“Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that shit. Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

#BookReview: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

A Spoiler-free Overview:

1931, Michigan. Shortly after an insurance agent leapt from the top of Mercy Hospital, the first black patient to be admitted there gave birth to Macon “Milkman” Dead III. Downtrodden by a family life where his authoritarian father, a rare black man of property, controlled his life while his loveless mother and two sisters hovered around as little more than shadows, Milkman found solace in Guitar, his streetsmart friend, and Pilate, his dad’s bootlegging sister. Lured by tales of buried treasure, the adult Milkman would venture South in an odyssey that may not culminate in gold but in something he had unknowingly been seeking all along: his origins and his identity. 

Personal Opinion:

+) Pro – A Wonderfully Distinctive Cast: After finishing Beloved, Sula, and finally Song of Solomon, I can unequivocally declare that Ms. Morrison could never write a mediocre unoriginal character. Even the side characters have their own quirks, let alone the major ones like Pilate (who wears a slip of paper bearing her name in a box as an earring). That said, across the three Morrison books I’ve read, I notice that there is always a matronly figure (Baby Suggs in Beloved, Eva in Sula, and Pilate in Song of Solomon) who, in one way or another, helped guide the main character throughout their journey. Personally, I don’t find this repetitive at all. In fact, it should be considered a breath of fresh air given how much media attention is directed toward teenagers and young adults.

+) Pro – Beautiful Language: I mean, it’s rather self-explanatory since it’s Toni Morrison we’re talking about! The dialogue is natural, there are songs interspersed, and the prose is worth dying for. 

+) Pro – Wonderful Parallels With The Odyssey: Like Homer’s epic poem’s protagonist who sought ways to return to his beloved Ithaca, Milkman uncovered his true identity and familial roots as he journeyed to his homeland. Here’s the icing on the cake: while The Odyssey is strictly androcentric, Morrison proves that every hero’s journey is heavily assisted by the women as well. 

-) Con – Slow Development: The first part of the novel, which spans nearly two-thirds of it, is spent building up the cast and context before the ultimate odyssey. Personally, it was incredibly slow, if not dragging, as the blurb had already teased the eventual journey, whetting my appetite and the whole time I tried my best not jumping forward to check when the second part would actually begin. Of course, Ms. Morrison’s novels are meant to be savored as literary treasures, but due to its sheer length (over 410 pages) compared to her other works, her gradual world-building and character introductions grated on me. This is especially true as Milkman started off as a complete wastrel that did nothing worth caring for most of the first 270 pages. Perhaps I have a short attention span, but this is strictly my opinion.

Overall, Song of Solomon may not be one of my favorite novels, but it’s certainly well-written and has the depth and numerous other plus points that appeal to many other readers.