What do you think?
Rate this book
Sweetness
It’s not my fault. So you can’t blame me. I didn’t do it and have no idea how it happened. It didn’t take more than an hour after they pulled her out...
5 pages, ebook
First published February 2, 2015
About the author
Toni Morrison
230 books21k followersToni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford) was an American author, editor, and professor who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed African American characters; among the best known are her novels The Bluest Eye , Song of Solomon , and Beloved , which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. In 2001 she was named one of "The 30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies' Home Journal.
Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed African American characters; among the best known are her novels The Bluest Eye , Song of Solomon , and Beloved , which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988. In 2001 she was named one of "The 30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies' Home Journal.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
October 22, 2023
4 "courageous, honest, difficult" stars !!
I was telling my GR friend Angela M. that I read numerous Toni Morrison books in my twenties and thirties and was a minor fan of her work although a major fan of her as a person.
I was saddened to hear of her passing and my bf and I saw a documentary about her just last month.
Here is a little trailer of the doc. and if you have a chance it is well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkw7...
This little story is paradoxically called Sweetness when much of it is about the bitterness of a light skinned black woman giving birth to a dark skinned black baby. Dealing with her internalized racism, shame and the loss of bonding with her little baby is mildly shocking, honest and terrifying.
This type of preferential skin treatment happens not just in Black communities but in South Asian, Jewish and Caucasian European ones as well. Females are often more impacted than their darker skinned brothers.
RIP Ms. Morrison and thank you for all you did in the fields of literature and raising race consciousness.
I was telling my GR friend Angela M. that I read numerous Toni Morrison books in my twenties and thirties and was a minor fan of her work although a major fan of her as a person.
I was saddened to hear of her passing and my bf and I saw a documentary about her just last month.
Here is a little trailer of the doc. and if you have a chance it is well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFkw7...
This little story is paradoxically called Sweetness when much of it is about the bitterness of a light skinned black woman giving birth to a dark skinned black baby. Dealing with her internalized racism, shame and the loss of bonding with her little baby is mildly shocking, honest and terrifying.
This type of preferential skin treatment happens not just in Black communities but in South Asian, Jewish and Caucasian European ones as well. Females are often more impacted than their darker skinned brothers.
RIP Ms. Morrison and thank you for all you did in the fields of literature and raising race consciousness.
August 8, 2019
Toni Morrison is a writer I have for a long time been meaning to read, but I never have until now. With the announcement of her death , I am compelled to read some of her work. I own a copy of Beloved and plan to read that next. Thanks to my GR friend Sara for the link to this thought provoking short story.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
August 8, 2019
Five powerful, emotional pages. Wow!
January 2, 2021
5★
“You should’ve seen my grandmother; she passed for white, married a white man, and never said another word to any one of her children. Any letter she got from my mother or my aunts she sent right back, unopened.”
This reminds me of the old Lana Turner movie where she left home to pass for white, leaving her dark-skinned mother. However, this is not that story.
Read it free at The New Yorker. It’s very short. https://www.newyorker.com/books/doubl...
I understand it’s an excerpt from a new book. I must look for it, because this is the first Morrison I’ve read and was prompted by the Bound Together group short story for the month following Morrison’s recent death. (Read the story first.)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I’m now rambling about something that interests me that is relevant to the subject of this story but not about the writing
I’ve been reading a few novels by African writers about African countries where It is mentioned that lighter skin is more desirable. Here are a couple of links to articles about skin-bleaching in other parts of the world, not about African Americans.
http://theconversation.com/bleached-g...
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsand...
Many Aboriginal families in Australia vary greatly in colour because their skin tone tends to get lighter in mixed marriages. (They are not African blacks.) This is leading to a different kind of problem where quite white-looking people who are Aboriginal are being denied their own heritage, the assumption being why would you want to claim aboriginality if you don’t “have to”?
Am I Black Enough For You? by Aussie Wiradjuri woman and author Anita Heiss is a good example of that. (If anyone’s interested, I did review it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
Sorry, I rambled, but it’s a topic that irks the bejeezus out of me! People are just weird.
“You should’ve seen my grandmother; she passed for white, married a white man, and never said another word to any one of her children. Any letter she got from my mother or my aunts she sent right back, unopened.”
This reminds me of the old Lana Turner movie where she left home to pass for white, leaving her dark-skinned mother. However, this is not that story.
