This is a huge book encompassing human fear, love, sex, religion, and destruction of society. The story is of women and color and society. Morrison writes in strong, intelligent language. The story slips in and out of space and time fluidly. It's complex and engaging. Not an easy read but worth it.

This can be a difficult book, especially if you want the answers to everything. Try as you might, you can never be sure who the "white girl" is. The women's stories do tend to blend together because Morrison wants you to make the effort to keep track of the characters. Each main character represents some form of damage inflicted on women in American society. Difference is punished, even in a place that claims to be different from everywhere else.

Really the book is about the sense of paranoia that has haunted the American psyche since Puritan times. Even as we claim to be a nation of individualist rebels, we fear the rebelliousness we see in others. The town in the book is based on a real "all-black" town, several of which were founded after the Civil War by separatist groups who were tired of being discriminated against and envisioned discrimination-free utopias.

I would recommend keeping notes on who is connected to whom as you read. In addition, pay attention to all of the references to domesticity (notice in the death scene how many domestic implements are used as weapons) and home, because "home" is what everyone in this novel seeks. Moreover, you'll want to watch how every version of perfection is distorted because we often grow dissatisfied with what we have over time. You cannot create a perfect world with imperfect people.

This book had interesting moments. So far I have read three of Ms. Morrison's books including this one, "The Bluest Eye," and "Sula."
I was often bored reading this book. Her writing tends to be depressive and odd, yet informative of the black culture at times. Each of her books seems to contain some element of horrific incident(s) that will stir the emotions. I am hoping for more from "Song of Solomon." I can't help but wonder if Oprah would recommend books that portray the abuses whites have suffered at the hands of blacks. It has occurred, but since whites have never been considered abused by the slave days of old, these stories do exist, even in more modern times.

The plot is confussing and weakly held together by the detailed personal stories. I found little that was morally redeeming or outstanding in this book. Having grown-up in Oklahoma, I found the book unauthentic. I cannot recommend this book.

I am a huge fan of Ms Morrison. IMO she should have won a Pulitzer for "The Bluest Eye". But I find her increasingly difficult to understand. Beginning with "Beloved", Ms. Morrison novels have taken on a mystical quality that bewilder and confuse me. Often I have to go back and re-read pages to find out which character is speaking or remembering or dreaming or what. I gave up on this one somewhere in the middle. I am now plowing through "Love" in which she uses the same tactic and it's a guessing game. I really wish she would return to her earlier style as exhibited in "The Bluest Eye", "Sula" and "Song of Solomon".

I never quit reading books. I could see how this story would be confusing and hard to understand. I was able to keep up with the reading and understand it, but it was just plain boring. This book I just wasn't into. I didn't look foward to reading it. So I didn't finish it. Morrison jumped around to much.. once I started getting familiar with characters, she would switch it up. I don't know how it ever ended, but I wasn't patient with the book to find out.

Tony Morrison is an excellent writer. I simply anticipated more out of her before reading this book. Maybe it is my problem as a white male, but I expected more raw emotion from her characters or better insight on the people she wrote about, or, alas the plight of the African-American woman. Maybe that was the point of the book to show that all of these human emotions have been locked up due to terrible circumstance and treatment.

this book is abotu gregor a eleven year old boy and his sister boots go into a grate in new york cityan incouter many creepy creatures I think they could make a good movie.-joel

Yes, it is a confusing text to some extent. I highly recommend getting the book on tape, read by Morrison herself. Her nuances and changes in intonation really bring the characters and story to life. At the heart of the story is the question of whether God exists within each of us, or whether God is an external force acting on our lives. "Beware the furrow fo his brow" OR "Be the furrow of his brow". Why does Paradise necessarily have to mean exclusion? It is a thoughtful book that has a reward for those who take the time to unravel the intersecting personal stories. But I am also a Faulkner fan, and this, like Faulkner, is not an easy afternoon read. But I don't think Morrison intended it to be that way. Life, which this book reflects, is not easily understood.

Toni Morrison is one of the best authors living today, and has firmly placed herself as an author that will be read years down the road. Paradise is perhaps one of her best novels, and is one of my all time favorites (I have read it three times).

