole book. Reading the book, we do get that "feel and experience" what is happening in the scenes.
Source:
George, Sheldon. "Approaching the Thing of Slavery: A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved." MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO Host). N.p., 1 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=758824ad-3511-4376-bd54-0c8e85356909%40sessionmgr101&vid=8&hid=102>.
Article: Approaching the Thing of Slavery: A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved.
By:Sheldon George
The main point of this article is based on the characters past experiences of suffering.The life of Sethe and what she had gone through in her past, and the ghost that still haunts her. When Sethe talks about "Sweet Home as a place from her past that is "still there," not just in her "memory," but "out there outside [her] head". Speaking of her traumatic enslavement at Sweet Home, Sethe asserts, "even though it's over—and done for—it's going to always be there waiting," because "that place is real"(George 1). That is an example of how Sethe's memories from her past seem to be gone to her, but in reality will never leave her, "that things just stay (George 1). Which is also the case for other characters and what they went through. Baby Suggs was killed by her own mother, she will obviously have that trauma the rest of her life that she wants gone from her mind but will always be there with her. Paul D and what he went through in Sweet Home, finding about what Sethe had done. There is a lot of traumas that these characters went through which is what this article is greatly expressing. The writer Sheldon George also talks about the idea of repetition in Beloved. The "repetition plays in the lives of both it's African American characters and many of the members of it's contemporary African American Audience" (George 1). The repetition of the novel's African American characters and what identity they have. The characters used in Beloved like Sethe, have some real life character that they are based off of. Sheldon George also states that "Beloved, intended to the reader to feel and experience " what was happening (7). Reading this article helped me better understand the idea of the "ghost". How baby suggs is haunting Sethe's past and that a lot of the African American Slaves have also experienced haunting's in there lives because of the trauma they all went through dealing with slavery. This interpretation helped me better understand why Sethe acts the way she does. Why Denver thinks her mother is crazy, and why Baby Suggs is haunting her family member's and where she grew up at 124. I agree with the Author's interpretation. From all our in class discussions, I feel what he had to say was very accurate. The haunting's Sethe dealt with, the idea about trauma and racial identity's is seen throughout the whole book. Reading the book, we do get that "feel and experience" what is happening in the scenes.
Source:
George, Sheldon. "Approaching the Thing of Slavery: A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved." MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO Host). N.p., 1 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2017. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=758824ad-3511-4376-bd54-0c8e85356909%40sessionmgr101&vid=8&hid=102>.
Race and the American Novel: Beloved
Beloved By:Toni Morrison
My theme related to the literary depiction of racial issues that I want to explore is,
Dehumanization: to treat someone as though he or she is not a human being.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)