I was so excited about Morrison's newest novel, especially because it was presumed to be a prequel to Beloved. Unfortunately, it wasn't a prequel in the sense I was expecting. More about that later. First, I should explain my love of Beloved. Maybe it is the fact that my students usually abhor the book, which in turn, propels it higher into that literary cannon that I feel any self-respecting AP English teacher should delve into. Maybe I like Beloved because I finally understand it. I mean I have only read it four times, three of which I have also taught it. My first experience is one I can't remember--and now I think I know why. It was extremely difficult reading and I, much like my students now, struggled with it in order to prepare for my computer exam portion of National Board Certification. My appreciation of it has only grown as I, too, have grown as a critical reader and its dense language now makes perfect sense. The element of "WTH?" is gone. I enjoy teaching Beloved because it is so full of literary meat that to adequately prepare my students for the AP exam, I feel they must test their abilities with its language, its motifs, its characterizations. And none of that mentions the fact that it has been on the AP exam five times in the past seven years AND won a Nobel Prize. So there. It is worth the trouble.
Now, for a mercy. MMM. Well, I don't know where to begin. It is as challenging as I assume Beloved was the first time. The book is based on various female voices during the 1680's. Rebekka is, for all respects and purposes, a slave owner's wife before slavery officially exists. Florens is a girl whose mother trades her to pay the debt owed by her mother's master, which is how Rebekka gains another servant. Sorrow and Lina are also at Rebekka's home. (I honestly can't remember when Sorrow comes-before or after Florens. Lina is with Rebekka first.) Sorrow is exceedingly strange since most of her life she was raised on a ship and raised as a boy, from what I could gather. Lina, oddly enough, is actually friends with Rebekka. Rebekka endured religious persecution in England and chose marriage to a stranger overseas over the possible future of rigid intolerance. In the beginning, Rebekka and her husband are good people who resist the new idea of owning human life. They approach the work on the farm together with Lina and eventually Sorrow and Florens.
Okay, so that is the premise of the book. I struggled through half of it before I sorted through the voices. I was hearing voices, in more ways than one; however, I was not absorbing which stories went with which character. So that made the reading difficult naturally. Once I pushed through my own confusion, I finally understood the metaphor behind the title. Mercy is shown in the strangest of ways, ways that oftentimes don't make sense to those most impacted. The reader understands that fact once Florens's mother is heard from again ... at the very end.
This book lacked the drama that makes Beloved such a page-turner. It also lacked the character development that evidently I need to really "get into" a book. I am glad I read it. Now I really want to tackle other of Morrison's books, like The Bluest Eye and Sula. I often have students who choose to read those along with our class's study of Beloved. These students usually like the previous two books better than Beloved. So, ultimately, I need to see if I can pass the Morrison "test" or if I just like Beloved because I have spent so much time with it.
Now I am on to more light reading. Jen Lancaster's blog has completely sold me on her wit and voice. I have Bitter Is the New Black on my nightstand...
Now, for a mercy. MMM. Well, I don't know where to begin. It is as challenging as I assume Beloved was the first time. The book is based on various female voices during the 1680's. Rebekka is, for all respects and purposes, a slave owner's wife before slavery officially exists. Florens is a girl whose mother trades her to pay the debt owed by her mother's master, which is how Rebekka gains another servant. Sorrow and Lina are also at Rebekka's home. (I honestly can't remember when Sorrow comes-before or after Florens. Lina is with Rebekka first.) Sorrow is exceedingly strange since most of her life she was raised on a ship and raised as a boy, from what I could gather. Lina, oddly enough, is actually friends with Rebekka. Rebekka endured religious persecution in England and chose marriage to a stranger overseas over the possible future of rigid intolerance. In the beginning, Rebekka and her husband are good people who resist the new idea of owning human life. They approach the work on the farm together with Lina and eventually Sorrow and Florens.
Okay, so that is the premise of the book. I struggled through half of it before I sorted through the voices. I was hearing voices, in more ways than one; however, I was not absorbing which stories went with which character. So that made the reading difficult naturally. Once I pushed through my own confusion, I finally understood the metaphor behind the title. Mercy is shown in the strangest of ways, ways that oftentimes don't make sense to those most impacted. The reader understands that fact once Florens's mother is heard from again ... at the very end.
This book lacked the drama that makes Beloved such a page-turner. It also lacked the character development that evidently I need to really "get into" a book. I am glad I read it. Now I really want to tackle other of Morrison's books, like The Bluest Eye and Sula. I often have students who choose to read those along with our class's study of Beloved. These students usually like the previous two books better than Beloved. So, ultimately, I need to see if I can pass the Morrison "test" or if I just like Beloved because I have spent so much time with it.
Now I am on to more light reading. Jen Lancaster's blog has completely sold me on her wit and voice. I have Bitter Is the New Black on my nightstand...
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