It does pose a difficult read for those looking for a casual book, because it is a deep and complexly interwoven book meant to stir emotions and one's mind. I am amazed at the spotlight reviews who seem confused by her style of writing and could not become involved with the characters. Morrison uses a recursive approach, one that breathes new life into each chapter (as a new character is introduced Morrison takes the time to back track to explain that person's past before joining the character with the present time of the book; Morrison's Master's Thesis was on Faulkner, who used the recursive style heavily). Although this could create confusion if you aren't aware of it, I think it makes for an altogether complete and compelling story.

The Convent itself and the women that reside within are compelling, and sad, stories ready to be told, and as they unfold with their interactions with Ruby it creates a book that is absolutely amazing.

This book is not for those looking for a quick easy read, or something that goes from point A to point B with no stops in between. This book will test your mind and emotions as the tale unfolds through complex chapters, leaving you with a much more fulfilling book than one that does not make you think about what you are reading. If I could give this a six star rating, I wouldn't hesitate.

Toni Morrison's "Paradise" begins with the brutal murder of several women by a posse bent on ethical cleansing of their small town, Ruby. The tale is told in a circular fashion, beginning and ending in the same place. Morrison reveals the rise of Ruby through the eyes of the women who become its ethical sacrifice.

I go back and forth on my views on Toni Morrison. I really enjoyed "The Bluest Eye," I am not sure what I thought of "Beloved," and I did and did not like "Paradise." I thought Morrison took too long "getting there" in "Paradise." I do enjoy her writing style as a whole. Morrison is a master wordsmith and her style is so free flowing that one must really struggle not to be caught up in it.

Give it a whirl, but don't expect too much out of this book.

Should fiction be easy? Depending on how you answer this rather basic question, you will either love or hate this book (and the rest of Morrison's catalogue, for that matter). In other words, is reading merely another hobby for you, or is it an obsession? Morrison caters to those of us who are obsessed. We may not have all read James Joyce's Ulysses, but we plan to one day. Paradise takes a rather complex story and tells it in a complex way. If you expect to have your hand held as you saunter through this novel, go read something else. Morrison challenges her reader at every turn, forcing us to exercise our intelligence. Do you draw character maps while you read books? Perhaps you should. I diagrammed the town of Ruby to the best of my ability.

The reason why so many people struggle to get through a book as difficult as Paradise (which Morrison originally planned to title "War," by the way) is because they are afraid of being confused. Morrison, however, uses confusion as a means of bringing us deeper into her world. The act of reading is not so much a discovery of answers, but of more questions. Paradise is first and foremost a mystery novel: who are the nine men with guns in the first chapter? Who is the white girl? What has provoked this violence? etc etc. Every answer that Morrison gives us comes at a price: more questions. Personally, I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

As a freshman in High School, William Faulkner was required reading. This books brings back memories of Faulkner none of them good. I keep reading hoping to get to the point... As a fan of her earlier writings and knowing that she is one of the greatest authors of our time, I trust there was a point somewhere...but I missed it. I felt as if I was reading for required academic purposes. I found no joy in the process. I needed an index to recall the various characters. I would argue that in order to understand and enjoy this book, you need at least a week to dedicate solely to reading this book.

First let me say that it has taken me years to finally read this book, having initially gotten only 'so far' and going no further. Now, having completed it less than an hour ago, I wanted to put the impressions it gave me 'out there' while still fresh on my mind. Toni Morrison is a Genius of words, imagery, storytelling and metaphor--among other things that make for epic, sustaining literature. What this story does is illuminate conditions that are universal in many aspects, though largely framed within the context of the townspeople of Ruby and the myriad fragmented lives of those women in the convent. But Ms. Morrison goes beyond the obvious and unearths what lies beneath [and above] its many layers, doing so in a way that requires full participation by the reader, and delivers ten-fold for your dedication to the Journey.
With stealth and dexterity, Toni Morrison weaves Paradise tightly and loosely. It is at once transparent, then opaque, becoming transparent again and again. I am left struck with a sense of being more awake, more full, while also being appreciably more bouyant. The reason I liken this story--which is an understatement given its spanning of decades and even centuries with ease--to a 'Jewel' is due to the fact that a Jewel is born of shaping, becoming multi-faceted with every experience of friction or purposeful movement...The more experiences the more facets... What is left is the unmistakeable shimmer of the extraordinary. Beyond this, I believe I'd be saying too much, interpreting where it is not my place, but the reader's. So let me conclude by saying that when you are ready for this book you will know it. And regardless of your background, once it is finished, you will be significantly and forever changed to some degree.

