Book Review: Love by Toni Morrison

Author: Toni Morrison
Title: Love
Narrator: Toni Morrison
Publication Info: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group Summary/Review:

I previously reviewed Love on LibraryThing in 2006.

This novel is about two women who were once close but now hate one another but nevertheless share a large house due to a conflict over inheritance of the property.  Heed and Christine both had a relationship with Bill Cosey, the owner of a successful beach resort for Black vacationers from the 1930s to the 1980s.  The nonlinear narrative skips back and forth between past and present to explore Cosey’s relationship with Heed and Christine and several other women, each of whom seem to be poisoned by his moral failings.

The novel explores several issues including family, resentment, reconciliation, and love. Over 60 years, the Civil Rights Movement has a negative effect on a resort that enjoyed its greatest success under Jim Crow.  This novel also has one of the most surprising twists that was still unsettling even though this is the second time I’ve read the book and knew it was coming. Morrison’s writing and plotting is excellent and I love that this novel ends with redemption.

Rating: ****