Goodreads Review: Sula

Sula by Toni Morrison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

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