Thank you, Madame Toni Morrison. You Light the Way.

Bead

I have only read this book once, but after seeing many suggestions to read it again, perhaps I will. I was enchanted by this book. Certainly it is very involved and couldn't qualify as "brain candy," but the passion with which Morrison writes makes up for it. It is tragic and painful, but at the same time inspiring.

This is the first of Morrison's books that I read, but since I have read nearly all her works and she never ceases to amaze me with the depth of her characters and ease with which I fall in love with them and sympathize even with the "bad guys." This, as are most of Morrison's books, is a study of the fallibility of humankind. In everyone's quest to do what is best for their families or communities, we inevitably make decisions that hurt others. In Morrison's books these errors have a more resounding effect than most in our everyday lives do, but she successfully shines the spotlight on the pain we inflict upon ourselves and those around us in the name of doing what we believe to be "right."

There is magic in this book--you won't be able to miss it.

If Morrison had not won the Nobel Prize there is no way that Paradise would have garnered an even adequate review. Paradise is a disjointed and erractic book. Morrison takes the liberty of inventing a 'style' that would have had a new author rejected by any publisher. It is not literature. Paradise is no more than a collection of words. Morrison is a wonder with descriptive phrases but she is not a wonder with a narrative tale. She simply, as another reviewer put it, can not get 'to the point'. Paradise is not worth the time, the effort or the money. If it becomes required reading in any class; it will be because the instructor does not like the students. It is simply awful. Morrison peaked before the Nobel and she is now on a downward slide.
If her name did not sell the book Paradise would have come and gone off the shelves quickly.
Give me Saramago, Ha Jin or Grass any day. They not only understand literature - they can write it. Morrison can not.

Paradise is novel that HAS to be read more than once to be fully understood; that I don't think can be denied by anyone who has tried to wade through the complexity of this book. If you're going to read the novel, I think you should understand this as well because without going back over certain parts in the beginning, such as the differences of the twins and their wives or whom is actually pregnant, the novel will seem like a conglomeration of short stories about past and future residents of the town that appear to connect, but don't actually.

That being said, I feel this is an absolutely magnificent piece of literature when one reads it as its depth of characters and shifting of emotions between them is first rate. One of the best things that can be said about the book is that you could say you felt you were actually part of the history of Ruby as it was happening. Morrison demonstrates great care in connecting all the characters and their story arcs through subtle use of inference and bit of wit. The book is often critqued for leaving the reader to discern what is happening for themselves and I find this critique accurate. However, I like the fact that Morrison doesn't hand hold my way through the story and makes it challenging for me to understand what's going. That may put me in the minority but I find that I would rather be treated like an adult than lead in linear fashion through the story that assumes I can't comprehend the simplest clues. I would highly recommend this book to people who feel the same way. There is always John Grisham to read if this doesn't suit your tastes.

I want to start off by saying that Toni Morrison is an author that only the brave try to read and understand. I've read Sula, Bluest Eye, and I am still trying to figure out Song of Solomon. I really did enjoy them all. Yet, some people may complain about her style of writing or the fact that "Paradise" has an enormous amount of characters, but I see it another way.

"Paradise" is a beautiful story about the choices that people make and how they affect community; it's a story about following your heart. I know, in my case, that as I read the story, I was constantly finding that I had something in common with each of her characters. From Soane Morgan's indecisiveness to Roger Best's desire to please, to Pallas Truelove's search for true love. Each character has its purpose in the story no matter how small a part. And that is one of the things that makes "Paradise" a well-written book. Sure Morrison could have clearly left some of the characters out of the story but the story would not have been the same.

Morrison is known for taking readers on a trip where they are constantly traveling back and forth through time. But I was okay with it because I took a few notes. I also found myself captured by each character's story, which made it a hard book to put down.

I believe that "Paradise" is a work of poetry. The prose of life. The story of pride and prejudices. The exploration of cause and effect. All these things are intertwined in the story because these are the things that make life what it is. And these things are so successfully used by Morrison in the book, that Paradise will always be a read that forces you to reflect on your own life after you are done.

