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By the end of this novel I felt as though I had finished reading a collection of character sketches that could be used to form a much larger and perhaps more coherent text. Each chapter skips around from one character to another, and from first to third person narration, which in itself is not a problem, and if done well can make an interesting and eclectic whole. In this case, the text simply became frustrating; a puzzle that is frankly not interesting enough to put together. The characters in
“It was there I learned how I was not a person from my country, nor from my families. I was negrita. Everything. Language, dress, gods, dance, habits, decoration, song– all of it cooked together in the colour of my skin.” – Toni Morrison, A MercyIt’s the 17th Century, and slavery is still relatively new in the Americas. The people living there have either been brought there by force or have voluntarily gone there to start a new life. They are people with no roots in their new country, no famil
I love Toni Morrison, the way she holds out the dark truths of Americas past and forces the reader to look and while the themes here are the same as much of her other work this one is a bit more raw, not the writing which is beautiful as always, but here she just lays it all out in plain sight, here it is motherfuckers, And oh man does she really give it to Christianity good for its part in the oppression of women, slave trade, all around evilness, etc, so you know I was into that and I probably...
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Maybe it's the bitter taste Beloved left me with; Maybe it's that she comes off as the poor woman's Maya Angelou; Maybe it's just that no matter how much I want to like her writing, I just can't. The first four chapters were confusing as hell and the remaining ones were disorienting. The POV's from chapter to chapter were so intertwined, I could barely remember who was talking and found myself constantly going back to the beginning of that particular chapter to double check. Not only that, but t...
A Mercy takes us on a voyage into the dark world of slavery in the 1690s through the eyes of several slaves and one owner. In typical Morrison style, the time is non-linear, but it is an easier book to follow than say Beloved. Its text is less powerful and poetic than say, Beloved, but still there is a poignancy and urgency to the writing. Given the current slavery-denial in the media, it is probably a timely read.
[8/10]What a beautifully heart-breaking book. It's a bit disorienting, jumping around from different characters' perspectives, and told in different writing styles. But I think that lends itself to the sort of medley of pain and struggle and sorrow these characters' face. Each has their own story to tell about loss, about displacement and about learning to live through it as best they can. And Morrison excellently captures those feelings without every feeling didactic. They are richly crafted an...
This is a devastating look not only at the slave experience in the 17th century, but of various forms of bondage and of the place of women in that world. While skin color may have defined one sort of servitude, gender and class define others. Yet there are ways to find space between the bars. Toni Morrison - from The TelegraphSet in the late 17th century, this is an ensemble story. Florens is a young, spirited slave girl. She speaks in the first person giving us a look from inside her skin. Exce...
I was enthralled with the incandescent prose and moving voices of four women in this tale set on a remote farm in colonial New York in the 1690s. It was outstanding in the audiobook form read by the author, often sending chills up my spine with the vibrant power of its poetry. A major theme is how people harness love in all its forms and how they deal with the perception of betrayal. Another is the paradox of the foundation of the new world both on the hunger for freedom and on various forms of
Toni, Toni, Toni...it feels good to know you again.A Mercy is a gorgeous narrative of a dark time that flitters from person to person: child, slave, sympathetic Dutch businessman, mother. Betrayal is ever present, even seemingly from mother to child.The setting and subject is slavery in 17th century America, specifically Catholic Maryland. These are early days in the New World. Superstition was rife. Black magic and the devil were palpably real. With a bevy of glimpses Morrison displays most of
I needed this. Morrison is always fascinating for me to read; I'm paying attention to the structure, the themes, the tone, and every nuance she wrings out of her perfect sentences.This is one of her easier novels, one featuring a swirling ensemble of voices, all gazing at the harsh reality of a group of women living in 17th century America. The whole novel is one fluid tapestry, quite intimate, with a subtlety that is rare for Morrison but which works so well here. She questions how, in a world
Toni Morrison’s A Mercy is one of the most infuriating, lovely, haunted and haunting works I’ve read in many a moon. It is one of the few books I can remember that sent me back to read key passages and even whole chapters after I finished it to get clues to its maddeningly vague denouement and sample the blood-soaked, well-seeded soil of its prose one more time. I didn’t reread anything in frustration, but in gratitude and admiration. A Mercy is set ostensibly in the late 17th century, a fact I
This was definitely not one of my favorites. I am usually a die-hard Morrison fan, but this one just wasn't up to par with her earlier works. Many people have compared this to Beloved, but I find that comparison unjust. This book, while it had its moments of brilliance, was inundated with dense, incomprehensible prose. At times, I was unable to decipher who was speaking and when. It just wasn't a good read for me.
Short, tragic, beautifully written book set in the late 17th century in the American Colonies. It speaks of slavery, indentured servitude, patriarchy, exploitation, superstition, disease, and child mortality. Prominent themes include fear of abandonment, lack of agency, and unintended consequences. The author elucidates the seeds of issues that still have repercussions today. Morrison focuses this book on an ensemble of characters. Jacob Vaark finds slavery abhorrent but, at the urging of her mo...
This is only my second Toni Morrison after reading Song of Solomon last year, I guess I am tiptoeing cautiously towards her major works. It is extraordinarily impressive what Morrison manages to do here in this slim novel (167 pgs). The text rapidly immerses you in late 17th century America and almost all the characters are either orphans or foundlings. Essentially, one might classify this as a character study, each chapter tells one person's story of how they came to be alone in the world, an...
This story occurs in the late 1600s, during early days of slavery in America (that is, African people being used as slaves). By that time however, the tradition of using 'indentured servants' - essentially white slaves - was already well established. In this tale, several slaves work on a small farm run by Jacob and Rebekka Vaark.The indentured servants are: Native American Lina - whose tribe has been decimated by disease; Black child Florens - who was given away by her mother; And jinxed Sorrow...
"Their drift away from others produced a selfish privacy and they had lost the refuge and the consolation of a clan"..."Pride, she thought. Pride alone made them think that they needed only themselves, could shape life that way..."..."As long as Sir was alive it was easy to veil the truth: that they were not a family--not even a like--minded group. They were orphans, each and all."A short but densely packed story, told in prose that is impossible to skim or read quickly. Lines heavy with meaning...
RereadWhen the furor erupted over the 1619 Project, my thoughts went back to this work, which is set in 1690. Its characters’ dealing with an outbreak of smallpox is another timely element.With the enslaved mother and daughter at the core of the book, I could envision that some might feel this novel is Beloved-“lite,” but I would say that’s true only in its size and its arguably easier style. In under 170 pages Morrison satisfyingly includes stories of several individuals, including a landowning...
Back in college I took a course on Colonial America because I had to. It was pretty tough for me to get into it at the time, since I never really gave a crap about that inaccessible and unglamorous period. I wish this book had been around in those days, because Morrison's efforts to describe that bizarre and confusing world might've helped me get better picture of the time, and therefore care more about what I was learning. To me, A Mercy really is incredible historical fiction that provides acc...
Dear Ms. Morrison:I just want you to know that I think you are a wonderful writer. I remember picking up a copy of The Bluest Eye back in 1990 because I was taking a stupid college course and we were required to read a book by a female author written after WWII. I chose your book because it was really short and I didn't want to put a lot of time into that assignment. I remember crying while reading it and wanting to take that little girl out of her miserable life and make her feel better about h...