Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.
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Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison is considered one of America's finest novelists for her profound and provocative works of fiction. Visit Amazon's Toni Morrison Page. |
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Amazon.com Review
The third novel from one America's most powerful writers turns 20 years old in 1997, but Song of Solomon long ago ascended to the top shelf in the ranks of great literature. This Everyman's Library hardcover edition of the Nobel Prize-winning Morrison's lyrical, powerful, and erudite novel contains a chronology that situates the book in its historical context, and an introduction from author Reynolds Price.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
This new version of Morrison's 1977 novel is a fitting reminder of her early creative mastery. Song of Solomon is a powerful, sensual, and poetic exploration of four generations of a family mistakenly named Dead. Told through the eyes of "Milkman," a rare male protagonist in Morrison's wonderful catalog of unforgettable characters, we discover a century's worth of secrets, ghosts, and troubles. Milkman is faced with resolving the differing memories of his parents and his mysterious aunt Pilate, while questioning the historically charged realities thrown at him by the death of real-life victims of racism like Emmett Till as viewed by his lifelong friend Guitar. Lynne Thigpen was born to tell the author's stories, catching every lyrical note and each painful cry. A perfect marriage of author and reader, this will win new audiences and reassure audio veterans that by listening to books one truly can appreciate the magic of storytelling.
-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
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91 of 99 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
With passion and a voice that sings with beautiful detail and magic, Toni Morrison's third novel, published in 1977, is a powerful tale that follows the lives of a black family and their friends living in a Michigan city. In 1931, Macon Dead III, later nicknamed Milkman, is prematurely brought into the world, the first black child born in Mercy Hospital, just after his mother witnesses the brief flight of a man determined to fly from the cupola of the hospital. Although the novel revolves around Milkman, the stories spun out from him embrace a wide variety of characters and experiences. Morrison explores the lasting stamp of slavery through the name of Macon Dead; the intimate culture of women through Pilate, Reba, and Hagar; the hunger for property and respectability through Milkman's father; the idea of one's "people" through those in the South who have not forgotten connections; the violence of civil rights through Guitar; and many more issues facing blacks of the times and today. Despite the resonance of history, this novel is ultimately about its people and their eagerly lived lives. Morrison plunges her readers into their hearts with a humanity and skill too few novelists possess. The result is a remarkably emotional and intelligent story that will stay with you for a long time.
Readers should not be intimidated by Morrison's Nobel Prize Winner status, as this novel, like most of her others, is written in startling but accessible language. You don't need an advanced degree (or even a specific race or gender) to slip into her magical prose. Her characters are real and fully realized, and feel like friends, even when you might want to shake them to their senses. Although some readers will be puzzled by the end, wanting perhaps the next sentence that explains it all, Morrison has included by her omission the real meaning of her book. Visit with it for a few moments before closing the cover.
I highly recommend this book for a wide range of readers, from high school students to adults. Even though it was written in the 1970's, its themes and characters still have relevance today. Morrison is one of the world's literary gifts, and should not be missed. THE SONG OF SOLOMON is one of her best novels.
66 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've read SOS going on four or five times now, floored, awestruck, enraptured each time, every twist and turn a new surprise arrives. Milkman is a wonderful archetype for a Black man searching for what he can claim as his own. His mind, his body, his sex, money? What is his and not tainted by the past, by racism, by internal family feuding? This is what I call a "Patience Book", you have to sit with it the way you would sit with a child on a Sunday afternoon. Patience. You have to breathe in rhythm with this book. Morrison is one of those few writers that it's silly to ask all of your questions of even after you finish the book. Pick it right back up and breathe, savor each page, have patience. It is not an easy read for it is literature and you are reading, truly reading. Not surfing through pulp fiction knwoing that the hero lives, the heroine is saved and everybody sleeps well on the last page. Uh uh. Patience. What else but patience could you use to understand Magdalene, Pilate, Corinthians? My all time, all time, all time favorite literary scene that chills me, tears me up, knocks me around hard and then uplifts me: Pilate at the funeral. "That was my baby, That's my baby, AND SHE WAS LOVED!"