I will not lie and say that "Paradise" is an easy book to follow or that it is a book that you will only have to read once to understand. I read it for the third time and I am still pick up on things in the story that I either overlooked or didn't understand. And the shocking part is that each time I read the story, I find that it is just as intriguing and interesting as it was the first time. But that's what great about Toni Morrison books. It takes time and dedication to read.

I must preface my review by admitting I've only read Paradise once.
The writing is the same brilliant and disorienting/nonlinear style as the rest of Morrison's oeuvre. What seemed most aberrant in her first post-Nobel Prize novel was, though it was highly intellectually stimulating, for me "Paradise" lacked the connection to the heart that is inseparable from her previous books. It seemed to try to meet expectations the public would have of a Nobel Prize Laureate. (Who can blame her? She remains a wonder.) But to me it was a bit forced, especially with an (overly?) dramatic opening line "They shoot the white girl first."
I will read any novel Morrison writes, they are all worth reading, including Paradise, but if you are new to her, you would be best off starting with Song of Solomon, Sula, and then Beloved.

I read Paradise for a project in my English class. The book was very difficult for the fact that it seems like Toni Morrison switched topics every few pages. With all of the different characters coming in and out of the convent and the town it was hard to keep up with what was going on with who. I just didn't care for the book at all. If i had to tell someone whether they should read the book I would definitely tell them not to read the book.

After reading all the good reviews and the fact that this book was on some cool people's list mania lists - I really wanted to read it and to like it. But after having bought it, I found it rather difficult to follow and understand.
The charachters keep coming in and it's hard to keep track of who's who. You know they are all going to come together in the convent somehow but it's still hard to follow and make a connection. I consider myself to be an avid reader and reasonably intellectual but unfortunately I could not bring myself to finish this book. Maybe in a few years time I'll come back to it and understand it better!

As much as I wanted to like this book, I could not overcome its racist and hurtful depictions of black men. I was very offended by the depictions of black men, and as a black man who has never been to jail or had any ill-will toward black women, I was surprised that all of the black males in the book ar depicted as misogynistic and cruel, almost apish criminals or cretins. This book reminds me of racist literature from the 1890s-1920s that I read in my Whiteness Studies class. Such racist books written by white authors who sought to foment race riots (meaning violence by whites against blacks). The tone of this book is quite similar, which is shameful and all too eerie. To think that a gifted black author is writing literature no different than literature that Grand Wizards of the Klu Klux Klan wrote in 1919 says something very harrowing about the publishing industry, something I had not realized before. I expected her worldview to be a bit more like Mark Twain's than David Duke's.

This book was very enlightening. I really enjoy all of Toni Morrison's books but this one is by far my favorite. There was so much to absorb here, I learned a great deal about the early years, after slavery but, before the "Civil Rights Movement". I'm sure that when you read this book you will be hooked on Toni Morrison books forever. There are so many levels to this story. Each character is significant in his/her own way. There was no wasted space in this book. Every page was worth reading.

This is well worth the time to read slowly. It is an intricate plot with many things going on at once. There are a lot of characters (too many?) and it can be hard to follow. I recommend taking notes. The second time I read it, I understood it better and decided I liked it. The first time, I was unsure but it did produce a strong reaction. Men will enjoy it but women of all colors will really appreciate the story. This was the first of her books that I read. I just bought 3 others based on my experience with this one.

Others have recapped this story too well to be improved upon by me. I'll just say I like it and I didn't like it, but it did keep me reading. I often find Oprah's book list heavier reads than I sometimes want. There is a distinct undertone throughout the story and while it does get those brain cells going, sometimes it's not the best relaxing read. It is a good novel and worth the read, but know what you're getting into so you can best enjoy it.

