Sethe and her daughter Denver live by themselves and their terrible past in an old and forsaken house when a man from Sethe's past, Paul D, comes back into her live.

"Beloved" is a book difficult to describe. The story is quite straightforward: woman with a past, the fears, the limitations, the terrible things that happened that brought to that past to be... But Morrison doesn't take the easy way out and creates a book where the atmosphere and language play a role as huge or more than the characters and the plot.

Once you start reading it is pretty easy to see that this story about a woman of color living in the 19th Century USA has so many layers it will take a while to delve into all the topics Morrison brings to the story. It delves into race, gender, freedom and so many other topics that it may not make for easy reading. However, even if we take into account all of this, it is not a in-your-face, aggressive way of telling you a story. It is touching, it is in some moments slow, but it is a very smart look into the minds of people and why they are the kind of persons they are, and the decisions they take and what opportunities there are for change or forgiveness and what that forgiveness may cost (don't worry, there are negative feelings in it too).

It is all deep and powerful stuff. However, I got the feeling, as the story advanced, that this book would have been better as a short story than the almost 300 pages long book that it is. Maybe it is me, but I felt that some moments were a little bit repetitive, and didn't add to the story.

Otherwise, this is a really good book to read.

The best: the atmosphere; the writing style once you immerse yourself in it; the feelings it brings to light

The worst: the writing can become quite messy in some places; repetitive at moments; the characters arc is short

Further Reading: Not an expert on the topic, so... One would think there would me more books of this kind, and most probably there are, but I haven't gotten across anything but academical writing (Kimberle Crenshaw, bell hooks...). Of course, the day is young and I still have time to find more books like this.

6.5/10

(Original English Version)