Sula (1973)

Sula is an unusual story about two inseparable friends—Sula and Nel—who share a guilty secret when they are twelve. As grownups, they follow separate paths, meeting again when they are thirty only to discover they are no longer the same people. Set in the colored section of Medallion, Ohio, called The Bottom, the story begins in 1919 after WWI and ends in 1965. It is beautifully written and peppered with colorful yet tragic characters living through hard times. ( )

Sula by African American female writer Toni Morrison demonstrates definitively why she was awarded the Nobel Prize. Her prose borders on poetry, painting rich and detailed pictures in very few words.
The general tone of this book strongly conveys the desperation and poverty Black Americans endure as the result of racism without ever talking about racism. Every moment, every episode hinges on the impoverished, second class citizen status of the character, yet the story is universal, the characters are not stereotypes but instead are typical of characters existing anywhere in the world. Sula and her friend Nel represent two very different types of people, those that are crushed by their circumstances and others who stand above them even as they continue to be marginalized.
The storyline begins with a scene from WW I and proceeds through the next several years tracing the lives of the protagonists, of their relationship with each other and with others, and of their ultimate movement in vastly different directions.
This is a powerful read eliciting empathy and compassion from any thoughtful reader. ( )

I must admit: I selected this book to read because I needed an award-winning book from my birth year (still not certain whether they meant one written the year I was born or one that won its award that year). I’d never actually read anything by Toni Morrison, so it seemed a reasonable opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Lovely writing, undeniably. Gorgeous word-painting. But it’s just possible that it’s been too long since I took a dive into literary fiction, because I sat back at the end and shook my head in bafflement. It took going to a review site and being shown all the symbolism and thematic significance and subtextual explorations of motherhood for me to see any of it at all.

For me, I felt bad for Nel. (Also, little bit unnerved by the whole flashback of what she felt about Chicken Little’s death. Didn’t see that coming.) Sort of wondered if Sula had some sort of psychopathy going on, with all her thought about only seeing herself in Nel, and then only in pain and loneliness. REALLY didn’t see the whole thing with Shadrack coming, and if there’s some sort of symbolism there (review site didn’t mention it), then it went WAY over my head.

I don’t think I liked it, but maybe I was just unable to grasp why I should. ( )

I'm not sure how to give stars to this book. There is some wonderful writing here, but some very graphic and disturbing scenes as well. I was struck by how dark the book is while still filled with light. I wouldn't say I liked it, but I did appreciate the writing. I think that like The Bluest Eye this book will haunt me. Toni Morrison's reading is quite slow and deliberate. An interesting approach. ( )

A vivid look at the life of a small-town African American community in the 1920s and 1930s. Though the blurbs made me think it would be a story of two women's friendship, it was as much about the townspeople and their dynamics and the context of Sula and Nel's friendship. ( )