Song of Solomon [B1012]

1987 PB reprint of the 1977 original, with minor wear. National Book Critics Circle AwardWinner, 1977. In this celebrated novel, Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison created a new way of rendering the contradictory nuances of black life in America. Its earthy poetic language and striking use of folklore and myth established Morrison as a major voice in contemporary fiction. "Song of Solomon" begins with one of the most arresting scenes in our century's literature: a dreamlike tableau depicting a man poised on a roof, about to fly into the air, while cloth rose petals swirl above the snow-covered ground and, in the astonished crowd below, one woman sings as another enters premature labor. The child born of that labor, Macon (Milkman) Dead, will eventually come to discover, through his complicated progress to maturity, the meaning of the drama that marked his birth. Toni Morrison's novel is at once a romance of self-discovery, a retelling of the black experience in America that uncovers the inalienable poetry of that experience, and a family saga luminous in its depth, imaginative generosity, and universality. It is also a tribute to the ways in which, in the hands of a master, the ancient art of storytelling can be used to make the mysterious and invisible aspects of human life apparent, real, and firm to the touch.

From among the MANY recent 5 star Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "So intense, start to finish."; "For a long time I avoided Toni Morrison novels. I was scared of what I knew I would feel reading them and after reading "Song of Solomon" I know that I was right to be afraid but I'm so glad that I took that leap. This work of art that I don't even fully understand put into picture the complexities of life after slavery."; "I mean it when I say this book is completely unlike anything else I have ever read. It is officially my first Toni Morrison book, and now I cannot wait to read other books by her. I love the elements of magical realism throughout the story. It has so much to say about nearly everything that I'm not sure how to fully express it all here in a way that is coherent. The last bit I will write for this review is just a short quote from the book that I found particularly noteworthy: 'Perhaps that's what all human relationships boil down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?' "