It is time for change; slowly but inexorably the spirit of the age finds a new voice. The white lords and black subhumans begin to alter their established, longstanding social positions. From this sense of foreboding out comes Sula.The black community confined to the hills up there in a small Ohio town is made, through centuries of social conditioning, to treat themselves as different and separate from the white people. What an incredible fact of human psychology that, even if that community doesn’t lose its self-respect and self-reliance, it accepts the role to which its oppressor designates it.They are scandalised when Sula, one of their own, launches herself on a path that's opening up out there, a path of education and mobility, in the manner of white people. And what's more, there is nothing more insulting, more demeaning, than a proud black girl willingly and happily letting white men mount her; nothing more sacrilegious than dressing like white people, speaking like them, behaving like them - oh, being like them!Sula, therefore, becomes a pariah in her own community, uncomprehending and incomprehensible. The ominous signs spread about testify to something strange. People see those signs in retrospect, from her birth to childhood, from her growing up as a daughter of a woman abandoned by her husband, from the way she looked at them when she was a child, the way she walked and sat, ate and gestured. Sula, they reach on a terrifying conclusion, is not a young black girl but a phantom implanted from a world of terrifying absurdity.Sula’s character may be seen as symbolic of the changing values that had held together isolated, nebulous, inward-looking black communities across the United States before the whites took pity on them. Values constructed so carefully over centuries when challenged elicit a response that’s always out of proportion. Sula is a couldn't-care-less woman whose threatening individuality alienates her from her community. For this she is taken to task. But then why does she send her rather well doing grandmother to an old people’s home that exists for impecunious destitutes there is no one around to care for? Why does she and her best childhood friend Nel, who as though one soul in two bodies, never needing to communicate with each other in words, undergo a painful split when Sula betrays her so unthinkably? Why did Sula’s ten years with white folks change her?These are the question you’ll have to answer for yourself: in connection with the change that has come or independent of it, something to do with Sula’s troubled early years, living as she did with her mother who had taken to whoring as the most natural vocation a woman might take when her husband walked out on her – thus fracturing relations with neighbours of the street and the town. In that, Sula and her mother aren’t much different. So what made Sula, Sula? Something has definitely changed but what? It is everywhere, when Sula lies on her deathbed, the dark matter of the unknown can be sensed and touched.I took away a star for the unforgivable lacunae in the construction of the novel. It’s a rather short one – 170 or so pages – but there is no trace of Sula for the first 50 pages. If I am reading a novel that relies so heavily on one central character, why should I have to be introduced in so much detail to minor characters that disappear in the subsequent pages. There are quite a few unused “Chekhov’s guns” in this novel.
I love, love, loved this novel. I absolutely did not want it to end. What an amazing and sweetly horrific and human reading experience. Madame Toni's riff on friendship, and meditation of relationships and of love....Here's my review:I discovered the magic of Toni Morrison’s prose and language ten years ago when I was a freshman in undergrad. The first Morrison work I’ve read was “The Bluest Eye”, which to me was a magical experience; except now with constant re-readings to teach for high schoolers, it’s a problematic novel in spite of the magic. Muddled subplots, over 100 characters, and disjointed passages of both third person and first person Faulkneresque stream-of-consciousness it’s not this masterpiece of storytelling; but of how magical her syntax could be. Next was “Tar Baby” and “Song of Solomon”, fairly straightforward narratives about love, rage and self-discovery during coming of age. Jadine and Milkman Dead: unforgettable. Over the years, “Beloved”, “Paradise”, “Love” and “A Mercy” all came in quick succession, with “Jazz” being my favorite. Perhaps it was the style and genre of music I love most is why I’ve had an affinity with that violent and haunting novel—for me, it truly was Morrison’s most atmospheric novel; whereas “Paradise” her most disturbing and most gruesome—it turned off too many readers. But now it’s quite lauded in academia. “Love” was too convoluted for me to fathom; and “Beloved” actually lives up to its hype—and for me, the best novel about the American Reconstruction ever written.I’ve read all of them--- The Bluest Eye, Tar Baby, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Jazz, Paradise, Love, A Mercy except that small one in the beginning of La Morrison’s career: “Sula”. What did I finally think?Sula is a powerful, unforgettable compact novel, metaphorically symbolizing a woman who represents our need to find a scapegoat on those who are different. Sure it sounds like a clichéd theme done over and over again. But for a novel written in 1973; and a novel that followed up the famous flop turned bestseller, “The Bluest Eye”, it’s an irresistible follow-up.At the crux of this story is Nel the conformist, and her best friend, the eccentric Sula. Sula is a reprieve from Nel’s strict Christian upbringing and separate after high school ends. Then Sula returns: the jezebel! Stealing Nel’s man, Jude along the way and becomes hated. What becomes of their friendship, you may ask….?Along the way—a drowning, a kerosene gas suicide, burning, and a plague of robins all show up to haunt the town of The Bottom…where this sorrowful and sweet tale takes place. And it’s a wonderfully campy novel too.I’m so glad I finally finished it during Spring break. I’ve realized I read Madame Morrison best when I’m not teaching. It gives me time to soak in the wonderful prose she’s written.
What do You think about Sula (2002)?
Overall, Sula has to be one of my favorite books. I love everything about it. It was an insight to a dysfunctional society and how strong of a character Sula is. She is hated amongst many of the people in town and still manages to have things her way. Sula follows by example, which in this story is not exactly a horrible thing to do in my opinion. I completely disagree with the fact that she slept around with many men including Jude, Nel’s husband. I love the fact that she did what her mother di
—Aislyn
Now this is interesting. After reading a book, I always go on Wikipedia to read the plot summary just in case I missed anything. One thing that caught my attention is that this particular Wikipedia entry said that Sula can be considered the main antagonist of the book. Shoot. If this were an Ayn Rand novel, Sula would most certainly be the protagonist. And that's because she lives life how she wants to and doesn't regret her actions. In Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy, Sula's "selfishness" could be seen as a virtue. But in any other novel, the acts she does are seen as evil. And since this is my first Toni Morrison novel, I can see that "evil" can actually be a good thing in a Morrison story. But it's still evil. There's no denying that. The author makes that quite clear. What I like about this book is its poetic nature. It's almost like stream of consciousness writing as events seamlessly drift into others, and you're not quite sure how you got there, but it certainly fits. I love that about this book. But what I don't like is that the narrative thread feels a bit too loose. Never did I feel like I was reading an actual story with direction. Not until, that is, the last few pages when everything wraps itself up and connects to the beginning, which feels like a forced conclusion. Telling the story through the years didn't feel entirely necessary. Still, it kept my attention and it's rather short. I plan to read more from Ms. Morrison. I can see why she's won so many awards (Including the Nobel Prize). Her writing is solid.
—Richard Knight
all these new editions of morrison’s books have the same author photo on the back. and it’s been causing problems. check it out:despite that weird author hand placement thing, i've been kinda seriously obsessing over all these pictures of morrison's huge lion's head, piercing eyes, and silver dreads... and as i plow through her body of work i stare at her face for some external indication of all the furious demented & psychotic shit she flings at us. by all appearances she's a lovely woman. & i just don't get it. it's gotten to the point where i've gotta stick duct tape over the author photo so that everytime i read some crazyass shit and my OCD flares up, i'm unable to flip to the back cover and snicker/mumble to a photograph and an empty room. again with the hands.
—brian
