Toni Morrison is truly a remarkable novelist. "LOVE" presents a captivating story of two elderly women, Christine and Heed, who are completely consumed by their intense desire to bring each other down. They are haunted by the larger-than-life figure of Bill Cosey, the owner of a Black resort. He was Christine's grandfather and Heed's husband, despite the fact that both girls are the same age. Additionally, two youths, the reckless and plotting Junior, and young Romen, who is striving to find his path in a quagmire of toxic masculinity, are also drawn into this whirlwind. As the narrative progresses, more details of the past are filled in, and the two women reach a fever pitch in their determination to destroy one another.

It must be noted that this novel is not without its flaws. For instance, I frequently found myself confused regarding Christine's timeline due to the constant jumping around in time. Moreover, I was not overly enamored with the final reveal. However, when compared to the main plot, these aspects ultimately mattered very little to me. Morrison's writing is incisive, sardonic, and replete with profound meaning. The characters and dialogue are masterfully constructed and highly convincing. It is a tragic tale about hate that is also intertwined with love, about two girls torn apart by the cruelties of an old man and his paranoid daughter-in-law, by the harsh injustices and pressures of life, and by the haunting specters of jealousy and betrayal. It is a rich and beautiful story that initially appears to be about divided women, but in many respects, it is precisely about the power of female friendship and love.

Content warnings are in place for the depiction of rape, pedophilia, an age-gap relationship, miscarriage, and death/grief.

This piece of art is absolutely harrowing.

It is so profound and complex that it might take several days to fully process the narrative and understand all its intricacies.

The story presented here makes one realize just how disgusting humans can become. It shows the dark side of our nature, the side that we often try to hide or ignore.

Moreover, it also highlights the fact that love is never something easy to define. It is a concept that is so subjective and multifaceted that it defies simple explanations.

And experiencing love is even more difficult. It requires vulnerability, trust, and sacrifice, and yet, it can bring us the greatest joy and fulfillment.

All in all, this piece of art has left a deep impression on me and has made me think about many important aspects of life and human nature.

I was truly uncertain about this one initially.

It simply didn't appear to be the sort of book that would appeal to me.

However, I have never been more delighted to be incorrect.

This novel offers a beautiful exploration of the relationship between two women, Heed and Christine.

They seem to despise each other, yet beneath the surface lies a lifetime's worth of love and shame, all intricately twisted together until hatred was the only emotion they knew how to convey.

I felt a profound connection to both of these women.

Their lives were intertwined with that of Mr. Cosey.

I adored the manner in which Morrison delved into all the individuals who were influenced by him and his passing.

She didn't demonize or glorify him.

Instead, she depicted him as an ordinary man who made mistakes but also had a positive impact on the community around him.

The prose is magnificent.

Every description of personality was vividly clear, and the way Morrison integrated each woman's life story was flawless.

This book has so much to say about humanity as a whole.

It makes the reader reflect on the complex nature of relationships, the power of love and hate, and the impact one person can have on the lives of many.

It is a thought-provoking and beautifully written work that I would highly recommend to anyone.

"Young people, Lord. Do they still call it infatuation? That magic ax that chops away the world in one blow, leaving only the couple standing there trembling? Whatever they call it, it leaps over anything, takes the biggest chair, the largest slice, rules the ground wherever it walks, from a mansion to a swamp, and its selfishness is its beauty.”

This is perhaps that one Morrison work where I would have truly valued a Foreword. It is a rather short novel, divided into nine chapters, yet it is complex and confounding. The timelines are scattered all over, the backstories are extremely muddled, and there is a general lack of lucidity. I was unable to position all the female characters in relation to one another until the halfway point when everything finally fell into place and I heaved a sigh of relief. This is also where a disturbing truth about the past is disclosed that clarifies the ongoing conflicts in the present. I would classify Love as a thriller, albeit an unconventional, genre-bending one, where revelations are not diminished.

Bill Cosey, even in death, exercises a pull on these women. He was the center of their world when he was alive. Now his absence makes itself known like an open wound. Then, bound to him by blood or marriage, they all made sacrifices for his sake. His legacy lies muddied, a public persona at odds with private inclinations. He is the cause of their estrangement, the root of their bitterness and hatred for each other. The italicized L sections, who is not even given a full name, assist in putting things into perspective and making connections. It is astonishing how much is crammed in here and I truly struggled with it a great deal.

Morrison's prose is bombastic, yet absolutely fascinating due to its modesty and subtlety.

It is an interesting story that manages to maintain the reader's interest until the end, and a jumble of complex characters who "strip" their secrets as the novel approaches the finale.

