“A Mercy” by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison’s A Mercy just didn’t work for me. At only 167 pages, I thought I’d finish it quickly; it took me days. There were myriad ostensibly sympathetic characters, yet none of them felt deep, connected and complex enough to engage me. Morrison switches between third and first person narration among the characters; this only made me feel further alienated from this book.
Don’t be afraid. My telling can’t hurt you in spite of what I have done and I promise to lie quietly in the dark–weeping perhaps or occasionally seeing the blood once more–but I will never again rise up and bare teeth.
and
Lina is unimpressed by the festive mood, the jittery satisfaction of everyone involved, and had refused to enter or go near it. That third and presumably final house that Sir insisted on building distorted sunlight and required the death of fifty trees.
Morrison is a great writer; her Beloved is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. This book, which addresses some of the same issues, felt like a faint echo of that work. It’s uncomfortable not to like a work that others have praised and one by a great artist. But my reaction to it is mine, and the opinion of this blogger. YMMV.
Most reviews have been positive (EW and NYT,) and the book made many best-of-2008 lists. The Atlantic notes the anachronisms of the dialogue, among other things, a critique echoed in this mixed review from The Telegraph.
March 20th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I have this one on hold at the library and will probably pick it up tomorrow. It’s not necessarily the next Morrison I would read, having only read one other book by her (Song of Solomon, which I read earlier this year), but the queue for it is unsurprisingly lengthy and I do want to read it for the tournament. While I look forward to just 167 pages, I won’t be surprised if it takes me a while to get through…
March 21st, 2009 at 9:40 am
I just read both the decision and commentary on its match at the Tournament of Books, and while I continue to feel somewhat abashed for not appreciating A Mercy more, I now feel compelled to read The Dart King League. How is it that the loser book has more interest to me?
March 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
While I am not feeling compelled to read Dart League King (it’s really a non-issue anyway, as my library system doesn’t even own a copy), I have had a similar experience to you in reading the commentary about the competitors in this year’s ToB - rather than feeling an urge to read the winners, I find myself more intrigued by the losing books (and the commentary seems to suggest that they haven’t necessarily been agreeing with the judging outcomes).