Oh Toni Morrison will you never cease to amaze me with your beautiful prose, flawed yet compelling characters, powerful storylines that leave me lost for words long after I turn the last page. I read Beloved last year and I really enjoyed it; then I read The Bluest Eye in January and it became one of my fave 2019 reads; now, Song of Solomon has topped even that.
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This really surprises me, because as Morrison notes herself in the foreword, her narratives usually focus on women in a domesticated space, but for Song of Solomon she leaves that realm and enters one of a young man venturing North to South to break away from the influence of his wealthy father, and become his own man (lured by the idea of family treasure). I usually without fail prefer novels narrated from a female POV, but the intensity of this book won me over and completely blew me away.
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And just because it’s told with Macon Dead (the third, otherwise known as Milkman) as the main character, Morrison of course intersperses his story with a host of remarkable women too. Particularly moving was his sister Lena’s speech about her life lived as a trophy for her father, a living reminder of his success, and as a servant for her brother - every phrase was laced with venom and 30 years of subservience, and it took my breath away. Every scene with Milkman’s aunt, Pilate, was also brilliant, a woman making her way without any men, supporting herself, her daughter and granddaughter as a bootlegger, unconcerned by public opinion of her.
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Characters are a strong point for Morrison, but let’s be real, what isn’t a strong point for her? The way she weaves tension into the narrative is unparalleled, you almost don’t notice what’s happening until it’s right there and the tension is almost palpable.
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There is far too much of this novel to unpick in one review, all I can do is encourage you to pick it up and fall under Morrison’s spell yourself!

A masterpiece.

Toni Morrison is an absolute master of prose rhythms and this book is beautifully written. It reads like great literature and one can see why she's deserving of her nobel prize. But I had a serious problem with this book (which I read over ten years ago so forgive me if my memory of it is vague). The first three quarters of the book are terrific. Written in a realistic style and capturing the modern lives of its characters. The final section of the book suddenly turns into a fable, and the main character, formerly a realistically drawn urban black youth, is now suddenly an African folk hero with almost supernatural abilities, largely having to do with moving through the woods better than white people. I realize that this occurs because he's finally come to respect and value his past (and traced his ancestry back to the first member of his family to be brought to America as a slave) but the transformation is so sudden and abrupt as to feel totally unearned. And, I think Morrison's call to recognize the importance and value of your past, and the empowerment it can provide (particularly for a now-oppressed people who have been taught by the power structure that they are worth less than other cultural groups) is vital and true--so why not demonstrate the real worth of coming to value your past? Why not show how the main character's awakening helps him grow in a realistic way, and makes him better able to navigate his actual, urban life? Instead, he suddenly gets super-powers to help him in the woods, and overnight transforms the way he treats women (why not show a real transformation, where he has to grapple with his own awakening to his misogyny and learn to move past it?). And, why is his journey to understanding his heritage fulfilled with the first slave in his family? Morrison hints that his family has a long and important history in Africa, but apparently that's not worth his exploring.

i need this book injected in my veins.

it has one of the best beginnings i've ever read, and it has one of the best endings i've ever read, and all of the middle parts are pretty damn good too.

its explorations of family, of naming, of the permanently unhealed wound of slavery, of gender and power, and of love are unforgettable.

i hate reviewing books i love at the best of times, and for this one in particular there is just no way i can do it justice.

bottom line: please, for the love of yourself, read it.

This is my second Toni Morrison novel - I do think I preferred Sula to this one, mainly because I'm just more interested in the girlies (particularly as protagonists). Still, I am definitely a fan of Toni Morrison's craft - her way of writing these complex characters. Her characters are just so incredibly human - plenty of writers can write characters that are complex - mostly good or mostly bad. How many can write characters so well you can't say whether they are more good or bad? Every character in this novel comes to life, not just our protagonist, Milkman.

I definitely intend to keep on reading her novels; she was such a genius.

Total review: stupidly great.