Read it free at The New Yorker. It’s very short. https://www.newyorker.com/books/doubl...
I understand it’s an excerpt from a new book. I must look for it, because this is the first Morrison I’ve read and was prompted by the Bound Together group short story for the month following Morrison’s recent death. (Read the story first.)
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I’m now rambling about something that interests me that is relevant to the subject of this story but not about the writing
I’ve been reading a few novels by African writers about African countries where It is mentioned that lighter skin is more desirable. Here are a couple of links to articles about skin-bleaching in other parts of the world, not about African Americans.
http://theconversation.com/bleached-g...
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsand...
Many Aboriginal families in Australia vary greatly in colour because their skin tone tends to get lighter in mixed marriages. (They are not African blacks.) This is leading to a different kind of problem where quite white-looking people who are Aboriginal are being denied their own heritage, the assumption being why would you want to claim aboriginality if you don’t “have to”?
Am I Black Enough For You? by Aussie Wiradjuri woman and author Anita Heiss is a good example of that. (If anyone’s interested, I did review it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
Sorry, I rambled, but it’s a topic that irks the bejeezus out of me! People are just weird.
August 16, 2019
"I wasn’t a bad mother, you have to know that, but I may have done some hurtful things to my only child because I had to protect her. Had to."
R.I.P., Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate of Literature. If you feel the urge now to read her, try The Bluest Eye or Beloved, but any one of them will reveal why some pronounced her great. But if you can't at the moment make a commitment to a whole novel, try this short story that was published in The New Yorker in 2015.
A mother with a "high yellow" skin tone gives birth to a very dark child. The father was also light skinned, so blames her for infidelity, which she denies to him, and to us, to whom she tells this story from a nursing home. She only somewhat second-guesses her approach to raising the child, whom she insists call her "sweetness," though she is never that. She didn't want a "blue black" baby and neither did her husband, who left her early on, never touching the baby.
"It’s not my fault. So you can’t blame me."
Morrison expanded this story into her novel God Help the Child. Deals with the generational effects of racism with a focus on skin color, internalized within African American culture. Powerful, haunting, sad.
Here's a link to the story, so you can get a taste of her wonderful prose, maybe five pages:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
R.I.P., Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate of Literature. If you feel the urge now to read her, try The Bluest Eye or Beloved, but any one of them will reveal why some pronounced her great. But if you can't at the moment make a commitment to a whole novel, try this short story that was published in The New Yorker in 2015.
A mother with a "high yellow" skin tone gives birth to a very dark child. The father was also light skinned, so blames her for infidelity, which she denies to him, and to us, to whom she tells this story from a nursing home. She only somewhat second-guesses her approach to raising the child, whom she insists call her "sweetness," though she is never that. She didn't want a "blue black" baby and neither did her husband, who left her early on, never touching the baby.
"It’s not my fault. So you can’t blame me."
Morrison expanded this story into her novel God Help the Child. Deals with the generational effects of racism with a focus on skin color, internalized within African American culture. Powerful, haunting, sad.
Here's a link to the story, so you can get a taste of her wonderful prose, maybe five pages:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
December 1, 2020
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
if you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU!
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2018: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
reviews of these will vary in length/quality depending on my available time/brain power.
so, let’s begin
DECEMBER 29
let's see if goodreads is MONSTER enough to delete a toni morrison short story in the year of her passing. don't be a monster, goodreads. toni morrison's ghost will find you. remember what Sula did to me? (reminder)this will be worse, i promise you.
anyway.
my assumption is that this short story is really just an excerpt from God Help the Child, so my feeling that there isn't much to it can easily be remedied by going out and reading the whole novel. and someday i shall. not tonight, because i have a post-holiday fever exacerbated by end-of-year depression i am self-medicating with candy and cocoa.
eventually i will go back to reviewing 'properly.' but at least i'm still READING! get yourself some free toni morrison.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
*******************************************
DECEMBER 1
DECEMBER 2
DECEMBER 3
DECEMBER 4
DECEMBER 5
DECEMBER 6
DECEMBER 7
DECEMBER 8
DECEMBER 9
DECEMBER 10
DECEMBER 11
DECEMBER 12
DECEMBER 13
DECEMBER 14 GOODREADS ERASED THIS STORY AND MY REVIEW FROM THE SITE, SO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ IT, IT IS HERE. THANKS.
