Beloved

I can’t remember which came first: being assigned Beloved in my high school English class or finding the three volume collection of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, and Sula in a used bookstore. 

Regardless, I do remember reading Beloved over a long weekend in the dorm room I was assigned during a prospective students’ visit to the University of Dallas. Rather than socializing, I immersed myself in the world of Sethe, Denver, Paul D and Beloved.  I remember being challenged by “124” and trying to wrap my head around the horrors of slavery and its effect on subsequent generations. But also, entranced, as millions of others have been, by Morrison’s style and storytelling.

For more on Morrison’s life, I recommend this article and interview of its author, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah.