Wow.

Yes, loved it!

One of my favourites.S

A 'wow' from me too.

Ah, ok, I'll hold my hand up and admit I found this difficult to follow at first. It was my choice in a book club so I kept going, and when I'd finished I re-read it straight away, and yes, then it was wow. But initially I found sorting who was who, and identifying this ghost element, quite tricky. Terrifically dense and powerful writing. The section on the wood where the heroine shows her scars to the white girl (the chinaberry tree simile) is the one that sticks most in my memory.

Kate,
I found it difficult too and was a bit lost for a while. But as the novel progressed I felt that the whole idea of being a slave was so horrific that Sethe couldn't possible cope with facing it outright. The story could only leak out through her subconscious. By the end I felt that this structure gave me an even more visceral understanding of what it must have been like rather than a straightforward recounting. At least that was how I felt it. I was also stunned by her dialogue. Most of it is very pure with absolutely no description or tags around it and made all the more powerful.

I read it about five years ago but this discussion has made me think that I should go back and read it again.

A.

Lammi,

I had the same problem. I got about a third of the way through a year ago and the fact that I abandoned it has upset me ever since, cos it has swayed my delusion that I am an intellignet human being.

So I went back to it this week, and I'm getting it now, though I think it's the kind of novel that demands a second reading. Like a good poem in that sense - you want to read it again, and it repays reading it again.

I agree with both those analyses.

I am now half-way through, and I feel oddly compelled to write an essay on it.

Dammit, I wish I could back to school.

<Added>

Erm. . . .. Please pretend I never said that.

I remember feeling all shaky and tearful for ages after finishing that book. It got to me on such a deep emotional level.
I always find it hard to get into her books at the beginning though and I think it is because she hits you with lots of information and lots of unusual names from the very fist paragraph - almost as though you're coming into a conversation has already started.
She's one of those writers I think I might start genuflecting in front of in an embarrassing way, so it's probably a good job I'll probably never meet her...
Toni Morrison rocks

I must admit I didn't get very far with it when I tried, ages ago. Partly perhaps because yes, it's hard to get into. And partly sheer cowardice, I suspect.

Emma

I was too scared to read The Accidental by Ali Smith until very recently. I thought it would be too clever and tricksy and would make me feel really thick. I loved it, to my surprise. But I am increasingly becoming a wuss about 'hard' books. The middle part of 'Cloud Atlas' almost made my brain bleed. But that was just annoyingly clever in my view...

I think the power of 'Beloved' lies not in the density and cleverness of the writing, but in the deeply distressing subject matter. 'Cloud Atlas' and 'The Accidental' make an emotional impression, but it's not on the same level because you know that the situations described in 'Beloved' did actually happen.

(I loved 'Cloud Atlas'. Thought it was one of the best novels I've ever read.)

I think me and futuristic made-up dialogue just don't mix, Lammi!

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dialect, not dialogue ...grr

I loved 'Cloud Atlas'. Thought it was one of the best novels I've ever read.

Could you explain why, Kate? (I haven't read it but I admit I was a bit turned off by the fact that every time it was discussed the main focus was on the structure.)