WARNING: SPOILERS BE HERE:
This book centers around a woman who murdered her own child. It is quite depressing and offers a lot of emotional grief. Basically, it is set in the bleak wake of the American Civil War. Sethe was a mother of four, had just killed her eldest daughter, was in the process of recovering from the loss of her mother in law, Baby Suggs, and was coming to grips with the fact that her old master, Mr. Garner, was fast on her heels, ready to X her out. Its really some edgy stuff. Anyway, on top of this already brimming list of dilemmas, her friend/lover, Paul D (Not Pauly), has come back in search for her love. And his arrival is what sets the book in motion.
It starts off ambiguously and ends off on the same note. The beginning starts somewhere after the War and you have absolutely no idea that lives have been lost the way they have. This monotonous mood simmers a little until we see flashbacks from Sethe. Then fireworks and quick and devastating jabs coming from the past. We see images of tombstones, old, dying ladies and lovers lost. These build up tension until Paul D comes and the entire story manages to fold out towards the end.
There is not much to tell without revealing key factors in the book so I will just mention how it made me feel. I had all sorts of knots in my stomach, not because I was disgusted but I was in utter stupefaction of this character. Her methods where something to be worried about, but her intentions where understandable. She genuinely wanted the happiness for her children that she battled to find in her whole lifetime. And that resonates with me. Sure, in the end, there was a tumultuous conclusion, but her mentality and what she wanted to achieve still sits there, even if it wasn't as naked as I'd wanted it to be.
Overall, I would say this book certainly exposed me to a lot. Some good, some bad, some heartbreaking. Mostly heartbreaking. I hope that I won't have to go to the lengths that Sethe went through for her children's well being. But by that same token, if push comes to shove, I hope to have the same courage that Sethe had and have the boldness to fall on my knees with grace like she did.
This book reveals desperate times and the characters within them that persevered. It also offers the opportunity for self introspection. You'll find yourself asking many questions, wondering if you would have thought the same things, done the same things, and felt the same. And then you will finally close that book, sit and ponder on whether you could ever live in a time like that and still love the way that Sethe loved.
Good Read. Pick it up.
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