TONI MORRISON is the author of eleven novels and three essay collections. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.
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)
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