DECEMBER 15
DECEMBER 16
DECEMBER 17
DECEMBER 18
DECEMBER 19
DECEMBER 20
DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER 22
DECEMBER 23
DECEMBER 24
DECEMBER 25
DECEMBER 26
DECEMBER 27
DECEMBER 28
DECEMBER 30
DECEMBER 31
come to my blog!
this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.
this is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards.
if you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU!
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2018: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
reviews of these will vary in length/quality depending on my available time/brain power.
so, let’s begin
DECEMBER 29
I hate to say it, but from the very beginning in the maternity ward the baby, Lula Ann, embarrassed me. Her birth skin was pale like all babies’, even African ones, but it changed fast. I thought I was going crazy when she turned blue-black right before my eyes. I know I went crazy for a minute, because—just for a few seconds—I held a blanket over her face and pressed. But I couldn’t do that, no matter how much I wished she hadn’t been born with that terrible color.
let's see if goodreads is MONSTER enough to delete a toni morrison short story in the year of her passing. don't be a monster, goodreads. toni morrison's ghost will find you. remember what Sula did to me? (reminder)this will be worse, i promise you.
anyway.
my assumption is that this short story is really just an excerpt from God Help the Child, so my feeling that there isn't much to it can easily be remedied by going out and reading the whole novel. and someday i shall. not tonight, because i have a post-holiday fever exacerbated by end-of-year depression i am self-medicating with candy and cocoa.
eventually i will go back to reviewing 'properly.' but at least i'm still READING! get yourself some free toni morrison.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
*******************************************
DECEMBER 1
DECEMBER 2
DECEMBER 3
DECEMBER 4
DECEMBER 5
DECEMBER 6
DECEMBER 7
DECEMBER 8
DECEMBER 9
DECEMBER 10
DECEMBER 11
DECEMBER 12
DECEMBER 13
DECEMBER 14 GOODREADS ERASED THIS STORY AND MY REVIEW FROM THE SITE, SO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO READ IT, IT IS HERE. THANKS.
DECEMBER 15
DECEMBER 16
DECEMBER 17
DECEMBER 18
DECEMBER 19
DECEMBER 20
DECEMBER 21
DECEMBER 22
DECEMBER 23
DECEMBER 24
DECEMBER 25
DECEMBER 26
DECEMBER 27
DECEMBER 28
DECEMBER 30
DECEMBER 31
come to my blog!
August 8, 2019
A mother with a "high yellow" skin tone gives birth to a very dark child. Later in life the mother wondered if she spent too much time preparing her daughter for how harsh the world might treat someone with midnight black skin, and missed opportunities to just love her. This story was expanded into the novel God Help the Child.
Rest in peace, Toni Morrison. We will miss your deep, wise writing.
Rest in peace, Toni Morrison. We will miss your deep, wise writing.
August 7, 2019
I wonder, as a white person, whether I have ever thought about how black people in earlier generations were affected by the varying color tone of their skins. Toni Morrison has written here a short story that wrings the heart, while dealing with this topic.
It will take you 10 minutes of your life, and it is sure to stay with you far, far longer:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Rest in peace, Ms. Morrison, in a place where even the greatest variations in skin tone can make no difference at all.
It will take you 10 minutes of your life, and it is sure to stay with you far, far longer:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Rest in peace, Ms. Morrison, in a place where even the greatest variations in skin tone can make no difference at all.
August 21, 2019
It's a tough world.... for some more than others as evidenced by this rather sad story of prejudice between mother and daughter of the same race trying to survive in a world with rules they had no part in creating.
Worthwhile short story by the late Toni Morrison. 2-18-31 -- 8-9-19.
Thank you my Goodread's friends for sharing.
August 7, 2019
A very short and moving story by the late Toni Morrison that I found courtesy of my friend Sara’s review.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
August 7, 2019
Sweetness is a look into the insidious nature of judgement based on skin color, and how that judgement affected one woman and her family. A pithy short story on the human condition by the beloved and recently deceased Toni Morrison.
RIP Ms. Morrison, and thank you for sharing your brilliance with the rest of us.
RIP Ms. Morrison, and thank you for sharing your brilliance with the rest of us.
Read
December 17, 2021Se há narrativa em que os tópicos: aparências, insegurança, liberdade e esperança se adequem, será neste excerto de God Help the Child publicado como um "quase conto".