I would like to have given a lower rating because I simply did not enjoy the read, but there is a value to this book that I cannot deny. Powerfully written, and has great cultural insight and thought. But really, I couldn't relate very well -- perhaps that is the point in many cases. I can't explain it much better without spending more time looking at it again than I'd like to, so I'll leave it at this:

I felt enlightened. I felt like shit. All without feeling very invested.

“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon



I liked all of it and loved much of it. It is an amazing piece of literature with beautifully realized characters. Originally, I felt this book was on par with The Bluest Eye, but still not as strong as Beloved. I now think they are ALL great Morrison novels. The further I get from this book, the bigger and the bolder the shadow it casts. I love how Morrison writes and how she juggles big themes (death, family, trauma, class, home, race, slavery and African-American culture, etc). Obviously, she belong in the canon of great black writers, great women writers, etc., but her words and novels transcend ALL of those shelves. She is wrestling with global themes and ideas that transcend race, sex, culture, and time.

what the actual fuck

Toni Morrison can do no wrong. I love her writing. Reading her work is such an ethereal experience. The words sing to me, they lift me up, transport me to another plane. Her writing is music to my ears. Oh how I loved Solomon's Song. Intoxicating. She tells stories like none other.

Protagonist Milkman Dead, son of Macon Dead, searches for his family’s heritage. His sister, Pilate, is a healer, conjurer, and truth-teller. She communes with spirits and becomes a source of wisdom for Milkman. His friend becomes a vigilante. The primary themes are different forms of love and hate. There are many Biblical allusions – I am certain there are more than I caught. Morrison’s beautiful writing brings these characters to life on the page. Even though there is a lot of sadness and tragedy in this book, the ultimate message is one of hope. I can see why this book is considered a modern classic.

4.5/5

There's something to be said for stories. Beyond all the talk of clichés, the bemoaning of stereotypes, the intricate and obsessive breakdown of the latest wave of hyped-up mass media extravaganza that has managed to aggressively worm its way into the mob conscience. Beyond the deep-seated resignation at puzzle-piece popularity.

I don't have anything against the forthright advocates of analysis at all levels of fiction. Far from it. I simply believe that there is a time when one is able to put the microscope back in the drawer and the fine-toothed comb on the top shelf, sit back, and say, Yes. Here is a story.

It is a story of oppression, of hatred, of justified rage and passionate fury fighting against discrimination both big and small, both intentional and otherwise. If you come away from this review with one thing, know that large scale oppression, this horrible racism in the "land of the free" depicted in this book has existed, does exist, and will most certainly exist for a long, long while. Slavery. Martin Luther King, Jr. Trayvon Martin. Facts and faces that may be forgotten or even denied, but the ideology that connects them all will always be rooted out by the plain evidence of its existence.

Every character has some measure of this rage, and every character is given their say in some fashion, fashions that often clash and bite and break the others around them. If the road to hell is paved with Good Intentions, the road to hell on earth is a yellow bricked road bounded on both sides by long sparkling walls of Indifference. Indifference is neither black nor white, neither good nor evil, and each of the characters illustrate this innate resistance to quick and easy pigeon-holing. At first you will love them, or you will hate them, and then the tables will switch, and you will be left with the unsatisfying satisfaction of reading about human beings.

Unsatisfied satisfaction. Feeling that one is straddling two worlds due to the color of one's skin, when in reality just stuck in one really fucked up one that makes progress a constant battle. Us versus them. The only guarantee is that a single step out of line will explode into violence.

What can you do with this? What is a human being expected to do with this horrible paradox that is real life?

This story poses the question to a boy-child who reaches and then passes the age of thirty in a safe, contained bubble, his head filled with safe, contained problems. He has no awareness of the context of his life, the family that surrounds him, the history that follows him, the society that defines him. He has long forgotten his dreams of flying.

We've all forgotten our dreams of flying, you say.

Perhaps, I say. Would you like to be reminded?