Reviews with content warning for Slavery - A Mercy

A Mercy is yet another masterpiece by Toni Morrison. It's short but dense and sometimes seems inscrutable with frequent shifts in time and point of view not being clearly signified. However, this book is well worth the effort. It's set in colonial America in the 1680s. Jacob Vaark is a Dutch migrant, hard-working and idealistic, seemingly opposed to slavery; Rebekka his cheerful and hard-working wife. They have two servants - Lina, an indigenous woman, and Sorrow, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. And then Jacob is persuaded to accept a young enslaved girl, Florens, as payment for a debt. The story provides a meaningful exploration of the gulf between slavery and freedom, with indentured servants in a murky middle area. I also enjoyed the way Morrison showed how the Vaarks, two once kind and idealistic people, changed for the worse over time. Hint - slavery, greed, and the desire for staus all played a role, as did death, disappointment, and the struggle to survive. Violence against women, religious difference and hypocrisy, the natural environment and its exploitation, female community and its limitations are other themes explored to good effect. However, the most impactful theme for me was the book's exploration of motherhood, particularly the final chapter, where we learn why Florens's mother was so willing for her to be sold away. However, as always with Morrison's novels, it is her writing, her prose, and the depth and breadth of her storytelling that is remarkable. In less than 200 pages, and these pages are neither large nor densely packed with tiny font, she's gifted us with rich characterisation and a story that really captures the heart and pathos of America's early colonial years in a realistic and inclusive way so different from the flawed, limited, inaccurate and stereotypical traditional stories often associated with the era.

Content Warnings

adelita18's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This was a challenging audiobook to follow. There are no traditional chapter divisions and the author/narrator, Ms. Morrison, read the story in a very quiet, monotone affect. It made it extremely difficult to place which character's perspective you were listening to at a given point in time and required a lot of skipping back to try to parse out the change in point of view.

That being said, Ms. Morrison really dove head first into examining the roles/relationships religion, concepts and implementation of different types of slavery (bondage vs. indenture), cultural and racial biases, and various social mores in the early melting pot of 1680s colonial America affected people of all walks and ways of life. I'd like to go back and re-read this as a physical or Kindle edition because I felt like a lot of the plot was lost in trying to follow the audiobook.

Content Warnings

darlingkelly's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Narrative hard to follow at times as the chapters switch and it’s not always clear who’s speaking. The chapters could also be quite long which made it hard to pick up or have my attention held-especially when it was dragging in the beginning.

I had a really hard time focusing and wanting to continue reading, unlike other Morrison novels. Finally by the second half I started to enjoy it more and figure out whose voice was whose!

I was intrigued by the setting, time period, and characters. It was interesting getting the different perspectives from 4 very different women!

I felt so sure because of the rough start, that this would only be 3/3.5 stars and my least fave Morrison but the last chapter threw me for a loop and I ended up feeling it was worth 4 stars for that chapter alone 😨

Morrison always has a way with words and even in these slim novels, she packs some powerful emotions and complicated characters with their own unique voices! I can’t wait to continue reading the rest of Morrison’s works and I’ll be a little sad when I finish 💚

Content Warnings

itiafurniture's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Only Toni Morrison can present dark themes with such grace, and present whole characters that don’t abide stereotypes that often consume certain genres. The direction of the story was unexpected, and she weaves the relationships of characters so effortlessly into the story. I would have loved to know more about Lina, and Rebekka’s story felt heavy handed in comparison to the others, but the final chapter made up for that 10 fold. Definitely a great reread.

Content Warnings

michaelion's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I read this on and off over 22 days because I went on vacation but it's Toni Morrison so of course it was amazing and I didn't lose the momentum in the gaps of days between reading chapters. Many thoughts many ideas... In my notes I marked this book is a lot more grounded in reality than magical realism. What's the difference? That's a great question... And at the end the world keeps going on. Ms Morrison, I know I said it before but you've done it again.

Content Warnings

aparizo704's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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upnorth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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