I found the book, Sula, to be very interesting. The author tries to make the reader understand the life of the blacks in the early 1900's. She writes about the way the blacks had to survive. This book deals with friendship, love, and betrayal. One of the quotes that I found to be very important to the book was, "That was to much. To lose Jude and not have Sula to talk to about it because it was Sula that he had left her for." This is a symbol of Sula's betrayal towards Nel. This book also uses a repetitive pattern. It always flashes back to earlier scenes, in order to decribe what is going on. If you are into comedy then you would like this book. Also people who want to learn more about life for the blacks in the 1900's would also like this book. Even if you don't like any of those things, this book also deal with all the different things that do go on in life in todays society.

I think this book is very good for older readers. It was complicating at first.

This is a good book for whom ever likes literature. Tony Morrison analyzes the relationship between men and women, rich and poor, young and old, and the races by putting them all in one house in the Island of Haiti. There, the characters experience love, hate, betrayal, jealousy, and painful secrets.

Toni Morrison was clearly ahead of her time -- look at her novels. Her interest in myth, history, a decentered narrator, racialized images of self, and aural language were well ahead of most critics and theorists, who are only now recognizing the full worth of her work. These collected interviews allow us to hear from the horse's mouth what her narrative project is. For Morrison fans, it is particularly interesting to see how the various white interviewers grapple with Morrison's insistence on writing about the culture she knows best -- black culture -- and not putting whites front and center. It is also interesting to see how Morrison herself switches positions throughout her career, from an insistence that she writes only for herself (early in her career) to writing for "the [black] tribe" (middle of her career)to writing for seemingly everybody (later career). A particular treat, for me, were references scattered throughout to how "prickly" Morrison can be and how catty she was about not being nominated for a National Book Award for SONG OF SOLOMON.

The interviews in this book illuminate the forces behind Morrison's scholarly theories about the role of race in American literature. Anyone who has read "Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination" will immediately recognize key themes in many of these interviews, although the strongest distinctions can be found in the last two interviews, each given after publication of "Playing in the Dark." Taken chronilogically, the interviews are a thrillling opportunity to observe how Morrison has evolved as a writer and a scholar. To me, it is clear her novels are a carefully crafted attempt to mirror the racialized signifying she identifies in her scholarly critiques of white writer's work.

Acceptance speeches can be dull affairs. Those in attendance are expected to politely tolerate the honorer's remarks as they drone on and on about nothing. Such is not the case with Toni Morrison's acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation Medal. Ms Morrison's words are powerful, poignant and challenging. What she has to say is worth our attention and action.

Entitled, "The Dancing Mind", Toni Morrison's brief speech points out two dangerous environments that readers and writers
face in today's world. The first is the attitude that reading is a means to an end (merely for obtaining a trophy) and the second, that writing is a subversive activity that needs to be suppressed. She shares with us two anecdotes which illustrate these negative environments and issues a challenge to the Book World.

Morrison challenges the book industry to become a conduit of dispensing knowledge to both the entitled and dispossessed. In doing so minds will be able to engage one another. She also puts out the call for the industry to foster a supportive environment for the writer free of private, governmental or cultural controls. Developing such a peace is one in which all of those in the book business should aspire.

Her words forces us to move beyond reading for the purpose of taking a test or because it is a class assignment. We're sensitized to the fact that many writers are under oppressive regimes. A written word from them would mean a death sentence. Our reading and writing is a serious business and we who engage in the free sharing of thought need to take it seriously.

Although this slim volume is only seventeen pages it is well worth having in your collection of Morrison's works. It is also a great gift book for those who want to engage their dancing minds.

"The Dancing Mind" (book version) contains the text of a speech delivered by Toni Morrison in 1996, when she accepted the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. While the speech seems a bit short to justify publication as an independent book (the text of the speech does not even take up 11 pages), this is still an admirable work by a great writer.

Morrison's topics in this speech are the joys and struggles of the reading/writing life. She recalls two very different individuals. The first is a student from a privileged background who had never learned "to be alone with a book he was not assigned to read, a book on which there was no test," and who had to force himself to develop this skill. The second individual is a woman living in a country where women who write "against the grain" face terrible persecution.

