-A First-Time Reader's Guide to Reading Beloved From a First-Time Reader*
*WARNING: This first-time reader has not fully finished this book yet and will, upon ending it, inform you if this advice is actually useful.*
To read Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, you have to know that you are setting out on a journey, and not necessarily one that is going to always be light and pleasant or make sense right away. That is not to say that this book isn't great and isn't worth reading it just takes some level of commitment.
Hints:
1.) Just accept everything the way it is.
-If you spend too much time trying to figure out what the author could maybe sort of mean when you're reading you're going to miss the fact that Morrison is giving you huge hints for later in the book and general base information you need to have.
-It's more fun that way.
2.) Reread the first chapter.
- This chapter didn't make any sense to me when I first started, (probably because I was lacking in such a guide but alas!), so it really helped to reread this chapter with the different mindset the chapter gives you.
- You pick up more of the very important hints that Morrison is leaving because you can associate them with character you know, not just a new random name.
3.) If it seems odd or important when you're reading it, it probably is important.
-This goes back to the fact that Morrison loves leaving hints, so trust your gut and just go for what you think is odd or important and keep track of that.
4.) After the first few chapters, make sure you have a good idea of the different styles and thought processes of the different characters.
- This will help you know when new characters are being added or when there is a change in time.
5.) Make a friend read this book too.
- Just do it, bribe them, beg them, sign them up for English classes without their knowledge, whatever it takes because it will make it more enjoyable.
- Having a friend reading this book at the same time as you will give you someone to bounce ideas off of and to share reactions in general with.
- Friends don't let friends read solo.
6.) Please try to enjoy this book! (Be open-minded)
-If you go into it saying "Gahhhhh another trippy book just give me some hyper realism please!" You most likely aren't going to enjoy it. But if you go, "Oh well hmm this book is rather odd, but for some reason I can't put it down, not yet." you're in better shape.
- Characters are people too, they're flawed. Remember that.
This is good advice for reading any book, actually. It's so much easier to enjoy if you just go with it. Pay attention, but don't try to piece things together too quickly. Given all the supernatural stuff, I think this approach works particularly well. For some reason, I had a harder time reading Invisible Man like this, but it works well for Beloved.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice--especially the bit about reading it with a friend (or 25). I know that my own appreciation and understanding of the book has been improved immeasurably from reading it along with classes full of intelligent students, who notice all kinds of details that slip by me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm also with you on the need to "enjoy" it (and we both agree that probably isn't *quite* the right word!)--but the difficult stuff, for me, is largely what makes this book so engaging to read. I have to *work* to understand it, but I want to figure it out. In a weird way, the difficult style helps generate the illusion of reality--as we "circle around" the story, it feels palpably like there *is* a story to uncover. We can accept the ghosts and other supernatural stuff because the reality of the world Morrison depicts otherwise seems so vivid.