Let me clarify something right away: I don’t hate Toni Morrison, I think she is a brilliant woman and her writing is extremely important, but I do hate the way she writes. After reading Beloved I felt like i had been hit over the head with a baseball bat (and trust me, it didn’t have anything to do with a feeling of guilt over the subject matter). Toni Morrison’s writing is too concentrated. Every sentence Toni writes is packed with so much symbolism and allegory it becomes exhausting to read. Reading Beloved is like being fed a delicious 5-course meal, but being forced to finish the entire thing in one bite. I understand what Toni is trying to do stylistically because one of my favorite writers is William Faulkner, but the way Toni goes about it is over the top. Faulkner’s writing is like a subtle whiff of a beautiful perfume, Toni Morrison’s is like someone wearing the whole damn bottle.
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on Mar 25th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Interesting post, I agree and disagree with you though. I feel a bit different about her writing, in a way she exposes the true meaning of her text through vivid and descriptive writing. Taking away this style of her writing may take away the impact she has intented to have on the reader. In beloved, the overwhelming feeling is felt but not always. I think, in order to let a piece sink in it has to share both the mild and descriptive features;the good and the bad of it. Maybe your opinion is the lesser of it but nevertheless still the completion of a final thought. Valid thought though.
on Mar 29th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Give me enough to stay and I will stay, too little and I’ll leave. Give me the right amount and I’m yours. But what happens when your given too much? Ironcially, I leave. I’m not much of a fan of Toni Morrison.
on Oct 17th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
i just find it really stupid that your title says “I Hate Toni Morrison” and then your very first sentence says, “Let me clarify something right away: I dont hate Toni Morrison”
haha, dumb. fix the title.