Ultimately, Morrison celebrates the efforts of the book world to make it possible for all "to experience one's mind dancing with another's" through the act of reading. This small book is a must for admirers of Morrison, and should be of value to all who have a commitment to the interlocking worlds of reading and writing.

The auto cassette of this wonderfully poetic acceptance speech was given to me as a gift and ranks among my all time favorites. In her acceptance of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, Morrison elaborates on the reader-writer relationship, symbolized in terms of a dance of open minds. She expounds on the importance of an education that allows for and encourages students to (through literature) dance in the company of their own mind. The Nobel Laureate then shares a personal encounter with a fellow female writer from Strasbourg whose country rewards creative and nonrestrictive writing with persecution and imprisonment; the effect of which on the writing soul is indistinguishable from literally being shot down on the street. Morrison wraps up her speech with a personal account of what it means for her to write, to engage in a dance with her mind and the mind of her reader. This speech, like everything she writes, is both captivating and enlightening. The knowledge given is as powerful and elegant as the delivery. Whether you listen to it or read it, this speech is worth knowing. Enjoy.

Considered by many to be the great American novel, Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is the story of a boy, Huck Finn, and a runaway slave, Jim, as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is the sequel to Twain's novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Where "Tom Sawyer" was more a care-free children's book, "Huck Finn" is a far darker less childlike book.

Judging from my rating you can see that I do not agree that this is in fact the great American novel. Twain seemed far too unsure of what he wanted to accomplish with this book. The pat answer is to expose the continuing racism of American society post-Civil War. By making Jim simultaneously the embodiment of white racist attitudes about blacks and a man of great heart, loyalty, and bravery, Twain presented him as being all too much of what white America at the time was unwilling to acknowledge the black man as: human.

However noble the cause though, Twain's story is disjointed, at times ridiculous, and, worst of all (for Twain anyway), unfunny. The situations that Huck and Jim find themselves in are implausible at best. Twain may not have concerned himself too much with the possibleness of his story; but, it does detract from your enjoyment of a story when you constantly disbelieve the possibility of something happening.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is an important book in that it did affect much of the American literature that followed it. However, this is another novel which is more important to read for its historical significance than for its story.

Want a book with an adventurous twist? Then Huckleberry Finn is the book for you. Not only is Huckleberry Finn an adventurous book, it is also can be comical and light, though the book has a grave meaning, showing the wrongs in society at the time in the late 19th century.
The book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer precedes Huckleberry Finn, where in the beginning of Huckleberry Finn, Huck lives with the widow Douglas, though doesn't like the high class living, and frequently leaves to see his father, who's always drunk, or just hangs out in the woods. While in the woods, Huck meets Jim, a slave who escaped and needs to cross the Mississippi River to the freedom on the other side, in Illinois. Although this book portrays a serious meaning, it can also be funny and witty.
I liked this book because it was witty and comical, though it had an important message at the same time. I really liked this book because of this, though the southern accent complicates the understanding of the book. Overall, I thought this book is definitely a classic and a must read for all age levels.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was one of the best books that I have read in a long time. The way the Huck lives his life is very interesting in ways that I can relate. Whether Huck is sneaking out of the house or talking to his best friends about big plans they have, it all makes sense to me. Mark Twain did an excelent job with all the characters and how they all have different problems at home or with some of their friends. He also shined in this book when he came up with all the ideas for the kids to get in trouble with, like starting a gang or running away and taking off down the river and getting caught up with con artists. In my opinion the best part of the book is right off the start when the Widow adopts Huck and tries to clean him up and get him to study and learn new things, and huck wants absolutely nothing to do with any of it. Then right when Huck gets to the point of losing it, he runs off until Tom tells him to come back so they can start their new robbery gang, which meant that Huck must return. When Huck returns the Widow Douglass' sister Miss Watson is living their now with Huck and the widow and the head servant Jim. Overall, I would have to say the this book was very well written and explained and I would have to give this book 4 out of 5 possible stars for my grade. So if you like funny books with some action in them, this book is for you.

