Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Song of Solomon

What a brilliant, complex and powerful novel. While telling the coming-of-age story of the protagonist Milkman, how he grows up in Michigan and eventually moves from North to South in a hunt for gold and a discovery of his ancestry, Morrison also fans out the narrative and introduces about a dozen side characters. They and their stories, and relationships add layer after layer and the further you get into this story, the more connections are revealed to you, if you just read carefully enough. I definitly had to focus and work quite a bit to keep up the level of attention this book demands and it was quite a challenging read. The second half of the book was significantly easier for me and towards the end I coninued to be even more captivated than before. This is the first book by Toni Morrison that I read in the English original (I read an older German translation of Beloved last year and had a feeling that it did not do justice to the original, the newer ones might be better though) and it was such a pleasure to experience the beauty and power of her prose first hand. I won't even try to sum up all the themes and symbolism Morrison incorporated into this story and would instead suggest to everyone to pick up the book and embark on the absolutely wild and enriching journey that is Song of Solomon.

Content Warnings

kirstendo's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

Content Warnings

aparizo704's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective 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

5.0

Song of Solomon should be essential reading for your late 20s/early 30s. Self-exploration during this time is almost a second puberty, where roots firmly planted in the communities around us blossom into more concrete relationships, and complexity in others is met with cautious curiosity, rather than contemptuous dismissal. With a national identity shaped by religion (particularly in the South), each generation is confronted with inheriting “the sins of the father”, until, at some point, one realizes both punishment and redemption are self-inflicted. Morrison is the master of creating characters who showcase the duality of finding freedom and self-love in their most destructive traits.

Content Warnings