The problem with great works of literature is that you almost certainly know that it is supposed to be great before you read it. This can lead to all kind of expectations, plenty of which can be unrealistic and some of which are unsurmountable. The very problem with picking Pulitzer Prize winners as a category is that you expect them to be good. Admittedly, in my experience they usually are and I can certainly recognise them as being good. That, however, is not necessarily the same as liking them, but that's the joy, and sometimes the pain, of personal preference. Anyway, if you know the book you're about to read not only won said literary prize but was also, in the not too distant past, voted the best American novel of the last 25 years, then you can't help but expect something a bit special. In this case, Toni Morrison's Beloved had a lot to live up to.
On the plus side, I thought I was really going to enjoy it – my Yankophilia this year has been burning strong, even if it has perhaps waned a bit recently and the concept sounded right up my street. Or at least as much as slavery, dead babies, ghosts and family dramas are up anyone's street. It's certainly fabulously written, the dialogue in particular is incredibly good and it breathes life into the characters, while the prose radiate life and a certain kind of vitality. And yet...
And yet I wasn't blown away. Indeed, maybe my concentration wasn't at its highest reading it, or maybe I'm just a bit stoopid (postmodernism and magic realism aren't always my cup of tea), but I actually found it pretty difficult to follow in places. Certainly the changing viewpoints, the jumps in time and the lack of signposts made it more of a challenge than I feel it should have been. And if you're too busy trying to work out what is going on, the immersion, the suspension of disbelief just isn't there to the same extent and to my mind inhibits the enjoyment, which is my number one reason for reading. Sure, I like to learn and to think from it too, and 'enjoy' can be a loose term in some cases depending on topic matter, but mostly I read for pleasure.
Maybe I will come back to it again. After all, it was something I'd been meaning to read for a long time. Plenty of books benefit from a second reading, especially once you do know the plot. Then again, nobody is under obligation to like everything and I'm sure there are plenty of great novels and writers that any given individual has an issue with. Don't get me wrong, it was beautifully and powerfully written, it just wasn's always easy to follow and that was a shame.
Book number: 59
Title: Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Category: Pulitzer Prize winners
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