Like a master puppeteer, at the end of the book, Morrison ties most of the narrative threads with a beautiful nautical knot, leaving a few loose ideas, to the delight of the reader, for him to find the desired meaning.

Since the only other book written by Toni Morrison that I have ever read, apart from "Love", is "Beloved", I can say that I was knocked out by the prose of the Nobel Prize laureate for Literature... I take off my proverbial hat in front of the evident writing talent in "Love"!

I am really starting to pick up what she is putting down.

At first, I was a bit confused by her actions and words. But as time goes by, I am gradually understanding her intentions. She has a unique way of expressing herself, and it takes some time and effort to figure it out.

Maybe it's because she has a different perspective or a deeper understanding of things. Whatever the reason, I find myself becoming more and more interested in what she has to say. I am eager to learn from her and gain new insights.

I think this is a great opportunity for me to grow and expand my horizons. By picking up what she is putting down, I can improve my own understanding and become a better person. So, I will continue to listen carefully and try my best to understand her.

Toni Morrison truly deserves five stars for penning a book that initially left me with a sense of dislike but ultimately made me fall head over heels in love with it. Five stars to Morrison for simply blowing my mind away.

At the beginning, I couldn't quite get a hold of these characters, and I was frustrated with the story for its lack of staying in one place. I yearned to be at the house on Monarch St with Heed and Christine. And finally, I was there, and now I understand why I had to spend time with so many other characters. It's a classic Morrison work. She always forces me to be patient.

The end ties things up, perhaps a bit too neatly, but after the much ambiguity throughout the novel, I craved it. I'm already daydreaming about taking on this Morrison challenge again, years from now. After every novel, I've said, "well, I'll have to read that one again!" Morrison's writing is so profound and engaging that it always leaves me with a desire to explore her works further.

The last Morrison novel I read, namely "Home", was a bit of a letdown. So, it was truly a pleasant surprise to discover that this particular one - even though it's not among her more widely known titles - made me once again deeply appreciate her incisive perspective on the lives of women, especially black women.

The novel commences following the demise of the black entrepreneur, Bill Cosey. His widow, Heed, hires a young runaway named Junior with the intention of devising a plot to snatch Cosey's inheritance from his granddaughter, Christine. Christine and Heed were friends during their childhood. However, shockingly, Cosey married the 11-year-old Heed and installed her as the head of his household and later in charge of his business. Now, these two aging women lead a life filled with mutual hatred within Cosey's old mansion.

Moving back and forth in time, Morrison delves into numerous aspects of what love can entail and how it can be exploited, demolished, and perhaps even reclaimed. Her language lays bare the subtleties of human emotion and constructs a vivid sense of both the natural and built environments in which people strive and persevere. I found this to be extremely powerful, often terrifying, and yet frequently desperately humorous.

Overall, this novel showcases Morrison's remarkable talent for exploring complex themes and creating a rich and engaging narrative that keeps the reader hooked from start to finish.

When you pick up a Morrison, you know precisely what you are in for.

It is highly probable that it will be a masterpiece that delves into terrible circumstances, yet is written in a gentle, matter-of-fact manner.

And you won't be mistaken. The way she portrays the raw, terrible, and beautiful essence of the human spirit is truly mesmerising.

Very few individuals possess the ability to do what she accomplishes.

Don't be deceived by the title of this particular work.

LOVE is, in fact, about hatred and bitterness, rather than the pure form of love that we all know and understand.

When we do catch a glimpse of love, it seems to bear a resemblance to possession.

The feelings revolve around our main character, Bill Cosey, a hotel proprietor and serial seducer who has been deceased for 25 years, yet whose loss is still keenly felt as if it were recent history by the women he encountered.

LOVE is a story of lives that are inextricably bound together, with the relationship being distorted and challenged by wicked circumstances.

Around that, there is also a narrative of how both rich and poor coloured families endured and survived through the depression.

It is highly, highly recommended.

There are numerous relationships in this story, with love (or sometimes the guise of love in the form of self-desire or a longing for ownership) intricately weaving through the lives of the characters. However, I believe the most beautiful and tragic love (or perhaps hate) relationship exists between Heed and Christine. The novel concludes with the two women conversing, without quotation marks and often without attribution, so that their words blend together. (It's possible that this conversation only occurs in one of their minds, I think.) But in those final moments, they are finally able to reclaim the friendship they once had as little girls.

