It took three months to decide whether I wanted to switch to the audio and pick up the physical next year when I get into my classics era. Listening to Toni Morrison read is an experience. It felt like floating on a cloud and I loved it! It was the best thing I could’ve done because the font size in the book was borderline hurting me. Who knows why publishers do this, the book isn’t even long.

As for the story, the complexity of the characters and elimination of time forces you to pay attention to every word. This is not an easy book to read, and listening to the audiobook (I’ll be honest) you lose a lot of the story because [I believe] only the abridged version is available. I know I missed out on chunks of this which is unfortunate and why I plan on rereading it next year.

Morrison tells stories in a way that it feels like she’s speaking to the reader directly. Like she knows these people irl. It reminded me of someone who would be telling you something but kept branching off but found their way back—filling in a bigger picture. It left me lost, and sometimes I wasn’t sure who’s head I was in. Still, as a writer, I found that impressive. This is the kind of book you can read a dozen times and find something new each time. This is not the kind of book to be rushed. It will be confusing, and hard to get through for some.