A Discussion of
Toni Morrison's Paradise
By Mo Saidi
Paradise is the story of a mythical town, which is founded and inhabited by freedmen and freedwomen. A narrator with total grasp of the characters' feelings, thoughts, and backgrounds tells the story in the third person voice. In this less than stellar work by Toni Morrison, the author uses mythical and metaphoric language to describe a paradise turned around and torn apart by corruption and war.
The novel is set in 1997, but it travels through several eras; first to a period shortly after World War II, when the all black town Ruby was founded by blacks, then further back to earlier times when Haven was founded by a band of former slaves in Oklahoma. It depicts a story of Exodus: Wandering ex-slaves searching for a home, a paradise to settle and a desirable community of their own to live in.
The people of Ruby also experience, though only second hand, the changes that America went through in 1970s-student uprising, rioting in the streets, police brutalities, and cities more dangerous for young blacks than war zones. "Safer than anywhere in Oklahoma outside Ruby. Safer in the army than in Chicago, Safer than Birmingham, than Montgomery, Selma, than Watts. Safer than Money, Mississippi, in 1955 and Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963. Safer than Newark, Detroit, Washington, D.C. She had thought war was safer than any city in the United States." But Ruby changes and becomes a center of a murderous plot against a small group of unconventional women in a former girls' school named, "the Convent." Now the war erupts on their home front as nine black men go on a deadly hunt to destroy the four women and a baby of the Convent.
Paradise is a novel, which reflects the bitter memories of the slavery, and of the reconstruction era. An era that they can not bury or forget: "Deacon Morgan cut (Sergeant Person) off. `That's my grandfather you're talking about. Quit calling him an ex-slave like that's all he was. He was also an ex-lieutenant governor, an ex-banker, an ex-deacon and a whole lot of other exes, and he wasn't making his own way; he was part of a whole group making their own way."
Toni Morrison reveals in Paradise how a relatively short and peaceful period in Ruby's history quickly gets replaced initially by the social unrest and then by a bloody civil war. The novel should have been titled "War" not "Paradise". The description of paradise appears at the end of the novel, in the aftermath of the recent devastation, at a shore occupied by a woman presumably a mother who is "black as firewood" and "is singing," and a younger girl, a daughter? "Around them on the beach, sea trash gleams. Discarded bottle caps sparkle near a broken sandal. A small dead radio plays the quiet surf." They see "Another ship, perhaps, but different, heading to port, crew and passengers, lost and saved, atremble, for they have been disconsolate for some time." "They have been brought to paradise and they will rest before shouldering the endless work."

Toni Morrison is my favorite author, and I have, by finishing Paradise, now read all of her books. And this falls in the high end. (just for the record, I rank her novels, from highest to lowest, as such: Jazz, Beloved, Song of Solomon, Paradise, Sula, Bluest Eye, Tar Baby)

Yes, it was difficult to keep some of the characters straight, and even towards the end I would occasionally forget who was with what family(especially the Fleetwoods and the Morgans). Like all Toni Morrison novels, there are sometimes questions left unanswered, but that is because she is trying to shift your focus from the details to what really matters, the effects. We learn about a mysterious man who Dovey has been having an affair with, we never learn his name. His identity is not important; what is important is what theses scenes reveal about Dovey's personality and the state of her marriage with Steward. If you go into a Toni Morrison novel hoping to be satisfied by a final chapter of wrapping up all of the facts, you will be disappointed.

To the reader who said s/he could not remember learning about Seneca's mother(actually it is her older sister), it is in Seneca's chapter; the scene where her sister leaves her, she lives by herself for a few days eating only cookies, and then finds the letter with lipstick that smudges in her shoe.

One thing I did NOT get, however, was the final page. And I never quite understood how Piedade fit in with everything. And, some of the events in the final chapters with the showdown and the drawings on the floor seemed like the were ripped out of a bad Stephen King novel. But, hey, Ms. Morrison is a great writer and even where the plot seems a little contrived you can still fall back on the fantastic prose, structure, and wordplay.

I read for pleasure, not to have to re-read a book in my precious spare time. Although a nobel prize winner for literature wrote this, I find Morrison's books (particularly this one) to be like a riddle. New characters were brought in, within the last few chapters. Characters are implied but, not developed. Some trite characters are far too developed and dealt with. Far too many characters were thought of and brought into the book. Morrison writes several books into one verbal dirreah novel.
Most common of all, characters appear, as if we are already to know them. This bothers me greatly as if I am missing something. However with Morrison's terrible grammer, it would not surprise me if this were true. I do not want to think while I am reading a book, books are there to escape with, to venture to a different dimention. With Toni's I feel stupid, and I know I am not.
I found 'Paradise' interesting as a story, particularly the parts containing Gigi, Mavis and Pallis. There witty remarks were very entertaining. The connection Ruby had with this outstanding town (until ages in, I thought Ruby was the town)!
I usually commend Oprah's picks and enjoy them but, Morrison, my God, just not good. I will not be purchasing anymore of picks but I will keep the ones that I have already purchased. I may, and that is the operative word, borrow one from the library.

