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 .

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.

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.

"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!

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.

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.

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.

"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.

A novel that begins with a man about to fly, high on a roof, behind a cupola of a building on Not Doctor Street, his wide blue silk wings extended imposingly by the wind, that same wind that blew red velvet rose petals out of a peck basket, scattered over mounds of snow, and from among a transfixed crowd of about fifty, a woman’s delicate voice burst into a song, O Sugarman done fly away, is certainly luminous; and as poetic an opening as can be.

Flying as a seminal idea, covering a whole range of meanings, is at the core of the story, a plot design centered on Macon Death, known as Milkman. As with other novels by Toni Morrison, one has to dig deep into the metaphorical sense, structured on the struggle of Black communities that fight their way into freedom. The narrative is full of biblical allusions and uses vernacular throughout its intricate dialogues. With an acute sense of history, an elegy to the importance and meaning of the past, this bildungsroman follows closely the life of the protagonist and his family. By understanding his ancestors, he finally finds meaning to his own life. It is with him that the novel closes, in a finale full of lyrism and poetic images that immaculately summarizes the themes that abound throughout the book.

By understanding the true meaning of the lyrics in the Song of Solomon, that children repeat while playing a game, Milkman grasps the world of his ancestors therefore comprehending his own life with noble clarity. What is true of the protagonist is also true of the author herself: in order to obtain the radiance of such a revelation, they (Milkman and Morrison) must unravel language. And so, as we turn the pages of this astounding novel and make our way through the chapters, we realize that we too, are at the brink of understanding ourselves better. Literature at its best is a miraculous revelation.

#BlackHistoryMonth

I don't think I've read anything that comes close to this book. I don't know if there's a point in reading anything else.

This is my fourth Toni Morrison novel but the first one to grab hold of my collar and shake me about. After only 2- and 3-star experiences - and a twenty-year hiatus - I finally understand how she came to win so many important literary prizes, including the Pulitzer and the Nobel.

In "Song of Solomon", Morrison puts a lot before the reader and revels in paradoxes. Her characters are startingly unique but also archetypal. Her treatment of racial identity is both specific and universal. And her representations of individual worth and community value are often skin-tone superficial but also bone-deep. She is clear-eyed and impassioned but she does not preach. She refuses to lead her reader by the hand toward any particular judgment and avoids drawing facile conclusions. What she delivers is an exploration of a color-blind shared humanity viewed through a Black American historical and cultural sensibility. It is profound, authentic, and magnificent.

As an interesting side note, this marks my second encounter in four months with a protagonist called "Milkman". As was true in Anna Burns' much more recent novel, Morrison's Milkman is the lightning rod that attracts and conducts his neighborhood's powerful energies; the maypole around which everyone else cavorts.

"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."

As is true of the carnival of Life, there's a lot happening beyond that maypole dance, and it's all worth investigating. I encourage you to read this book and see what you make of it, especially if you're in the mood for a modern classic.

[08/06/2019 Update]: Toni Morrison has died and while I engage in my usual requiem-ritual of listening to Al Green's Take Me To The River, I immediately came back to my experience reading this book. Though she's dead what's important is that we still have her books, her words, and the site of her memory. I read this book back in 2015 and she immediately became an old friend. Not one for modesty, her work is an authentic and commanding portrait of human life. This book in particular was my world and my grandfather's world recreated on the page in a way that few if any writers I've read has ever done. Well--on y va!

[Original review]
Retrospective for a Flying Man:

My first reading of Toni Morrison was nothing short of amazing, this book does so much, so well, so easily. We learn about three to four generations of one family and, in-fact, one culture. I won't be beating around the bush in this review. Though Macon "Milkman" Dead III was the default protagonist, he was also my least favorite character. The natural woman/superwoman Pilate was my second favorite character because she knew how to navigate time and space in her own way. The Dead family as a whole seems like an interesting archetype or counterpoint of The Sutpen family of Absalom, Absalom! (down to their sharing the same origins in Virginia--which are also my maternal family origins). This book shows a good example of Faulknerianism played straight and subverted in the hands of a Black writer. To be short: this is a great Black Southern Gothic novel.

But that leads to talking about the greatest character of this novel...its author. Morrison took me places that I had not realized I needed to go. Even my animosity to the main character did not hurt this book to me because it did everything so well. The chapters divided the story so well, I can only think of The Brothers Karamazov doing it better. The reason this book has struck me so well is how personal it is to African-American experience. This book alludes to White people and White supremacy, but you will be hard pressed to find a White person in it, much less with even a speaking line (I think a white nurse from the beginning is all we are told in 377 pages). This is the first book I have read in a long time written by Black hands only concerning Black people on their own terms (this is not accidental) and it is refreshing! I can hear the true cadence of how my family talks to one another and the number of cultural references and inside jokes were amazing and I would be amazed if most non-African-Americans can pick it up. This book was written to a specific audience much of the small things in it go unexplained and I was surprised to see it all there. This more than anything will make me have to read Morrison again. I believe the only other Black writer to come close isJames Baldwin in Go Tell It on the Mountain, but even he had to start "explaining" things that he would not have to do for a strictly African-American audience.

Names play a pivotal role in this story. Every significant character is given a symbolic name or nickname which is symbolic of how names play a role in African-American life. As is the truth in reality, if you are given a nickname it is rarely for a positive reason. This is taken further in that even the "real" names in this book are acquired in very unusual or strange ways. The one exception I see in this is the character Guitar, whose name is a misnomer from his infancy (though I am increasingly thinking it is a stealth pun/reference to a certain character from The Brothers Karamazov).

The locations of this story, particularly in the second half of the novel, are also very special to me as it shows the history of Black people's journey in-country. Though the story's main setting is Michigan, Milkman's "Roots" journey leads him not simply through a different land (the mid-Atlantic and eventually the origin of African- Americans: Virginia), but literally (in the magical realist sense) back in time. He goes back to his father and grandfather's time in Pennsylvania, but more importantly to me is that he went to central Virginia. When he talks about his journey into Virginia it hits me personally because my mother's family is from this land. I can see the landscape and almost the roads and shops of this area and I knew exactly what the climate was. This was another crucial factor in my reading this book—it is about the land of my ancestors as much as it is about the land of Milkman's ancestors.

The Southern Gothic nature of the novel is also worth talking about. Morrison is as much a fan of Faulkner as she is critic. This book takes the haunted nature of gothic fiction and manages to put it in an urban, mid-western environment. The city of Mercy, Michigan is as much haunted by slavery and its legacy as Jefferson, Mississippi. The difference is that the stakes are a lot higher and the fallout more severe for the Black inhabitants in Morrison's universe versus the White inhabitants of Faulkner's.

To conclude, if you want to read a story about one man's search for his place in the world in the middle of the 20th century, this is your book.

P.S. MAGICAL REALISM. Seems I would be fined if I did not mention that somewhere. It was a very well used trope.