Trabalhado de modo a colocar o leitor na pele de juiz sujeito a perspectivas não isentas, esta narrativa é uma obra de tal forma condensada que uma meia dúzia de páginas alimentava trabalho crítico (que nunca é o meu que é apenas de apreciação pessoal) para horas e horas.
Perfeitamente contemporâneo de qualquer leitor, o "conto" remete para os anos 90 e mais longe ainda para os tempos de segregação racial. Através da apresentação em formato estampa destes tempos, Sweetness (única interveniente neste monólogo - ou não o seria) revela uma faceta parcial, e muito passível de crítica, em cujo diálogo se misturam o racismo inter-racial e intra-racial e que recupera uma abordagem muito representativa da escrita de Lessing e poucas mais autoras: questões difíceis sobre maternidade; amor filial (ou a inexistência dele); autocrítica e autoindulgência; julgamentos de valor e separação de classes.
Vá, não foi de génio, mas o objetivo não é ler cinco páginas é comprar o livro inteiro.
Trabalhado de modo a colocar o leitor na pele de juiz sujeito a perspectivas não isentas, esta narrativa é uma obra de tal forma condensada que uma meia dúzia de páginas alimentava trabalho crítico (que nunca é o meu que é apenas de apreciação pessoal) para horas e horas.
Perfeitamente contemporâneo de qualquer leitor, o "conto" remete para os anos 90 e mais longe ainda para os tempos de segregação racial. Através da apresentação em formato estampa destes tempos, Sweetness (única interveniente neste monólogo - ou não o seria) revela uma faceta parcial, e muito passível de crítica, em cujo diálogo se misturam o racismo inter-racial e intra-racial e que recupera uma abordagem muito representativa da escrita de Lessing e poucas mais autoras: questões difíceis sobre maternidade; amor filial (ou a inexistência dele); autocrítica e autoindulgência; julgamentos de valor e separação de classes.
Vá, não foi de génio, mas o objetivo não é ler cinco páginas é comprar o livro inteiro.
August 6, 2019
Toni Morrison passed today. Just felt I needed to read something she wrote.
August 17, 2019
That was tough to read.
You reap what you sow.
I only wish this could have been longer.
Thanks to my GR friend David Schaafsma for the link to this story.
You reap what you sow.
I only wish this could have been longer.
Thanks to my GR friend David Schaafsma for the link to this story.
September 6, 2019
A thought-provoking story about shades of color. A light-skinned African American girl gives birth to a dark baby. What her concerns are, how her life is changed and that of the baby girl are some of the questions on which Morrison focuses. The more I read of Morrison, the more enamored I become.
August 9, 2019
This is a thought-provoking short story about prejudice within the black community, as well as prejudice of white people toward black people in the 1990’s. An additional theme is single-parenting. It was written by Toni Morrison and published in The New Yorker magazine, Feb 2, 2015.
I think I will try God Help the Child as a follow up, because the description of the novel reminds me of this short story.
I rate the short story 5 stars.
I think I will try God Help the Child as a follow up, because the description of the novel reminds me of this short story.
I rate the short story 5 stars.
February 9, 2015
A ramble review:
This is literally the first thing I have ever read by Toni Morrison. Yes, I should be ashamed of myself. In my house, we have tons of books, mostly my mother's of course and she has almost all of Toni Morrison's books. I have been eyeing Beloved for a quite a while. Pulling it out from the shelf in the den, flipping through the pages, reading snippets of the writing. I keep telling myself "I will read this soon, you lovely book." And of course I haven't gotten to it yet. Toni Morrison has everything I love, magical realism, a beautiful prose that is characteristic for this genre, and lively prose that just oozes every drop of life in those characters. "Sweetness," is a whole perfect little bowl of Morrison's writing.
It's about a woman, a light skinned African American woman, from a light skinned African American family. This short story reminded me a lot of Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi in which it brings in colorism. I believe there is another novel called The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman which also covers this topic. "Sweetness," is a short story about a light skinned Black woman who has always led a somewhat easy life, compared to other Black people, due to her light skin tone. But then she has a baby girl who came out dark or as described in the story, a sort of blueish black color? And she disciplines the girl in the strictest and hardest way possible, giving her a sort of hard shell for the outside world. She talks about how her treatment of her daughter has led her to stray away from her mother as an adult. But the girl managed to grow into a strong and successful woman, with bitter feelings for her mother. I've read a lot of stories like this years ago and sometimes I have seen it in my life. Where I would see people I know look at a dark skin person and consider them ugly purely for their color. Being mixed race and seeing how people put down others due to skin tone or not looking like the ideal beauty type society has created, stories like this sort of make me, I don't know, not cringe or cry, but remind me that there are people out there who will put you down purely for your skin color, your language, your name.
