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/lit/ - Literature

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1271782 No.1271782 [Reply] [Original]

Is Toni Morrison's Beloved an appropriate book for sixth-graders, in terms of both reading difficulty and fucked-uppedness? I dimly remember my sixth grade language arts teacher having us read it, but I'm rereading Song of Solomon now and this was over my head when I was a high school senior, so I can't even imagine

>> No.1271814

It would be more appropriate for high school.

>> No.1271941

Probably not appropriate for sixth graders, what with all the cattle-fucking, dead babies, and rape scenes.

>> No.1272036

>>1271941
Yeah, I didn't want to look up the plot on Wikipedia and spoil myself, but you can pretty reliably count on T-Mo for some crazy fucked up shit. I always find it bizarre the way some people lump her in with kind of touchy-feely Raisin Bran lit; I know Oprah loves her and all but she writes very raw, violent, vivid weird stuff

>> No.1272039

The style is appropriate, and the sentences are easy to comprehend. However, some of the themes and the scenery such as the scene where one of the characters is in the work camp, with the cages and the rain and the piss and the shit

>> No.1272055

The Bluest Eye was total shit.

>> No.1272062

Did any of you guys read A Mercy? I read it for a book club at work to suck up to my boss and actually ended up loving it

>> No.1273724

Yeah, my Dad gave me Beloved for Christmas when I was 12... I read about half of it and put it under my bed for 4 years or so and then finished it. I think it is pretty hardcore for pre-teens.
I loved Song of Solomon, and it is less weird/upsetting/adult. Borrowed it from my college roommate freshman year, read it in two hours and started bawling at the end, still not sure why...

>> No.1273744

In Ann Charters biography of Morrison, on pages 48-53, she describes how Toni Morrison helped cover up the unprovoked murder of a gay man by one of his friends while living in NYC in the early 1960's. Morrison disposed of the murder weapon (a knife) by dropping it into a storm drain, and didn't report the crime until brought in and questioned by the police.

Morrison, what a bitch.

>> No.1273769

>>1273744

Uh, I'm pretty sure that was Kerouac.

You're probably confusing it with the time that Toni Morrison and Joan Vollmer were in Mexico, and Toni Morrison suggested they play "William Tell" and ended up shooting Vollmer in the forehead.

But Toni was really fucked up on smack at that point in her career.