Sula is shorter and easier to understand than Morrison's two masterpiece longer works, Song of Solomon and Beloved, but that does not mean that it's not a work of great literature. Sula is beautifully written and powerfully rendered. The scenes between Nel and Sula, plus the odd cast of characters like Chicken Little will haunt you long after you finish. Her dialogue is fantastic. Curiously, the last three years when I have taught this book to high school students, the women all loved it and most of the guys didn't. Maybe it's hard for white teen age boys to see the angst of young black girls growing up? Or maybe it's just that as a growing up story of the friendship between two childhood friends, boys that age don't find it that interesting. I agree with the reader below who remarks on the "magic realism" style -- I have always been struck by the way Morrison includes fantanstic elements in her novels: kind of a black folklore meets magic realism confluence. A great read and an important one to her overall corpus.

Toni Morrison, receiver of 1978 National Book Critics Award for fiction, 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature has one of the boldest pens in the world of Women's Literature.

Sula is the first book by Toni Morrison I have read and the others are following it on my bookshelf. I was very impressed with her writing style and her strong characters.

Although "Sula" is said to be the story of Nell and Sula, two friends but as I see, its more of a story of women from two different families. The first family is that of Nell whose mother is a proper housewife trying to escape from the immoral past of her own mother and trying to instill good values in her own daughter. On the other hand, Sula's mother is very uninhibited sexual being and Sula follows a similar course. Both Sula and Nell grow up in different environment with different values, however as the book progresses they are both a completion of one another. One is what the other is missing in her character. Nell settles for a blissful marital life never leaving the place of birth and Sula takes off for ten years only to return and be an experience to remember for her home-towners.

The story is set in Bottom, Ohio around the period of 1920s, so on. While the country was very segregated, it was also going through the depression. Sula is a bold character developed by Toni Morrison who breaks race and gender driven barriers and lives life for herself, her own pleasure, with her own rules and set of values.

Highly Recommended for readers interested in Women in Literature, African-American Literature.

Having read The Bluest Eye, I felt compelled to read another Toni Morrison book. People have mentioned Morrison's powerful poetic undertones in Sula -- I couldn't wait to read it. This is one of the most powerful and gripping novels I have ever heard. The story follows the path of best friends Sula and Nel. They grow up in a poor black neighborhood with eccentric and suicidal characters. Sula and Nel grow apart. Sula wants to see the world, Nel settles for a married life. Will Sula return to her roots? If so, how will she be received? And will she be able to reconstruct her friendship with Nel?

I marvel at Morrison's gorgeous language and quirky symbolism. Her work is thought provoking and realistic. I look forward to reading her other books.

After reading The Bluest Eye I expected better from Toni Morrison. This book was o.k but not what the back cover promised. I usually read the back cover and expect the book to follow it at least loosely. This book promised that Sula and Nel would reconcile, they never did. Sula died the day that her friend visited and they got into an argument then, there was no reconciliation. That and the fact that after being caught with Sula Jude leaves Nel and never returns. This doesn't sound like any man I've ever known. This was an unrealistic portrayal of a man. And what made Sula sick, the reader is never told why Sula was sick or what she was sick from. It is also never explained why the girls decided to kill Chicken what had he done to them? Overall I like the book there were just some points I didn't understand.

-In her novel "Sula" Toni Morrison paints a vivid and disturbing picture of an Ohio African-American town in the early to mid 1900's that leaves us with countless unforgettable images of human affection and anguish. Sula and Nel, two girls from somewhat different upbringings, form a strong friendship as they grow up in the same troubled community. Their relationship grows out of the life that they share, that of a poor but beautiful black girl in early 20th century America. We share in their childhood experiences and witness them begin their entrance into maturity. Eventually Nel gets married and Sula disappears from the town for ten years. When she finally returns dressed like a movie star, Sula begins to live the life that she witnessed her mother live, one of a constant series of sexual partners, regardless of their marital status. In doing so, Sula nearly earns the contempt of the town's entire female population including Nel who's husband Sula did not exclude from her sexual exploits. Both of them begin to independently struggle to deal with their slowly crumbling lives.
-Morrison's unique and poetic writing style successfully creates a fictional community that overflows with life and emotion. The characters are developed with such care and brutal honesty that they seem to be plucked from real life and as the author's pen directs the actions of these characters she does not shy away from the darker truths of human nature. This unforgiving style often leaves the reader feeling uncomfortable yet emotionally connected to the towns inhabitants. Their behavior can be hard to accept, whether it be a woman killing her own drug-addict son or a child watching her mother burn to death in silent satisfaction. Nevertheless, by participating in their suffering we not only learn about the character's lives but our own lives as well and what we're all truly capable of. The book's tragic end leaves you far from uplifted but is poignant and satisfying nontheless. "Sula" reads like a relentlessly powerful inquiry into the minds of two African-American women in the mid 20th century that contains many life lessons from which we can all learn.

