My Ranking of Toni Morrison's Novels (w/Commentary)
Submitted by shan2001 on Sun, 07/24/2005 - 07:48
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- Song of Solomon- Not only is this my personal favorite Morrison novel, I also feel that it is her finest. It was complex and layered, but not to the point that it's difficult to understand. Morrison uses language beautifully in this novel. The metaphors are rich and add meaning to the story. The theme of flight was handled with a magnificent grace and beauty. A truly magnificent, magical novel with the most memorable, satisfying, transcendent ending of any book I've ever read. Truly showcases Morrison's skills.
- Beloved- A chilling look into the horrors of slavery. It brings slavery back to the individuals who were affected by it. It gives them their stories back, as too often slavery is told in a way that strips it of it's individual hurts and pains. This novel deserves all of the praise it gets and very little of the criticism it receives. Deeply complex, beautiful, ugly, painful, awakening... all words you can use to describe this novel. This novel is not for the close-minded, or for those who can't get over the fact that it's a Black woman with incredible skill writing "another slavery book to make us feel guilty".
- Paradise- Morrison requires you to work with her novels. And this is one where she really requires you to work with it. If you don't want to engage with a novel, then don't read Morrison. All in all, this was a unique, haunting story of prejudice, hatred, passion, love. As well as an often-downplayed critique of Christianity and patriarchy (if you're into that kind of stuff). What's funny is that Morrison will swear up and down that she's not a feminist, but so much of her work says otherwise. Not in that she dogs men, but in her overwhelming concern for women. Many of her novels provide a critique of racist, patriarchal systems; and this novel is made richer for it. I also call Paradise, as well as Beloved, Morrison's "horror" novels. They're both pretty disturbing, creepy, and haunting.
- the Bluest Eye- The first Morrison novel I ever read, and one that touches me every single time. I know Pecola. I've known many Pecolas. There's a Pecola inside of just about every Black girl who's felt ugly, unloved, invisible. Pecola's situation was extreme, but it could happen at that extreme. And it happens each and everyday; there's some little Black girl wondering why people coo over light-skinned Black girls; wondering why she had to have short nappy hair; wondering why no one ever tells her that she is beautiful. This novel is important and holds a special, special place in my heart and my memory. Proves how right Morrison is when she says that one of the most dangerous concepts to be born is that of physical beauty.
- Love- Love. All of Morrison's novels are about love, essentially. Love of self, excessive love, dangerous love, motherly love. This was supposedly the cap on her self-described "Love Trilogy" of Beloved, Paradise, and Jazz. This novel wasn't nearly as complex as those 3, consequently it should be enjoyable for those who think Morrison is too "high-brow". I enjoyed it also, I read it in 2 sittings. for a while it seemed that this was indeed Morrison responding to critics, in that she demonized the women instead of the men, lol. But all is never that simple, as we find out closer to the end. If you're looking to just read a good story, Love should please, but it does have it's layers. They aren't as integral to the story as they are in a novel like Beloved however. And this novel is worth reading just for the setting. I have this town permanently and perfectly etched in my brain, lol.
- Sula- Another novel where the setting, the location is so vivid that it sticks. This novel explores the bonds between mothers and children, between girls, between women, between men & women. It wasn't my favorite Morrison novel, but I really enjoyed the depth and mystery of it.
- Jazz- Morrison's "radiation" novel, as I call it. In that it was so non-linear. It was like a wheel with a center and spokes "radiating" from that center. The center is a "snapshot" image that she creates with words, amazingly: Violet and the knife over the coffin. A true snapshot photograph made with words. The rest of the story emanates from that core; that very disturbing, deep core. This is definitely a novel that you have to work with. Morrison even has this paragraph towards the end, that explores the interaction between reader and page. This is definitely a novel that you have to engage, you have to put forth in reading this. When I'm up for re-reading a Morrison novel, this will probably be the one I'd go to first.
- Tar Baby- I think my reaction to this novel was mostly based on me having Morrison-burnout. This was the last Morrison novel I read, and I read ALL of them in the last 6 months. So maybe I needed a break, but Tar Baby was not my favorite. I just wasn't that into it. All the characters were extremely annoying. They were so extreme, almost to the point of absurdity. As usual with a Morrison novel, there is no clean cut "good guy/bad guy". But these characters were unlike the others in that NONE of them were even mildly likable. It looked like Son was being set up to be likable, but he was so self-righteous & pretentious to me. Jadine was so selfish & self-important. None of the characters held much of a draw to me. I didn't really care about any of them. And the story felt kind of over-stated at parts. She brings up rich topics, but they didn't feel properly hashed out; there's so many things she bought up: colonialism, imperialism, interracial relationships, old vs. young, rich vs. poor, old ways vs. new ways, the "Tom" stuff. It was rich in that "this here is the metaphor for the Black experience" but it felt kind of heavy-handed. It wasn't as finesse as Paradise or Beloved, two other very rich, content-heavy novels.
rankings are based on my personal enjoyment of the novels; overall quality also taken into account.