Welcome to our latest Review Rewind at the Classics Club!
What is Review Rewind?
Review Rewind is a chance for all of us to take a closer look at a book or an author on our ever growing review list. We aim to see who has been reading it and what they think.
How do we select which book to feature?
Variety is the spice of life, so we plan to highlight the diversity of books being reviewed for the club. We may also co-ordinate the featured reviews with an upcoming readalong or blog event.
If you haven’t checked out the amazing work that Kay has been doing on the review page – fixing dead links and arranging the authors, their books and our reviewers in alphabetical order – then we hope you use this post to prompt you to do so. We have built up such a wonderful resource of classic stories, please use it to find your next favourite thing ever!
Sadly, this month, we lost one of America’s most highly regarded writers. On the 5th August 2019, Chloe Anthony Wofford ‘Toni’ Morrison died at Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx, New York City, from pneumonia. She was 88 years of age.
Born on 18th February 1931, Morrison wrote 11 novels plus various children’s books, plays, essays and articles throughout her lifetime. She was a Pulitzer Prize winner (1988) and a Nobel Laureate (1993). Her citation says that her “novels (are) characterised by visionary force and poetic import, (giving) life to an essential aspect of American reality.”
In her Nobel acceptance speech, Morrison said, “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”
Her novels have become standard texts in many American schools.
In the 1993 Fall issue of The Paris Review, Morrison was interviewed by Elissa Schappell, who wrote,
Toni Morrison detests being called a “poetic writer.” She seems to think that the attention that has been paid to the lyricism of her work marginalises her talent and denies her stories their power and resonance. As one of the few novelists whose work is both popular and critically acclaimed, she can afford the luxury of choosing what praise to accept. But she does not reject all classifications, and, in fact, embraces the title “black woman writer.” Her ability to transform individuals into forces and idiosyncrasies into inevitabilities has led some critics to call her the “D. H. Lawrence of the black psyche.” She is also a master of the public novel, examining the relationships between the races and sexes and the struggle between civilisation and nature, while at the same time combining myth and the fantastic with a deep political sensitivity.
Her books have become modern day classics, several of which of have been reviewed by our members. I will leave you to discuss ‘classic’ versus ‘modern day classic’ in the comments below 🙂
- The Bluest Eye. 1970. (Bri) (MJ) (Nish) (readinpleasure) (stacybuckeye) (Shell)
- Sula. 1973. (Shell)
- Song of Solomon. 1977. (Fanda) (Reese)
- Tar Baby. 1981.
- Beloved. 1987. (Debra Beilke) (Fanda) (J.E. Fountain) (Nish) (whatmeread)
- Jazz. 1992. (Dale)
- Paradise. 1997.
- Love. 2003.
- A Mercy. 2008. (Dale)
- Home. 2012.
- God Help the Child. 2015.
Are you familiar with Toni Morrison’s work? What are your thoughts?
Have you read and reviewed a Toni Morrison book and don’t see your review linked here?
Perhaps you forgot to link it or maybe your link was one of the ones that was ‘broken’. Please add your link here.
The Classics Club 
Since I’ve never read a Toni Morrison book, I’ve decided to right this wrong immediately! I’m currently reading ‘Beloved’ and will be adapting my current list to include it on place of something. Hopefully, I’ll have a review up by end of month!
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Like you, I have yet to read a Toni Morrison, but I have Beloved on my TBR which I’d like to read sooner rather than later, but since I’m just about to finish The Count of Monte Cristo and have just started Moby-Dick, it may have to wait a while for me to do it justice.
Look forward to reading your review Joel.
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