I think Toni Morrison is America's greatest living author. Perhaps she is the greatest living woman author. Surely she is in the top three. Although "Sula" isn't my favorite Morrison work, I think it is one of Morrison's most complicated and one of her richest. Those who read Morrison must remember she is a classicist and approach her as such. Not to do so only creates needless problems for the reader and Morrison can be difficult to read, though always enjoyable and always superb.

On it's surface, "Sula" is the story of two black women who remain lifelong friends despite their obvious differences and the different way in which each pursues her life. Set in an Ohio community called, The Bottom, "Sula" follows these two women, Sula Peace and Nel Wright, from childhood to marriage to old age to death.

Nel is the conformist in this oddly matched pair. She marries and raises a family in the place of her birth. Outwardly, at least, she seems to need no more than husband and children and community to make her happy. She adapts. Sula, on the other hand, is a far different story.

Sula is a woman who feels the need to escape, to break free of whatever binds her. And, if her breaking free involves pain...for herself or for others, then so be it. She moves from The Bottom, goes to college and becomes the epitome of everything that Nel is not...in short, Sula becomes a waton seductress. For Sula, hell is stability; for Nel, hell is change.

Is either woman happy with her choices in life? No, not entirely, and we do find echoes of Nel in Sula and echoes of Sula in Nel. Though it's not obvious at first glance, the women are really two sides of the same coin. One came up "heads," the other, "tails." Both women are, however, black Americans and both are proud to be black Americans. It is how they express their heritage, and their love for each other, that differs.

Morrison is a masterful writer and her handling of the character of Sula is miraculous. We could have so easily come to hate this wanton women, we could have so easily come to have seen her as the stereotypical seductress, the temptress, the tramp. Yet Morrison manages, somehow, to endow Sula with a humanity and a beauty that shines through all her artifice and pain.

For me, "Sula" is a book about choices and the problems of living with those choices. It is about loving someone who chooses a very different path in life than we do and what is needed to keep that love alive...or even if it can be kept alive. Sula and Nel are both beautiful characters and both are vibrantly alive. Both want desperately to hold onto their love for each other, but fate and circumstances make it increasingly difficult. The story of Sula's and Nel's growth from child to adult to old age is the thread that ties the other stories in this book into one seamless whole.

Although "Sula" could be seen as an allegory or metaphor for the rediscovery of the core self of black America, I feel the characters, themselves are too rich, to fully-drawn, to alive, to call this book an allegory. Perhaps on some level, it is, but Morrison is a writer of literature, not genre fiction.

All of Toni Morrison's books are masterpieces and all can be read on many levels. "Sula" is no exception. It is a difficult book but one that is both beautiful and tragic and worth every second any reader spends with it. I really can't recommend "Sula," or any other Morrison book, highly enough.

The Bluest Eye is a beautifully written book. This was the first time I have read Toni Morrison, and I was amazed by her use of language. This book is really a piece of literary art. There were so many passages in this book that were just wonderful- perhaps my favorite was the description of Pauline losing her front tooth, which actually was symbolic of the decaying of a relationship. However, although the language was incredible, the style and structure of the book were a bit confusing to me. I found myself asking "who is talking now? and what relationship does this person have to the people I already know" at the beginning of each chapter. Then when I finally figured things out, I had to go back and reread. Still, I suppose this was a minor annoyance. The Bluest Eye really is a wonderfully written book about so many things- perhaps most obviously the tragic consequences of living in a day and time when the standards of physical beauty are ridiculous and unachievable. Anyone who has ever felt physically inadequate (and who wouldn't? Just take a look at all of today's media images) will feel for Pecola and wish she could have had a happier ending. But that, I suppose, would have defeated the purpose of the book.

