Beloved

Sethe escaped slavery, but it left heavy scars on her body and mind. All the evils that she thought she had put from her mind come back with the arrival of a man from her past and the sudden appearance of a young woman named Beloved. Sethe struggles to figure out what to do with herself and those around her, without succumbing to the madness she has experienced before.

This book felt very fragmented and scattered, perhaps this is an attempt to show Sethe's confused state of mind, but it makes it hard for the reader to follow what is going on. The characters felt inconsistent and I was often confused by what the relationships were between them. The writing is solid, if occasionally sliding t'wards purple prose.

I admire what the author was trying to do, and she wrote something that is very powerful at points, but the scattered feeling of the overall book detracts from her message.

Emme

3 Stars