Day 104: Beloved First Impressions

I finally got my hands on a copy of Beloved after it never came (I'm not bitter about that, I swear) and I can see why people adore Toni Morrison so much. Her style just puts a picture in your mind so effectively, and so consistently, that I fall right into the story immediately. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes of reading to really get into the scene and picture what's going on, but with Beloved it's like I've always been there. I can't exactly put my finger on why that is, but I'll be certain to come up with a theory by the end of the book.

As far as the plot goes, I haven't gotten very far, but the story is so steeped in the history of the characters that I feel like I already know them well. The main character Sethe is a former slave living with her daughter Denver in a house haunted by the spirit of her dead child. Both of her sons have run away from home at young age to escape the spirit, and sadly, her mother in law Baby Suggs, has recently died. An old friend, Paul D, shows up at Sethe's door who she hasn't seen in 18 years, not since escaping Sweet Home, the plantation that they once belonged to. He's there for a reunion, but soon learns of the haunting, and tries to convince Sethe to leave the house just as her sons did. In a touching moment, she refuses to run from the home and her dead child, resolving to never run from anything again. Sethe is described as a woman with an iron resolve, and eyes as hard as the life she has lived, but Paul D is able to get past that hard exterior and comfort her in the desperate time he has arrived in.

That's as far as I've gotten, but these are such deep characters that I can't wait to see where the story goes. I wonder if Paul D and Sethe's relationship is something romantic or familial, how the spirit will be soothed, if at all, and what effect all this will have on Denver. Mostly though, I'm infatuated with the writing. Every word feels perfectly placed, the pacing is marvelous, and the way she effortlessly flows from flashback to dialogue to inner monologue is incredible. The whole thing just exudes mastery. I think it will probably take decades to figure out how she does this so well.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley