Book Review - A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I found A Mercy on a shelf when visiting my husband's family in July and when I finished all the books I had brought with me I knew I had to start reading it. I love Toni Morrison but with one thing and another I just hadn't gotten around to reading her latest novel.
Even though she hadn't read it yet my Mother-in-Law let me bring it home with me when I wasn't able to finish it during the trip and I am so grateful. Just like each Toni Morrison book I have read in the past A Mercy is full of soul and a down to earth approach that is rarely found in literature. She has a wonderful way of making life experiences I have never had and could never even image having somehow approachable.
This is a tale of the women on one farm in the late 17th century, there are men and of course they come and go as men seem to do but this story is a women's story, the mistress, the slave women and the slave girls who become women.
We learn how they got where they are and where they plan to go. And as I said even though these concepts are so foreign to me Morrison has a way of breaking it all down to a point where I find myself relating to the yearning of Florens to be free and Lina to hold her child and protect her relationship with mistress and Sorrow's need to shelter and encompass her new baby.
Not just recommended but a must for anyone who enjoys Toni Morrison.