I don't understand what it is about Toni Morrison...maybe it's me? I didn't enjoy the story. I had to "push" through it. It was hard to understand a lot of what was going on- and I am an avid reader with a large vocab.

Toni Morrison is my favorite writer, and I won't hold this book against her. For me, though, my experience with Paradise began much the same as my experience with Beloved: I tried to read it a couple of times, got into the first few pages, then put it down. It seemed just so complex. In both cases, though, I finally picked up the book a third time and read it all the way through. I loved Beloved, but this book was different. It's basically about people in a black town who think that a lot of the evil in that town is due to the presence of the strange women who live in the "Convent". Toni takes a lot of time to develop the characters, and that is commendable, but there are just TOO many characters...in the end I got just plain confused, trying to keep up with who was married to whom, and who lost what child in what year. It just was a bit too busy for me. But to her credit, Toni Morrison, paints colorful imagery; I simply love the way she writes, and that's what is giving this book three stars. She is a master of her craft. Granted, I don't like to have my intelligence insulted by having the writer explain every little thing to me, but with this book, I'm like, "insult my intelligence already!" There were just so many unanswered questions for me in this book, and I don't think you should have to go back and re-read a book (what I'm doing now) just to understand what on earth is going on. This is a lengthy book, so if you've got some time to kill, and you enjoy a challenge, you may actually want to give it a try.

I only bought this dog of a book because my mother saw it on Oprah and said how good it was supposed to be. This is my first (and probably only) Oprah selection that I will knowingly buy. If any future titles pique my interest, then I will wait for them at the public library.
I don't read to try to decipher garbage, and to me that's what this stupid book was all about. I couldn't stand it and shipped it to my mom after reading up to page 37, wishing her the best of luck in figuring out what it was all about!!!

I had to read this book for my Honors English class, and I loved it. It's a classic Toni Morrison novel, and everyone who likes other books by her should read this one.

The first half of this book was difficult to understand and difficult to "get into". BUT by the time I was halfway through the book the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together and from then on I couldn't put it down. This was an excellent, complex story with beautifully descriptive wording that makes you look at the ordinary in a whole new way. The characters are not always likeable, but you really understand (by the end of the book) where they are coming from and what their motives are. After I finished this book I re-read the first few chapters. It was alot like having to see a smart movie twice.... the second time around everything makes sense. This is a wonderful book, and it's well worth sticking with it even though it's tough to do initially. I've also read Ms. Morrison's "Song of Solomon" and "The Bluest Eye". Ms. Morrison is a one-of-a-kind author and I really love her books. I am definately going to read the ones I haven't yet.

This is my first experience with Toni Morrison's works and I must say that it was indeed a challenge to complete and in some spots to comprehend the underlying meaning in the way she worth this novel. There is no way for me to compare this to her works or any other writers works for that fact because she is truly in her own realm. Now with this being said I must admit that I enjoyed the challenge in the reading of Paradise and even though it's not MY idea of PARADISE it was to the citizens of Ruby and that must be respected. I will not try to sway you one way or the other into reading this novel but I will say that if you are looking for a thought-provoking novel with twist and a couple of turns this is indeed for you.

The main comments i had encountered everywhere about this book before i read it was people were disappointed, that it was not as good as Morrison's previous books. If that is the case, i can't wait to read more of her work!

I thought this was a great book, not just because of the fine crafting of the story, but because it was so thought provoking. And i love some of the names of the characters - the four sisters in the 'nativity' play - Hope, Chaste, Lovely and Pure. Or Lone, named such because that is what she was when they found her. And Morrison does such a good job of writing about food! (i love reading about food in books, so perhaps i am a little biased).

This is a story about the township of Ruby, and it's relationship to the Convent nearby. Ruby is a town populated entirely by the descendants of freed slaves, and the Convent was actually once a school for Indian girls, now a home to an eclectic grouping of women. We learn about Ruby and the Convent through the stories of various women, and i think we learn a lot about perceptions, and how history shapes the present. What was best about this story for me, however, was Morrison's wonderful use of language. Some people have complained that her work is too complicated, that ' you have to read the sentences more than once to understand them.' I didn't find this at all. This was my first Toni Morrison book, and definitely not my last.