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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In an effort to hide his southern, working class roots, Macon Dead, an upper-class northern black businessman, tries to insulate his family from the danger and despair of the rank and file blacks with whom he shares the neighbourhood. The plan leads his son, "Milkman"--a named he earned after his mother nursed him well past the proper age--onto a path exactly opposite the one his father had hoped. Milkman is driven into the arms of a violent, lower-class woman, into a clandestine circle of blacks who repay white violence in kind and into an awareness that he can fulfil his own potential by understanding the mistakes of his ancestors as they relate to his own.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
WINNER OF THE 1993 NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE.
'A complex, wonderfully alive and imaginative story...glittering' - Daily Telegraph
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This title was suggested to me for my Scottish Higher in English as a true reflection of the experiences of African-Americans over the last century, and, I can truly testify that it acheived this purpose along with a myriad of others. Readers will find themselves gripped by the story of different generations of a Black family in America and, although Morrison claims that she shuns the 'universal' novel and writes solely for her own people, in this novel the raw humanity of her vivid characters brings one face to face with the brutal realities of life. The spiritual references can seem confusing without some background knowledge and the novel is somewhat pessimistic, but 'Song of Solomon' is a must read nonetheless.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First published in 1977 Song of Solomon was Morrison's most successful novel to date. In a way it is a bildungsroman about the development of a young man, Milkman Dead, but it also taps into cultural and family memory to explore the complexities of black identity. There is an element of a puzzle, as Milkman gradually uncovers his family past and the past of his culture. Morrison shows how for black people in America, family identity is closely connected to the wider culture and history of America. In travelling South Milkman casts off the trappings of one identity - middle class modernity - and delves into his roots and true legacy. Yet there is nothing simplistic in Morrison's view of black history and identity as we see in Milkman's discovery of his Native American side and the complex blending of modes of narrative and expression. Her work could never be described as narrowly "black" fiction or "women's" fiction. Set mainly in the 1960s, the novel explores the issue of assimilation into white middle class America but it doesn't set up essentialist oppositions of black vs white society. There is an acknowledgement of the hybrid nature of America, as well as an assertion of the right of oppressed peoples to a culture and history often denied them.
Morrison deals with these issues but at the same time the novel succeeds on a dramatic level, with superb characterisation and facsinating sub-plots. It is at times angry, moving and even funny - the scene where Milkman and his friend Guitar satirise white hypocrisy towards race could be a Richard Pryor routine.
The novel confirmed Morrison as a serious writer, one who innovates technically and addresses serious themes, while maintaining a masterful grasp on plot, dialogue and characterisation.
Morrison deals with these issues but at the same time the novel succeeds on a dramatic level, with superb characterisation and facsinating sub-plots. It is at times angry, moving and even funny - the scene where Milkman and his friend Guitar satirise white hypocrisy towards race could be a Richard Pryor routine.
The novel confirmed Morrison as a serious writer, one who innovates technically and addresses serious themes, while maintaining a masterful grasp on plot, dialogue and characterisation.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Filled with imagery and symbolism from the Bible, this magisterial novel also draws on the epic tradition, tracing the roots of four generations of an African-American family as they fight a series of battles--against the legacy of slavery and racism, the loss of cultural values and roots, the trauma of injustice, and the self-centeredness resulting from economic success. For all its elegance of development and seriousness of purpose, however, this 1977 novel by Toni Morrison is decidedly earthy, filled with unusual characters and exciting, often sensuous, stories about a family descended from Solomon, a freed slave who, according to legend, flew on his own wings back to Africa, leaving his wife and twenty-one children behind.
The male protagonist, Milkman Dead, is the arrogant son of a wealthy slumlord. His aunt Pilate, a poor woman whose life is filled with love, is so vibrant a contrast and so dominating a force in the family, however, that she becomes the fulcrum upon which the action turns. Milkman's selfishness vs. Pilate's compassion, his desire to escape from the family vs. her need to remember its stories and its past, his love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude toward women vs. her generosity of spirit ("If I'd-a knowed more people, I'd-a loved more," she says)--parallel the tensions which seize every generation of this family.