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye consists of a series of interrelated stories, told from the perspectives of different characters, that revolve around the novel's protagonist, Pecola. Pecola is a young black female who longs for love and acceptance, two desires that go unfulfilled by her dysfunctional family and the racist world around her. Pecola believes her problems would be solved if she had the "superior" blue eyes characteristic of white children. Pecola holds to her dream of possessing blue eyes as a way out of the isolation and misery she suffers. Her mother Pauline hates her own home and turns to maintaining one of a white family. Her father Cholly betrays Pecola and impregnates her.
At times the novel is somewhat graphic in its depiction of the disturbing behavior of Cholly and Soaphead Church, a man who takes pleasure from little girls. Morrison succeeds in creating a novel rich with emotion. The plight of Pecola is heart-wrenching and poignant. Her harrowing ordeal evokes sympathy from the reader. Although Claudia and Frieda MacTeer, two young black sisters who befriend Pecola, have been exposed to some of the more vulgar aspects of life, they still possess a sense of innocence. Unlike everyone else, the two want Pecola's baby to live. In a touching scene the sisters sacrifice their bicycle money and plant marigolds, hoping that if the flowers grow, so will Pecola's baby.
Although parts of the novel are quite unnerving and depressing, as a whole, I found the novel to be very moving. I would recommend it to others. However, I prefer Morrison's later work, Beloved, to this novel. I thought this novel flowed nicely and somewhat loosely but I liked the interwoven structure of Beloved. Nevertheless, I would give Toni Morrison high marks on her first novel, The Bluest Eye.

I will admit to some apprehension prior to picking up this book. I had heard that Toni Morrison, although a brilliant author, is a little hard to understand. And there's nothing I hate more than wading through a book full of abstract poetic descriptions and thick symbolism that goes right over my head. Despite all this, I pulled up my bootstraps and dived right in. What was to follow was quite a surprise.

The Bluest Eye tell the story of the Breedloves, a poor black family living in Lorain, Ohio in the early 1940s. Each chapter tells something different -- the journey of the dad, Cholly, from curious young boy to a drunk and unloving father; the history of the mother, Pauline, and her dreams of movie stars and romance; and the childhood of the children, Sammy and Pecola, and how they deal with life as they've been given. Full of hardships and unfairness, the Breedloves have been through tough times most of their lives. And young Pecola's wishes of blue eyes and blonde hair in order to be loved and respected by others is a testament to the unjust world they lived in.

My fear is that this review won't do the book justice. There is so much written here that left me with feelings of sadness and horror, but also of hope -- hope that our world now has moved on from the racism of the past and will eventually surpass it. The Bluest Eye is highly moving and sensitive, and written in an addictive easy and lyrical style. I may have missed an important part of the book, any underlying symbolism or meaning that Toni Morrison was trying to convey -- I don't know. All I do know is The Bluest Eye is a darn good story, and I'm extremely glad I read it.

