TONI MORRISON is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to Home (2012). She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She lives in New York.
Praise for Toni Morrison's
GOD HELP THE CHILD "Utterly compelling . . . Morrison remains an
incredibly powerful writer who commands attention."
-Roxane Gay, The Guardian "God Save the Child is superb, its story
gliding along the tracks of Morrison's utterly assured prose."
-Charles Finch, USA Today (critic's pick) "Morrison is such a
masterful writer that even those who don't prefer stream of
conscious novels may find them sucked into these minds, turning
page after page of this short novel until they've finished the book
in one sitting."
-Sarah Hutchins, Portland Book Review "Toni Morrison [is] still
breaking new literary ground . . . a readable and entrancing novel
that rivals her earlier work in its powerful range of effects . . .
This novel is worth reading on the strength of Morrison's narrative
talents alone. But it also makes an inviting introduction to her
entire body of work. 'God Help the Child' finds this American
legend still breaking new ground and, as always, delivering an
uncompromising and memorable novel."
-Jack Pender, Waterloo Region Record "A wrenching tale."
-Entertainment Weekly "Morrison possesses enough generosity of
spirit to see a few glimmering moments of genuine hope amid the
ruin, along with the intellectual heft needed to understand their
context, and the graciousness to share them with us."
-Andrew Ervin, Philadelphia Inquirer "The prose is lean,
uncluttered. Morrison's novelistic architectures have always been
exceptionally well-designed; she crafts the vessels, carefully and
uniquely to each story, before pouring in the water, and God Help
the Child is no exception."
-Cleveland Plain Dealer "[Morrison's] powers are proudly on display
in God Help the Child. At its best, this new novel demonstrates
that the author is, as she suggested recently in a New York Times
Magazine profile, fully capable of writing novels forever."
-The Atlantic "A searing, lyrical story . . . Even Morrison's minor
characters are complex, intriguing people deserving of closer
inspection, and as Bride's journey acquires a momentum of its own,
the magnetism of her troubles pulls the reader along . . .
Beautifully composed in a variety of distinct voices and covering a
range of family concerns, God Help the Child employs a hint of
magical realism and explores issues of race and women's lives
familiar to fans of Morrison's fiction. The story of Bride's life
and trials is sensual, both delicate and strong, poetic and heavy
with sex, love and pain, exemplifying a revered author's unfailing
talent.
-Julia Jenkins "With 'God Help Help the Child, ' Morrison gives us
an unflinching look at the wounds that adults can inflict on
children with life-altering consequences . . . By the final page,
'God Help the Child' reminds us that few authors can deliver
exquisitely written prose as Morrison."
-Patrik Bass, Essence.com "A slim, modest work that still manages
to pack an emotional wallop."
-Boston Globe "Another unflinching, gorgeously written story."
-San Francisco Chronicle "Every page contains at least one passage
of breathtaking prose, a lyrical flow accentuated by stark imagery
and laden with poetic contrasts."
-Dallas Morning News "Morrison has a Shakespearean sense of
tragedy, and that gift imbues God Help the Child. The ending is
exquisite, bringing to mind Gwendolyn Brooks' wonderful lines: 'Art
hurts. Art urges voyages -- and it is easier to stay at home.'"
-Newsday
"A book to be read twice at a minimum -- the first time for the
story, and the second time to savor the language, the gems of
phrasing and the uncomfortable revelations about the human capacity
both to love and destroy."
-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Succinct but beautiful, with a powerful
message that will reach readers of all demographics, because
frankly, we all have things in our pasts we'd like to change. The
power is not in time travel; the power is in realizing we must move
on and push forward to succeed."
-SheKnows.com "Morrison . . . proved with God Help the Child that
her writing is still as fresh, adventurous and vigorous as ever . .
. Morrison's characteristically deft temporal she fits and
precisely hones language deliver literary riches galore. And which
this novel is very readable, the pleasure is in working for its
deeper rewards."
-The Observer
"Like a Picasso painting telling a story in a multi-dimensional
series of superimposed snapshot as each character becomes ever more
rounded and complete."
-Independent on Sunday "Not for nothing has Morrison been garlanded
with a Novel Prize, Pulitzer and National Book Critics Circle
Award. There's always a sense of grand occasion when Morrison
releases a book, and with good reason: the journey is always vivid,
dazzling and rich, each paragraph a mealy morsel in its own right.
A highly personal and affecting tale that manages to be deftly
political, God Help the Child is emotionally rousing and
gut-wrenching."
-Irish Independent "True to style, the Nobel and Pulitzer
Prize-winning Morrison uses simple yet poetic prose as she tackles
timely issues in a timeless way."
-Big Issue in the North "Powerful . . . attests to her ability to
write intensely felt chamber pieces that inhabit a twilight world
between fable and realism, and to convey the desperate yearnings of
her characters for safety and love and belonging . . . Writing with
gathering speed and assurance as the book progresses, Ms. Morrison
works her narrative magic, turning the Ballad of Bride and Booker
into a tale that is as forceful as it is affecting, as fierce as it
is resonant."
-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Toni Morrison is one of the
gods who walk among us. A righteous, fearless teller of necessary
truths . . . sensually written and commanding."
-Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair, May 2015 "It is a beautiful thing
to watch Morrison move characters through the full range of human
emotion and into cathartic transformation. Here, Morrison shows us
the importance of not holding on to what needs to be put down; the
necessity of forgiveness, the necessity of beginning again."
-Hope Wabuke, The Root "Nobel laureate Morrison continues to add to
her canon of eloquent, brilliantly conceived novels defining the
crises and cultural shifts of our times . . . Yet another finely
distilled masterpiece."
-Jane Ciabattari, BBC "Powerful portraits in lean prose . . . . The
pieces all fit together seamlessly in a story about beating back
the past, confronting the present, and understanding one's
worth."
-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal, (starred review) "Sly, savage,
honest, and elegant . . . . Morrison spikes elements of realism and
hyperrealism with magic and mayhem, while sustaining a sexily
poetic and intoxicating narrative atmosphere . . . . Once again,
Morrison thrillingly brings the storytelling moxie and mojo that
make her, arguably, our greatest living novelist."
-Lisa Shea, ELLE Magazine "A chilling oracle and a lively
storyteller, Nobel winner Morrison continues the work she began 45
years ago with The Bluest Eye."
-Kirkus (Starred Review) "Another dazzler from Nobel laureate
Morrison."
-Barbara Hoffert's Fiction Picks, Library Journal
"Emotionally-wrenching . . . [Morrison's] literary craftsmanship
endures with sparse language, precise imagery, and even humor. This
haunting novel displays a profound understanding of American
culture and an unwavering sense of justice and forgiveness."
-Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) From the Hardcover edition.
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