The novel develops impressionistically, not chronologically, as stories about characters from four generations unfold, seemingly at random. The relationships of all these characters, along with the time line in which they live, evolve only gradually. When Milkman's father, Macon Dead, Jr., tells him the story about how he, accompanied by his sister Pilate, killed a man in a cave and then discovered many bags of the man's gold, Milkman begins the journey which will lead to his discovery of who he is and what gives real meaning to life. In an effort to find the missing gold, he travels to the farm where earlier generations of the family lived, discovering, in the process, the missing links in the family's chain of memories.
Racism is a pervading theme, from the flight of Solomon to the execution of Macon Dead on his own land, and, in the 1960s, the formation of The Seven Days, a vigilante group that kills whites in direct proportion to the number of blacks killed and left unavenged. The novel is primarily about an arrogant young man's self-discovery, however, and the importance of being connected. Lyrical, richly descriptive, powerfully dramatic, and filled with symbols and motifs that connect Milkman in universal ways to the Bible and to the earliest epics, this is Toni Morrison at her best. Mary Whipple
The male protagonist, Milkman Dead, is the arrogant son of a wealthy slumlord. His aunt Pilate, a poor woman whose life is filled with love, is so vibrant a contrast and so dominating a force in the family, however, that she becomes the fulcrum upon which the action turns. Milkman's selfishness vs. Pilate's compassion, his desire to escape from the family vs. her need to remember its stories and its past, his love-'em-and-leave-'em attitude toward women vs. her generosity of spirit ("If I'd-a knowed more people, I'd-a loved more," she says)--parallel the tensions which seize every generation of this family.
The novel develops impressionistically, not chronologically, as stories about characters from four generations unfold, seemingly at random. The relationships of all these characters, along with the time line in which they live, evolve only gradually. When Milkman's father, Macon Dead, Jr., tells him the story about how he, accompanied by his sister Pilate, killed a man in a cave and then discovered many bags of the man's gold, Milkman begins the journey which will lead to his discovery of who he is and what gives real meaning to life. In an effort to find the missing gold, he travels to the farm where earlier generations of the family lived, discovering, in the process, the missing links in the family's chain of memories.
Racism is a pervading theme, from the flight of Solomon to the execution of Macon Dead on his own land, and, in the 1960s, the formation of The Seven Days, a vigilante group that kills whites in direct proportion to the number of blacks killed and left unavenged. The novel is primarily about an arrogant young man's self-discovery, however, and the importance of being connected. Lyrical, richly descriptive, powerfully dramatic, and filled with symbols and motifs that connect Milkman in universal ways to the Bible and to the earliest epics, this is Toni Morrison at her best. Mary Whipple
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Haunting, disturbing, beautiful
This is such masterpiece that nothing I write can do justice to it. You must read this for yourself if you are at all interesting in experiencing the creation of a genius.
Published 8 months ago by Simi Bignall
Slow but worth it
This book is part fable, part social commentary, and part family saga. But perhaps most of all it is the story of Milkman Dead growing up, becoming a man and trying to become... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Book 1981
a shame
sorry unfortunately i cannot get into this book, cannot get into the authors writting, might be me, or i just prefer a different syle of writting.
Published 22 months ago by Hope
Brilliant
A fantastic, page turning gem of a read.
I would without hesitation recommend this book.
I would without hesitation recommend this book.
Published on 14 Mar 2010 by Evieliz
A literary gem
Not only does Toni Morrison write beautiful and engaging prose, she's also a genius when it comes to portraying social issues and evoking social consciousness in her books. Read more
Published on 15 May 2007 by Sonia
A literary gem
Not only does Toni Morrison write beautiful and engaging prose, she's also a genius when it comes to portraying social issues and evoking social consciousness in her books. Read more
Published on 15 May 2007 by Sonia
"Solomon cut across the sky, Solomon gone home."
Filled with imagery and symbolism from the Bible, this magisterial novel also draws on the epic tradition, tracing the roots of four generations of an African-American family as... Read more
Published on 22 May 2006 by Mary Whipple
A Fantastic Book
This was the first book I've read of Toni Morrison, and I can't wait to read others. It is beautifully written and I feel as though I know Milkman personally. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2000
Toni does it again!
Her best book to date! Although I felt sad at the end of the book I also felt happiness and will to live life to the full. Read more
Published on 21 April 2000
For those who enjoy the deep and darker side of life.
Morrison has an admirable way of writing that is both straight forward and simple (for those of us who like that sort of thing) yet at the same time deep and distrubing (for those... Read more
Published on 30 Dec 1999
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