Beloved. A book about slavery? Or a book about life? Morrison brings to life the struggles and pains of slaves through the lives of her characters. She creates a story filled with imagery, clearly depicting their struggles and giving her readers a deeper understanding. Morrison's style of writing forces a reader to read on and solve the mystery of Sethe's past. The book Beloved has a unique style where its details are revealed to the readers one after another. Morrison uses a "jigsaw puzzle" type of writing where details of the story are given to the readers piece by piece. As the story progresses, it is the reader's job to slowly piece the puzzle together, leaving a clear picture of the whole puzzle at the end. This style of "putting the pieces of a puzzle back together" is a great example of how Morrison illustrates the life of a slave. A person's life after entering slavery is filled with struggles and pains, resulting in a life that is literally shattered into pieces. After freedom, this person must then put back the pieces of his life together and find his true self once again. Not only is this true for slaves, but for anyone who has had to overcome an obstacle in his life. In addition to Morrison's style, Morrison's use of imagery clearly shows the struggle that not only Sethe has had to overcome, but slaves and people in general. For example, Sethe's wedding dress. In the novel, Sethe describes her dress by stating, "the top was from two pillow cases...the front of the shirt was a dresser scarf...old sashes...(59)." Here, Sethe's struggles are clearly depicted. The pieces of different materials are good illustrations of her life and how she tries to piece it back together; however, Sethe also states, "Now the back was a problem for the longest time (59)." The back of her wedding dress represents Sethe's past and how when everything is finally over, Sethe is having the hardest time overcoming it. Another struggle depicted in the story is the struggle that Paul D and Sethe must overcome. Morrison writes, "The embracing necks--hers stretching up towards his...No height was beyond her yearning neck, ...the gravity of their shields clashing, countered and mocked...(105)." The shields of the two turtles signify the barrier between Paul D and Sethe. This is how Morrison depicts the yearning and struggle they have to overcome. Equally important are the themes Morrison tries to convey in her novel. Morrison covers various themes, but one theme is the issue of power relationship. For centuries, power relationships are one thing a person will always come across. In Beloved, Morrison focuses on the power relationship between master and slave, white and black, and between husband and wife. One example where Morrison shows the power relationship between master and slave is between the Schoolteacher and Sethe. The Schoolteacher separates himself as superior and slaves as a sub race, as shown when the Schoolteacher tells his nephew to list Sethe's animal qualities (208). However, after the Civil war, the master and slave relationship changes to white and black relationship; still, with the whites having more power over the blacks. Furthermore, by showing Paul D is the only man to get Sethe to let down her guard a little and the only person who could drive out the spirit, Morrison is able to illustrate the power relationship between husband and wife. However, in life, no matter where anyone goes, there will always be someone you must answer to, meaning no one is really ever free, except within his self. All in all, Morrison uses a style of writing, which is able to keep her readers on their toes throughout the novel. She creates a novel so compact with detail that it seems almost overwhelming and unbelievable, but quite relevant. Although, Beloved may seem favorable to blacks, especially former slaves, Morrison covers the issues of struggle, pain, and love. Morrison creates a story everyone can relate to in one way or another; so, not only is Beloved a book about slavery, but it is also a book about life and what everyone must go through.

Very few writings have provoked me to an extent where even months later they cloud my thoughts. However these works generally revolve around one person, Toni Morrison. After reading each of the six novels, I felt as if the inside of me had been ripped apart. But the novel that wields her weapon most effectively is Beloved. Mrs. Morrison conveys the anguish of sixty million slaves in the space of its few hundred pages. But she does it without preaching; not once does she blame anyone. Instead her magic lies in the realistic pain and suffering relayed by the main character, Sethe. I felt so helpless as I was reading, angry at myself for not being able to do anything. Each time Sethe was hurt, I would flinch. I felt humiliation when she was called an animal, and fear when her owner came after her. Beloved's power lay in this ability to reach beyond the material pages of the book. It raised awareness in me of what enslavement creates. It taught me how powerful love can be. I know that I will never truly understand nor feel the amount of pain the slaves did, but Beloved shed light on what I had not seen before.

One of America's greatest modern writers hits a homerun with this novel. Those who have heard of Toni Morrison but perhaps been a bit intimidated by her literary reputation can be advised that this book is as good a read as any and just as accessible on various levels. On the most basic level, this book is a ghost story.

It begins with Sethe, an ex-slave who has found her way to Ohio. Behind her she left Sweet Home, as close a utopia as one can get for a slave-master relationship. Sweet Home contains a past that begins positively, (Sethe is able to choose her husband and is left alone by the other men on the plantation). Yet as the novel continues the reader learns the darker side of Sweet Home which developed after the master passed away and the mistress became too ill to take care of the plantation. Ahead of her in Ohio Sethe has several children who eventually leave and a one Baby Suggs, her husband's mother, who evolves from a type of minister to a dying woman who has denounced the white world completely. Left in the house is Denver, her young daughter and Sethe. It is implied that her boys have left home because they couldn't stand it anymore. "It" is the spirit that has inhabited their home for several years. It takes many shapes and forms, and has become a sort of companion for the lonely Denver. Its presence is short lived once Paul D, a survivor from the Sweet Home days, arrives. He cannot stay in the home as long as she is there and physically removes her spiritual presence. But the ghosts presence revisits the home, this time in the form of a young woman. She has the mental and physical capacity of a toddler, and becomes a permanent fixture in the home of Sethe, Beloved and Paul D. Who this mystery woman is and what she represents is the great mystery of the book, one that is solved by the readers early, and by the other characters later. Unlocking her mystery will take a community effort, one that hasn't been seen around Sethe's house for over a decade.

