Song of Solomon by toni morrison

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

HOLY FUCK ! THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK NOW AND I DO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY OTHER BOOK!!!!
Wow . Wow . So many different emotions and I can't even sift through them enough to even emerge coherent . This book is ingenuity in its purest form and I do not think any words of mine could completely encapsulate how perfect it was .

Flawless Victory Toni Morrison .

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cultre

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

What can I say? The characters, the story, the writing! All so moving and engrossing. This novel truly contains millions. If you have not met Milkman, Guitar and Pilate, you have so much to look forward to. A journey towards freedom. At one point, I thought one should never tell one's children about their parents' dysfunctional behavior, but then she shows that such information only led Milkman to find himself.

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BasNieuweboer

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

This was my first experience with Toni Morrison's writing and it was probably not the usual entry point, most people seeming to start with Beloved or The Bluest Eye . However, for me it ended up being an enjoyable if slightly perplexing introduction.
I found Song of Solomon more accessible than I had anticipated and I had a cracking good time reading it for the most part. The characters and dialogue really sing (;) and there are some startlingly good set pieces that are emblazoned in my memory.
The section in which Milkman approaches the abandoned Butler house and subsequently meets with Circe is a standout.

Four graceful columns supported the portico, and the huge double door featured a heavy, brass knocker. He lifted it and let it fall; the sound was soaked up like a single raindrop in cotton. Nothing stirred. He looked back down the path and saw the green maw out of which he had come, a greenish-black tunnel, the end of which was nowhere in sight

She was old. So old she was colorless. So old only her mouth and eyes were distinguishable features in her face. Nose, chin, cheekbones, forehead, neck all had surrendered their identity to the pleats and crochetwork of skin committed to constant change

Marvellous.

I am on more tenuous ground however when it comes to plot, the first section seemed to be laying out a complex set of characters and story arcs but this very suddenly narrows to what feels like a different book in the last third. Unfortunately, for me this part read more as fable or allegory and I am never a good reader of those. However, I am convinced that I would gain a much deeper appreciation of this novel upon a second closer reading and with the added benefit of some critical analysis.

As it stands I don't regret a moment of the time I spent reading and trying to puzzle out this novel. I now need to explore the rest of this this Nobel laureate's work.

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KatsumataJ

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

"He walked there now--strutted is the better word, for he had a high behind and an athlete' stride--thinking of names. Surely, he thought, he and his sister had some ancestor, some lithe young man with onyx skin and legs as straight as cane stalks, who had a name that was real. A name given to him at birth with love and seriousness. A name that was not a joke, nor a disguise, nor a brand name." - Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

There’s so much to say about this book. Someone described it as kaleidoscopic and I think that's a very apt description. It’s probably one of the most complex stories that I’ve read from Morrison; such a rich tapestry of stories, including some magical realism, symbolism, myths, and family history. There are many characters, and each character seems to be so essential, not superfluous at all like in some other books. Everything was obviously carefully thought out and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Toni Morrison.

The story is a coming of age story of Macon “Milkman” Dead III., the son of a rich black man in a Midwestern city. I love it when Morrison gives us characters that are deeply flawed , yet manages to show some humanity, or helps us understand to an extent why a person is the way they are. In many cases, it’s family history that results in this, and in this book we eventually see Milkman going on a journey to discover his past.

It’s also about the hurt from the past and how that can direct our lives. Macon II watched his father getting killed and getting his land stolen and he becomes a man who is focusing on respectability politics, a cold man who is all about material possessions and has no joy in his life. He’s the only black man with a car in the neighbourhood and he takes his family out every week on a ride, a joyless ride, a ride more out of duty than for anything else:

“Others watched the family gliding by with a tiny bit of jealousy and a whole lot of amusement, for Macon’s wide green Packard belied what they thought a car was for. He never went over twenty miles an hour, never gunned his engine, never stayed in first gear for a block or two to give pedestrians a thrill.”

Being such a central character, I concentrated mostly on Milkman's story the first time I read this. This time, however, I was more drawn to the female characters. Because I’ve been thinking a lot about emotional work and how women often end up doing that, I focused a lot on that during my reading. We see that in this book when Milkman’s mother, sisters, and lover/cousin constantly prop him up and nurture him. In a sense they are supporting casts to his story and their existence seems to circle around Milkman. You'd think they have no story of their own, especially if you look at them through Milkman's eyes, who doesn’t really acknowledge the work they do; in fact he seems to feel he is being used:

“Deep down in that pocket where his heart hid, he felt used. Somehow everybody was using him for something or as something. Working out some scheme of their own on him, making him the subject of their dreams of wealth, or love, or martyrdom. Everything they did seemed to be about him, yet nothing he wanted was part of it.”

I found Milkman to be quite infuriating and selfish. The women in general are trapped by cultural and societal mores, as well as good old-fashioned patriarchy which results in a 40 year old woman being too afraid to tell her father that she has a boyfriend. Ruth, Milkman's mother, says about herself, "...because the fact is that I am a small woman. I don't mean little; I mean small and I'm small because I was pressed small." She's also described as "husbanding her own misery, shaping it, making of it an art and a Way." There is so much anguish and lost lives among most of the woman characters.

