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| Manufacturer: Vintage
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $7.96
You Save: $1.99 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  217 reviews
Sales Rank: 3594
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B000RMT40I
Publication Date: July 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 History Is Identity? May 16, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison takes the view - a common one - that we have to know our history to know ourselves. I don't really agree but in this case it makes a great story. The characters in her novel don't make calculations or follow strategies: they do what they have to do. The history that motivates their actions is an emotional, personal one. Morrison's preoccupation with this personal history is reflected in her use of unusual names: names that are given "from yearnings, gestures, flaws, events, mistakes, weaknesses . . . Macon Dead, Sing Byrd, Crowell Byrd, Pilate, Reba, Hagar, Magdalene, First Corinthians, Milkman, Guitar . . . ." Her characters are powerful, larger-than-life people, and clashes between them quickly escalate to life-and-death struggles. At the same time, they have a great capacity for empathy and self-sacrifice. Highly recommended.
Toni Morrison: Song ofSolomon March 25, 2004
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent portrayal of the hopelessness of black life in the days between slavery and civil rights and of the crisis of a man torn between two cultures. A young black man, Macon Dead searches for his own identity. His father, also called Macon Dead, a prosperous real-estate owner in Michigan is eager to leave behind his black roots, the poverty-stricken,violent life of the average negro. He seeks to ape the white man and marries the relatively light-skinned daughter of the respected local doctor. His life, just like his marriage is devoid of warmth, love or any sense of family belonging. Even his daughter, Corinthians, much to his disgrace can only find fulfillment and end her sterile existence in the arms of a low-life killer. Macon comes to know his father's sister, Pilate. For him, she represents the warmth, the rootedness, the closeness to the living earth and the throbbing life force of black culture. Macon, born into but dissatisfied with the sterility of his pseudo-white home now sets out on a search to learn about his origins. Yet in the end, it is the life style of the white man and of Macon's father which survives. Just as such black villages as Shalimar in the American south die and decay, so is the true black himself sucked back into the death-bringing quagmire of the blood which runs through his veins.
One of Toni Morrison's best novels February 27, 2004
59 out of 68 found this review helpful
With passion and a voice that sings with beautiful detail and magic, Toni Morrison's third novel, published in 1977, is a powerful tale that follows the lives of a black family and their friends living in a Michigan city. In 1931, Macon Dead III, later nicknamed Milkman, is prematurely brought into the world, the first black child born in Mercy Hospital, just after his mother witnesses the brief flight of a man determined to fly from the cupola of the hospital. Although the novel revolves around Milkman, the stories spun out from him embrace a wide variety of characters and experiences. Morrison explores the lasting stamp of slavery through the name of Macon Dead; the intimate culture of women through Pilate, Reba, and Hagar; the hunger for property and respectability through Milkman's father; the idea of one's "people" through those in the South who have not forgotten connections; the violence of civil rights through Guitar; and many more issues facing blacks of the times and today. Despite the resonance of history, this novel is ultimately about its people and their eagerly lived lives. Morrison plunges her readers into their hearts with a humanity and skill too few novelists possess. The result is a remarkably emotional and intelligent story that will stay with you for a long time.Readers should not be intimidated by Morrison's Nobel Prize Winner status, as this novel, like most of her others, is written in startling but accessible language. You don't need an advanced degree (or even a specific race or gender) to slip into her magical prose. Her characters are real and fully realized, and feel like friends, even when you might want to shake them to their senses. Although some readers will be puzzled by the end, wanting perhaps the next sentence that explains it all, Morrison has included by her omission the real meaning of her book. Visit with it for a few moments before closing the cover. I highly recommend this book for a wide range of readers, from high school students to adults. Even though it was written in the 1970's, its themes and characters still have relevance today. Morrison is one of the world's literary gifts, and should not be missed. THE SONG OF SOLOMON is one of her best novels.
best book ever December 9, 2003
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
i highly recommend this book. her writing is absolutely incredible. she "gets it."
POWERFUL! November 25, 2003
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
A MUST READ. IT SHOULD BE MADE INTO A FILM. ONE OF MY FAVORITES. YOU LAUGH, YOU CHEER, YOU CRY. YOU FEEL!
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