This novel is a great exploration of the past, present and future and how those three interact with each other within the hearts and minds of the characters. Sethe must understand her past in order to have a future and this struggle is played out in dramatic turns which credit Morrison's creative genius. At times this book seems almost epic in size. Morrison flies back in time with every turn of the page. As a result, the reader understands characters' entire histories, and one feels as if they have known them for quite some time.

Morrison's non-linear writing can at times be intimidating for the reader. Yet for those who stick with the book they will be heavily rewarded. Her language use and non-traditional sentence structure left this reader in awe. Descriptions are unique, honest, and accurate. She describes the trials of an ex-slave with seemingly effortless grace.

I highly recommend this book to both veterans of Morrison's work as well as new comers. She has mastered the art of story-telling and has something to offer for every type of reader. She will long be remembered as a shaping force for contemporary fiction.

I found Jazz difficult to get into as the rhythm of the story was confusing at first. I wasn't immediately "lured in" like in Sula, the other book of Toni Morrison's that I have read. The style began flowing smoothly once I hit the midway point, when the story seemed to build and to be going somewhere. The second half was page-turning. I found the characters more understandable, drawn to their grief, intrigued by their quirks. It is a story of longing - for love, for proper parenting and for hope. A good, easy read with a lesson in patience - once you get to the end, you're glad you suffered through the slow beginning and learned the meaning of long-term commitment, as Morrison teaches throughout the book.

Morrison has done it again. The story of a twisted love affair gone awry, Jazz takes you through the streets of an up and coming Harlem in the 1920s. It bares the souls and psyches of Violet, a 50-something black woman going through a midlife crisis, and her husband Joe, who falls in love with a teenage girl in an attempt understand his disjointed past.

If you have read any of Toni Morrison's works, this book follows the exact same pattern of her others: no visible pattern at all, but somehow coming together throughout the various narratives in various times and places within history. Although many questions are left unanswered, you still feel as if you have been immersed in a dream, a fantastic journey into the past that you never want to end. Morrison's writing is both beautiful and complex. There literally are no words to describe it. There is no one else out there like Morrison.

I suggest that first-time Toni Morrison readers start off with Sula, which is her shortest and least complex work, but still one of her greatest, and then pick up Jazz after you have read a few others including Beloved, Tar Baby, and Song of Solomon.

Toni MOrrison's book Jazz, is amazingly complex. The character Joe Trace, is a person searching for something more in his life. I wonder if maybe he thought he didn't have "the best person," as i he might have thought he could do better. The interesting thing that I found was the narrator. The narrator hides his or her identity until the very end. The identity was left to the reader's imagination, I myself thought that the narrator was Dorcas. When Morrison describes Dorcas's death, she puts the description in the point-of-view of a young lady. Also, when the narrator longs to be with Joe, and she says all she can do is wait. In my opinion, I take that as Dorcas being in heaven, and looking down on Joe. The setting of the story takes place in the early 1900's, in Lenox Avenue. The author sets the story in such a rural place that you wouldn't think anything crime wise would happen. That changes as Joe kills Dorcas. Joe kills Dorcas because at the time he was so happy with her, and others he was so sad. He killed her just to keep the feeling going. Joe shot her, which shocked me in a way because Violet, Joe's wife forgives him. How could Violet forgive him after he had sexual affairs with someone young enough to be their daughter? Also, when Violet is upset about Joe's affair why does she need to know about Dorcas? Is it the thought that Violet wasn't good enough for Joe? This book was relatively good, but confusing at times. To my suprise I learned that Toni Morrison's Jazz was second in a trilogy. If you like a book that is challenging, read Jazz.