Monday, September 10, 2012

My Favorite Review: Classics Club September Meme


This month’s meme for The Classics Club is quite interesting. While we are all busy with our reads and reviews, we were encouraged by the moderators to “socialize” with other members (which, by the way, had reached 221! Wow..!!) by creating a meme which permit us to promote another member. This way we can get to know each other, as I think it’s impossible to read all the reviews or to visit the entire member’s blogs. So, here is the meme…

Pick a classic someone else in the club has read from our big review list. Link to their review and offer a quote from their post describing their reaction to the book. What about their post makes you excited to read that classic in particular?

Thanks to The Classics Club blog, I can finally find one review that has made me adding Toni Morrison’s book ‘Beloved’ to my list recently. Fortunately there is only one review for Beloved, it’s from Nishita’s blog.

I was instantly struck by Nishita's review opening:

What kind of mother cuts her child’s head off with a hacksaw? A mother who felt she had no alternative, that she was actually protecting her child from worse fates.”

While book bloggers cautiously write their review to not revealing any spoilers, this one just pointed it out in the beginning! But it worked for me, this book caught my interest at once. I have always thought Beloved is a kind of romance book (lesson: never judge a book from it’s title!), so reading that spoiler made me curious. What is this book really about? And after reading the entire review, I just knew that I must read this one, for I always love books that is rich of humanity aspects with a slight touch of psychology. This paragraph only strengthened my decision to pick up this book:

“It’s also hard to read how an entire race was kept so backward for so long. There is a section where a newly freed slave is so happy when he receives a coin for helping somebody load stuff in a van. He walks around with the coin, and is so amazed that he can go into a shop and buy something with it. It’s just written so beautifully, and so much from the heart.
And that’s why I love this book. The writing just feels like an outpouring from the heart. You can feel every emotion felt by Sethe, and the other characters in the story in their own voices.”              

I've just bought this 2nd hand copy online,
can't wait to receive & read it!

Thanks to Nishita, your spoiler really made me curious! :)

15 comments:

  1. That was really a strong opening, but it really caught my interest, too. I really love what Nishita said in that second quote also. Thanks for choosing that title I'm going to add Beloved to my reading list. It is nice meeting other Classic Club members, isn't it.

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    1. You're right Jo Ann, this month's meme is a good idea (thanks to the moderator who have chosen it). And let me know if you'd like to read Beloved, we could read it together then! :)

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    2. Fanda, when are you planning on reading it? I could read it in November. If I add another book right now I would have a brain meltdown. :)

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    3. What about October? I would have to read one book from authors who won Nobel Prize, and if you'd like to read it with me, I can pick Beloved.

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    4. Fanda, I replied to you over at my blog but thought I would tell you here too. I can read with you in October, but it might be at a rather slow pace-- if you don't mind that.

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    5. Great! OK, I will post about this, maybe next week. Thanks Joon Ann for accompanying me to read Beloved! :)

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    6. That sounds great! I'm looking forward to reading with you! : )

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  2. Ooh, thank you so much. I am glad my spoiler didn't put you off the book.

    I would love to know what you think of the book once you are done :)

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    1. You deserves it, Nishita. It is your spoiler that caught me to the book. I always love books with a striking idea about humanity, so I think I'll love this one too.

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  3. Wow! Now this post makes me want to read that book. The quotes also work for me, I guess. You're not the only one, Fanda, that's captured by them. :D

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    1. So, let's read Beloved together, Listra! What do you think...?

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  4. Fanda, reading your post has piqued my interest in Beloved and I am going to Nishita's after yours. I have a review of The Bluest Eye on my blog adn I must say that Toni Morrison is a powerful wirter.

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    1. Oh you just made me want to read it sooner...
      I'll stop by your blog for The Bluest Eye!

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  5. That is definitely a quote to make one sit up and take notice. A powerful and moving story and I hope you'll all enjoy reading it together.

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    1. Thanks Cat! Frankly speaking, I must read that quote twice, because I cant believe I have read it at the first time. But then it intrigued me to go on reading, because there must be a strong reason why a mother did such thing to her child. I might not like the scene in the quote, but I'm interested to learn how that woman can come to that decision.

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What do you think?