Honey, welcome to real African American literature, impossible to translate to film for this is patience reading. Patience, free at last, free at last!
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Song of Solomon" is the third book I've read of Toni Morrison. The prose is beautiful, subtle and unique. She is the winner of both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize. Read this novel, and you will understand why!
From the fantastic opening scene - when Robert Smith, the insurance collector, is about to "fly" from the top of a building, some forty, fifty people gathered on the ground to watch. One of them, a woman is standing there, singing, and another woman entering labor - to the ending, this book held my full attention. I just could not put this book down!
In telling this beautiful story, Morrison cleverly mix together elements of magic, myth, and folklore. The style of the book reminds me of the book "One hundred years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. Both novels share many similarities, and they are books which you have to "think" while reading them.
The characters in "Song of Solomon" are each very well developed. It is almost as if you know them all personally and one cannot help but to care deeply for them all. This is the only book I have read by Toni Morrison that features a male lead. I wouldn't know, but based on the opinion of other reviewers on Amazon.com Morrison masters the task of "being male" perfectly well.
"Song of Solomon" is considered to be Toni Morrison's masterpiece, and the novel is one of my all-time favorites. If you read only one novel by Toni Morrison, it should be this one!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
African American gothic
Songs of Solomon or Songs of Songs is supposed to be the "sexy" part of the Bible. It documents a courtship and consummation. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Natalie E. Ramm
Breath-taking!
Toni Morrison brilliantly captivates the reader with this novel. She continues the theme of the three-woman household as in Sula and invites the reader to indulge in the suspension... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Natarielle Powell
Song of Solomon
I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book!!! I could hear each character speaking in their own voice as if they were real. Toni Morrison exceeded my expectations 10 times over!!! Read more
Published 6 months ago by pacino615
A Myth of Flight
Morrison's 1977 epic masterwork, Song of Solomon, is underpinned by a myth of flight, an image of transcendence, and a return to the ancestral homeland. Read more
Published 6 months ago by rejoyce
Amazing.
I loved this book, the story was odd and different. The characters were odd and different, and the humor was odd and different. Read more
Published 7 months ago by VashtiReadingAndSuch
Interesting.
Song of Solomon, was a very interesting read. It reminded me a little of folk fantasy or science fiction. The story telling was wonderful I have to pick up the rest of her books.
Published 8 months ago by Kenya M. Lashley
Highly recommended book!
It is a great book, one of the best novels i have ever read. It speaks of the racial discrimination in the U.S during the 60s, highlight the human nature- how cruel humans can be. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Nop
Difficult but rewarding
Toni Morrison writes for effect. She is not for the bubble gum reader of trash novels. You have to pay attention and sometimes reread portions to get it. Read more
Published 12 months ago by BoLe
Secrets and Songs
I am trying to work my way through all of Toni Morrison's novels even the ones I have read before. I needed something to get me through the work day and my podcasts were just not... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Vernadette Barnes
Family Bonds
If you have not read "Song of Solomon" stop what you are doing and order this book. The way that jealousy and pain can affect a family shapes the pages of the characters lives in... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Marge
Inside This Book
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Citations (learn more)
100
books
cite this book:
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- Balancing the Books: Faulkner, Morrison and the Economies of Slavery (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory) by Erik Dussere on 19 pages
- Toni Morrison's Fiction (Understanding Contemporary American Literature) by Jan Furman on 19 pages
- Postslavery Literature in the Americas : Family Portraits in Black and White by George B. Handley on 15 pages
- Great Books for High School Kids: A Teacher's Guide to Books That Can Change Teens' Lives by Rick Ayers on 15 pages
- Reading Africa into American Literature: Epics, Fables, and Gothic Tales by Keith Cartwright on 14 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
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