brilliant and inaccessible

I can understand why so many other reviewers gave this book a poor rating. It was extremely confusing and probably one of Morrison's more inaccessible books - although all her books are so layered with meaning that they tend to bewilder.

Do not read this book if you are looking for an easy to understand, feel good or even just plain old informative novel "about slavery."

Read this book if you are willing - and have the time - to put in the extra effort to research the meanings and issues underlying the novel.

Since pages and pages have been written analyzing Morrison's work, I can't do justice here, but I'll attempt to clarify some of the basic issues.

Think of this book as a series of layers. One layer is the simple story of a woman, Sethe, and her experience both in the present (post-slavery era) and in her re-lived memories. Sethe's story is loosely based upon the true story of a woman whose name escapes me at the moment, but Morrison herself says that she didn't really "base" the story on this woman's story - she was just inspired by the bare events.
In this layer, the girl Beloved is just Sethe's murdered daughter, returned from the dead.
But how else can we see Beloved?
First of all, Beloved is ALSO the girl (who is briefly mentioned at one point in the story) who was kept locked up and repeatedly abused by two white men. By linking Beloved with this story, Morrison references the repeated historical abuse of black women by white men.
Beloved is ALSO the manifestation of the "60 million or more" who suffered during the middle passage (the forced voyage from Africa to the Americas). By encompassing the fate of a nation into the body of one girl, Morrison shows that institutionalized violence affects EVERYONE.

The relationships between the characters in the novel are poignant and rich. Especially significant is the meeting between pregnant Sethe, on the run, and half-dead, and a white girl who delivers her baby. The whitegirl is prejudiced, rude, and unsympathetic. She embodies attitudes which are usually depicted as an example of "wrong" in other books - and then the NICE white person comes along! Not so simple here. This nasty girl delivers Sethe's baby and her kind hands belie her rascist words, complicating our ideas of what it means to be prejudiced. Because the bond between the two women is not a simple one - they both despise and respect each other simultaneously - the reader is forced to interrogate their own assumptions about race.

Beloved is not a singular story, and can't be read as such. It is a multi-voiced story which travels back and forth in time and space.

That's why Oprah's terrible movie of it made me furious! It reinforced stereotypes of African-Americans and made Beloved into a flat character. It managed to be entirely un-thought-provoking despite the gorgeous cinematography.

I've barely touched on the importance of this novel, but it is impossible to do it justice here. It is one of the most brilliantly crafted, intensely told stories I have ever read. Each time I revisit it I find something new.

My only negative critique of this book is that it IS so inaccessible. Morrison is discussing complicated ideas, but by using language that is so complex and unconventional, doesn't she alienate the very readers whose lives would most benefit from her insights? It is clearly a book intended for academic study and intellectual discussion, but the elitism implicit in that really bothers me, much as I love it.