There is an exception to the above, and that is Pilate, who is my favourite Morrison character so far. She is very unconventional, starting with the fact that she was born with no navel:

"She was a natural healer, and among quarreling drunks and fighting women she could hold her own, and sometimes mediated a peace that lasted a good bit longer than it should have because it was administered by someone not like them."

All in all, a wonderful book that will stay with me for a long time!

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eroticmixologist

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Магическото число в литературата (и другаде, но най-вече там) е три. Три вещици, три призрака – на миналата, настоящата и бъдната Коледа, в приказките предупрежденията се пренебрегват първите два пъти, така че третият път е сполучливият (според Проп и неговата „Морфология на приказката“). „Песента на Соломон“ не изменя на тази традиция и в романа структурата на самото общество е разделена на три. От едната страна са чудачките, които разумно стоят далеч от нормалните; от другата са разумните, които налудничаво не искат да разберат пъстрия и богат душевен свят на първите; някъде залутан по средата е Биберона (то с такъв прякор към кого ли можеш да се числиш), който е раздвоен между ялово бъдеще и семейна история с корени на трепетликова гора.

Тони Морисън дръзко залага на основен персонаж, на когото (почти) липсват положителни качества. Арогантен, самомнителен, емоционален запъртък, Биберона не е протагонист, с когото читателите биха се идентифицирали. Като дете мечтателен, но съкрушен, когато разбира, че никога няма да може да полети (кой ли няма да се отчае и всичко да му стане все едно като му разбият подобен блян), отхвърлен от почти всички свои връстници и при липса на стабилна опора в семейството, той свиква да разчита единствено на егоизма си. Пътят, който извървява в течение на романа, е наистина дълъг и трънлив, изпълнен с доста въображаеми полети и реални падения.

Най-интересен персонаж за мен беше Пилат, лелята на Биберона, даваща измерение на мистичността и библейското в романа. Здраво стъпила на земята негърка, която черпи силата си от простичките неща и семейството си. Напоена с онази особена мъдрост, която притежават някои хора и която не идва от някаква наука, а от живота и увереността, че трябва да го живееш така, както ти искаш, и всичко друго да върви по дяволите. Вярна на името си, Пилат разпва предразсъдъците и убежденията на хората около себе си, кара ги да носят кръста си до собствената си Голгота и да разчитат миналото си, издълбано в задната част на черепа им (Gagulta – „мястото на черепа“, арамейски).

„Песента на Соломон“ е приказката за вечното търсене. И за проблемите на негрите, но основно за търсенето. За това кой си, защо си такъв, защо жадуваш нещата, които жадуваш, и защо ти е трудно да намериш мястото си в света. За възможността да полетиш. Тя може би винаги е била някъде там, вътре в теб, но условието е, че трябва ти самият да я откриеш. И да избереш дали да я последваш.

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Jerirox

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

A great book. One of a kind. A time it seems strange, how it's jumping to different time and in and out of people's thought. But asI read on I began to see and appreciate the style of writing.

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Profesor_Teto

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I want to state for the record that my mediocre rating of this book has much more to do with my own ignorance and stupidity than any problem with the book itself. I just didn't get it. I couldn't figure out what it was about or what it was trying to say. It just seemed boring and pointless. I didn't like any of the characters and I really didn't care what happened to them. Morrison's writing, as usual, was lyrical and beautiful but it wasn't enough to sustain the book for me. I checked out the Cliff's Notes from the library to better understand it and although I'm not that far into it, I already have a better understanding of what she is trying to do in the novel. My lack of awareness of Black Art movement hindered much of my ability to comprehend the book. So don't take my word for it that this book is boring. Judge more on your own experiences with African American literature and other reviewers who know what they are talking about.

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TheLewdOtakuRe

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

"If you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down."

I imagine the words "modern day epic", "lyrical", "moving, affecting" as the book blurbs for this book seeing that the Modern Library edition of this book I had borrowed from the library didn't have any. Words that would attempt to summarize the experience of reading this incredible book.

Milkman, the protagonist of the story, is the son of an upper-class Black family. Having lived in a state of privilege and generally well off his whole life, a journey that initially began as a way to acquire a long-lost/abandoned treasure and gain his own independence, turns into a search for his descent in a wonderful tale that a short review could not capture adequately the richness of the panoramic world Morrison skillfully creates.

I first read this book some years ago, the first Morrison book I had read and at once with that unforgettable opening passage of Robert Smith's attempt to fly, I was gripped and thrust into an exciting and shuttering tale. All the characters, fully fleshed, the life breathed into their nostrils, all seemed like familiar people I once knew re-reading this.

There are certainly passages I could understand with greater clarity now that time passed and -I would like to think- having a better understanding of the world and life than I did with the first reading. Hagar's self-loathing refrain of "No wonder", the several characters' search for meaning, the desperation of and for love, the quest for independence, all rang truer and clearer reading this book this time round.

These words are all an attempt to condense what this wondrous book is, what it did, and I realize as I keep thinking and writing about it, I won't be able to grasp it enough, let alone all. The best I can do is highly recommend this to someone who hasn't read it yet.

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Song of Solomon

toni morrison

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