Of course, this is a sad story, however, the mother's voice and Morrison's writing is so good, that I didn't take breaks in between to read it. There is just something about short stories that constantly makes me want to bounce around and lose concentration. But this one didn't. It is a sad story despite the title. It's one of those confessional stories, a short song of someone's regrets. But of course, we must move forward and forgive.
Rating: 5/5
Originally posted here:
http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
This is literally the first thing I have ever read by Toni Morrison. Yes, I should be ashamed of myself. In my house, we have tons of books, mostly my mother's of course and she has almost all of Toni Morrison's books. I have been eyeing Beloved for a quite a while. Pulling it out from the shelf in the den, flipping through the pages, reading snippets of the writing. I keep telling myself "I will read this soon, you lovely book." And of course I haven't gotten to it yet. Toni Morrison has everything I love, magical realism, a beautiful prose that is characteristic for this genre, and lively prose that just oozes every drop of life in those characters. "Sweetness," is a whole perfect little bowl of Morrison's writing.
It's about a woman, a light skinned African American woman, from a light skinned African American family. This short story reminded me a lot of Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi in which it brings in colorism. I believe there is another novel called The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman which also covers this topic. "Sweetness," is a short story about a light skinned Black woman who has always led a somewhat easy life, compared to other Black people, due to her light skin tone. But then she has a baby girl who came out dark or as described in the story, a sort of blueish black color? And she disciplines the girl in the strictest and hardest way possible, giving her a sort of hard shell for the outside world. She talks about how her treatment of her daughter has led her to stray away from her mother as an adult. But the girl managed to grow into a strong and successful woman, with bitter feelings for her mother. I've read a lot of stories like this years ago and sometimes I have seen it in my life. Where I would see people I know look at a dark skin person and consider them ugly purely for their color. Being mixed race and seeing how people put down others due to skin tone or not looking like the ideal beauty type society has created, stories like this sort of make me, I don't know, not cringe or cry, but remind me that there are people out there who will put you down purely for your skin color, your language, your name.
Of course, this is a sad story, however, the mother's voice and Morrison's writing is so good, that I didn't take breaks in between to read it. There is just something about short stories that constantly makes me want to bounce around and lose concentration. But this one didn't. It is a sad story despite the title. It's one of those confessional stories, a short song of someone's regrets. But of course, we must move forward and forgive.
Rating: 5/5
Originally posted here:
http://wordsnotesandfiction.blogspot....
November 16, 2024
Is it tough love or plain hatred? In just five heavy pages, Sweetness and Lula Ann never find reconciliation or peace. Perhaps that is the ultimate burden of motherhood; the coexistence of pain, hurt, and a little bit of love. God help the child.
March 7, 2017
This is a tough and sad story, about a "mother" and the method she think is the best way to prepare her child for a difficult world. The most important lesson to me, is that: everything you do, have consequence... and love is always more importan than anything else.
October 18, 2021
I don't give it a higher rating because it was too short, but I quite liked it and I liked Morrison's writing.
(For translation class)
(For translation class)
December 29, 2023
I have been meaning to read Toni Morrison for some time now. I am glad I found this short story recommended by Goodreads. This was my perfect introduction to Morrison’s writing.
As a mother, this was a difficult, heart-wrenching read. This five page story, with its paradoxical title, hit me hard as it captured a mother’s regrets and her living out the consequences of her poor choices. It throws light on how it is often easy to justify our actions as a parent in the name of protecting or loving our child. This is further intensified when you are solo parenting without support in a racially prejudiced and judgemental society. It is a reminder of a life lesson that you should treat people the way you want to be treated and this applies no differently to a child. Rather, as an adult we are expected to have the added accountability and the emotional maturity to make responsible decisions that would impact our child’s self-esteem and thereby, their future.
I look forward to reading more of her written work.