Morrison's novel is expansive. Although the present-day storyline is set in the 1990s, we witness the Florida resort town with the old Cosey hotel as it existed throughout much of the 20th century. The Cosey hotel opened in the 1930s as a haven for well-off Black clientele to vacation or work as respected performers without the fear of white retaliation. It presents the world of Jim Crow segregation from the perspective of those who carved out a life for themselves, a life that was indeed disrupted by the Civil Rights Movement.

It seems, and perhaps I'm projecting too much onto PARADISE here, but Morrison's later novels delve more into intergenerational schisms. L, who occasionally narrates in the first person in italics, despite having passed away by now, can't come to terms with the sexual boldness of 1990s women. Sandler, a grandfather, is compelled to talk to his grandson, Romen, about his "romantic" relationship and wonders how to reach this modern kid who favors directness over implication. Decades earlier, Christine was involved in the Civil Rights Movement while her mother harbored dark fantasies about the dangerous Black Panthers.

However, sexual deviancy, whether real or imagined, is not the creation of later generations. Much of the novel's emotional weight stems from Old Man Covey grooming Heed to be his wife. He was in his fifties and she was eleven, and a friend of his granddaughter, Christine. Morrison doesn't explicitly or constantly depict Covey as a lecher. Instead, she narrates from the perspectives of her characters. Covey, mourning the loss of his first wife and son, is seeking a way to perfect his relationship with his second wife. It's the kind of subservience that most of his family and neighbors seem to believe he is entitled to as the prominent figure in the community. Heed, for her part, is a poor young girl who relishes the opportunity to become powerful and pampered. Christine and her mother, May, feel threatened by their loss of status.

By the time the 1990s arrive, Heed and Christine are all that remain, in a tense non-truce in Covey's old house. Technically, Heed owns it and Christine could be evicted at any moment. In fact, Heed hires a young woman named Junior for mysterious reasons, and Christine's paranoia only intensifies. Meanwhile, Junior, with a background similar to Heed's, begins to feel a metaphysical connection to old man Covey. She also seduces Romen; at 18 to his 14, which seems less appalling after the Covey/Heed relationship. Also, although Romen may be young, his backstory is marred by society's inclination to dehumanize girls.

There is a great deal of darkness in this novel—with whites and "police heads" occasionally interfering, often to inflict more violence on the Black community. So, there is a lot of misogyny and racism. I'm intrigued by an interview Morrison gave about this novel in 2003. "It's easy, I suppose, to talk about the oppressor," Morrison says. "But I'm not all that interested in it—or him. I'm interested in the impact that oppression has on people. Who survives? How? What are the strategies?" Her characters present us with a messy but captivating world.

A beautiful example of how people are stupid and can't talk to each other, and bury resentment longer than necessary.

It's truly astonishing to witness such instances. People often let their pride and misunderstandings get in the way of effective communication. Instead of sitting down and having an open and honest conversation, they choose to hold grudges and let the resentment fester within them. This not only affects their own well-being but also strains their relationships with others. It's a pity that we don't seem to learn from our mistakes and continue to repeat this cycle of stupidity. I have nothing more to say.

This is my fifth Morrison novel and I truly don't comprehend why this book doesn't possess more notoriety. There is so much that I desire to express, yet I don't wish to spoil the plot. Therefore, I will endeavor to be as ambiguous as possible while still being of assistance.

Love is the narrative of a group of women who are bound together by their connection with the former owner of a luxurious hotel. This hotel was once a renowned pre-desegregation vacation destination for black people in a dwindling beach town. At its core are Christine and Heed, who reside together yet intensely loathe each other.

As is typical of Morrison, the book commences with the reader uncertain about how the present circumstances came to be. Through a non-linear plot structure, she weaves in all the details until you are entirely in the know and in awe of all that has transpired. This plot structure compelled me to keep turning the pages as I yearned to discover more and more about the enigmatic characters. I adored Morrison's concise language and efficient storytelling in this 200-page novel.

This book operates on multiple levels to address issues of race, gender, love, family relationships, and jealousy. She does an excellent job of portraying diverse forms of love, both warped and ordinary. I refrain from elaborating too much on the plot as the surprise midway through the book is significant. However, Morrison skillfully provided clues to the reader before dropping the book's main bombshell.

Love also touches upon the influence of the Civil Rights movement and how it forever transformed black communities. This book poses the question of whether the decline of black exclusive hotels, businesses, and schools was necessarily a boon for the community after integration. Morrison also discusses the immediate events of the movement, but mostly as an aside to the main events of the story, which I found fitting and realistic.

This is a remarkable story about love, history, gender, and the significance of communicating with those you care about the most.