thebookcrosser
New Member
Has anyone else read this book. Just journaled it over on BookCrossing. Here's my entry (below). How did everyone else find it?
Very disturbing, dark book. I found it a bit overwhelming. The imagery was too demonic and uncomfortable. The writing was powerful, but the subject matter resonated too highly with pain. I put the book down once, picked it up a few months later (recently) but still ending up skimming more than reading. Just when I put it down again, deciding not to fight my way through this one, I turned on cable and there was the film version (starring Oprah Winfrey. My perception of the story is now a blend of the book and the film. Even in my over-active imagination, the images in my head would not have done justice to the story. The film version captured the pathos and the horror of Beloved in a way, I think, Morrison's words alone just can't manage.
The story takes place just after the Civil War, but the roots of this tale run deep into the last, unspeakable years of the terror of being owed by another human being. Seth, an ex-slave, escaped across the river to Ohio and is living as a free woman; however, in this case, free is a paradoxical term. Seth may own her home, but her life is owned by the violent and vengeful spirit of a dead child (Beloved), who dominates life at house #124. Most of Seth’s children have either died (some under unspeakable circumstances) or have fled this house, unable to live under the same roof as this rancorous, metaphysical presence. The lives of Seth and her remaining daughter are under siege until an old friend, Paul, takes control and banishes the disturbing energy – or so they thought. What transpires next is as much horror as it is historical fiction.
(As I said... the film actually brings this book to life more vividly -- which didn't bode well for sleeping last night -- than Morrison's words. It's unusual for me to find the film version richer than the book.)
Very disturbing, dark book. I found it a bit overwhelming. The imagery was too demonic and uncomfortable. The writing was powerful, but the subject matter resonated too highly with pain. I put the book down once, picked it up a few months later (recently) but still ending up skimming more than reading. Just when I put it down again, deciding not to fight my way through this one, I turned on cable and there was the film version (starring Oprah Winfrey. My perception of the story is now a blend of the book and the film. Even in my over-active imagination, the images in my head would not have done justice to the story. The film version captured the pathos and the horror of Beloved in a way, I think, Morrison's words alone just can't manage.
The story takes place just after the Civil War, but the roots of this tale run deep into the last, unspeakable years of the terror of being owed by another human being. Seth, an ex-slave, escaped across the river to Ohio and is living as a free woman; however, in this case, free is a paradoxical term. Seth may own her home, but her life is owned by the violent and vengeful spirit of a dead child (Beloved), who dominates life at house #124. Most of Seth’s children have either died (some under unspeakable circumstances) or have fled this house, unable to live under the same roof as this rancorous, metaphysical presence. The lives of Seth and her remaining daughter are under siege until an old friend, Paul, takes control and banishes the disturbing energy – or so they thought. What transpires next is as much horror as it is historical fiction.
(As I said... the film actually brings this book to life more vividly -- which didn't bode well for sleeping last night -- than Morrison's words. It's unusual for me to find the film version richer than the book.)