As a mother, this was a difficult, heart-wrenching read. This five page story, with its paradoxical title, hit me hard as it captured a mother’s regrets and her living out the consequences of her poor choices. It throws light on how it is often easy to justify our actions as a parent in the name of protecting or loving our child. This is further intensified when you are solo parenting without support in a racially prejudiced and judgemental society. It is a reminder of a life lesson that you should treat people the way you want to be treated and this applies no differently to a child. Rather, as an adult we are expected to have the added accountability and the emotional maturity to make responsible decisions that would impact our child’s self-esteem and thereby, their future.
I look forward to reading more of her written work.
July 27, 2019
As was expected by the author and the cover, this was another short read on apartheid and its darkness. A tale of race and motherhood, the struggle and judgement of a mother to raise a child single handedly in the society of that time. I did not know that so many whites had negro blood in them and they knew it better then to accept it (then, before apartheid was completely abolished). It is a story of a child whose face even a mother couldn't love. But then, she was a mother after all.
August 12, 2019
How the story that others tell us about ourselves becomes part of us and how we then pass it on to our children. One hell of a way to divide and conquer. Just tell me I'm worthless, I believe and then live my life that way.
November 14, 2019
What a sad little story, but the voice is so strong and carries so well. I haven't read God Help the Child (or anything else by Toni Morrison for that matter) but I feel like I have a bead on "Sweetness" even in just the 5 pages of this story. She took on depth and humanity.
August 9, 2019
I enjoyed this short story by Toni. I didn’t realize she wrote short stories.
October 31, 2020
Short, but very powerful and a lot of emotions about having a child that you don’t approve of.
December 26, 2023
“Her color is a cross she will always carry. But it’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not.”
March 26, 2022
"Puede que alguno de ustedes piense que está mal separarnos por tonos de piel (entre más claro mejor) en clubes sociales, barrios, iglesias, hermandades, incluso escuelas segregadas. ¿Pero de qué otra forma podríamos aferrarnos a un poco de dignidad?"
Aunque demasiado corto, fue un cuento doloroso. Me deja algo confuso, por la forma en que Dulzura trataba a su hija en contraste con la empatía que generas hacia ella dentro de las primeras páginas conociendo sobre madre, abuela y vida.
El final me gustó, creo que es un poco diferente a esas otras historias que intentan expresar sentimientos de forma directa, poco artística y con gritos en vez de palabras. Es un cuento con sentimiento, pero también con literariedad, bien pensada. Solo que sin separarse de su carácter prácticamente epistolar, lo cual hace las cosas mucho más emocionales y cercanas. Creo que es un buen balance entre denuncia y arte.
Tampoco creo que denuncie a nada ni nadie en específico, pero sí considero que lo hace. No en forma de crítica, pero sí como declaración o manifestación de una realidad, a diferencia de otras historias más esteticistas.
En fin, es triste pero no asfixiante; muy bien escrito pero sin florituras ni adornos; muy corto pero creo que no hace falta decir más. ¡Buen cuento!
Aunque demasiado corto, fue un cuento doloroso. Me deja algo confuso, por la forma en que Dulzura trataba a su hija en contraste con la empatía que generas hacia ella dentro de las primeras páginas conociendo sobre madre, abuela y vida.
El final me gustó, creo que es un poco diferente a esas otras historias que intentan expresar sentimientos de forma directa, poco artística y con gritos en vez de palabras. Es un cuento con sentimiento, pero también con literariedad, bien pensada. Solo que sin separarse de su carácter prácticamente epistolar, lo cual hace las cosas mucho más emocionales y cercanas. Creo que es un buen balance entre denuncia y arte.
Tampoco creo que denuncie a nada ni nadie en específico, pero sí considero que lo hace. No en forma de crítica, pero sí como declaración o manifestación de una realidad, a diferencia de otras historias más esteticistas.
En fin, es triste pero no asfixiante; muy bien escrito pero sin florituras ni adornos; muy corto pero creo que no hace falta decir más. ¡Buen cuento!
August 11, 2020
This story is fantastic -- it's so short, and yet you get to know the narrator so deeply. This story is painful; I was really struck when I understood the significance of the title. I highly recommend this short story. It's a quick read, but it will leave you thinking for a long time!
August 5, 2020
My mother was a housekeeper for a rich white couple. They ate every meal she cooked and insisted she scrub their backs while they sat in the tub, and God knows what other intimate things they made her do, but no touching of the same Bible.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews