Review: Sula

Sula by Toni Morrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have read this book several times and each time I find something new that strikes my attention. This is one of those books that you can critically analyze to understand or put into perspective. First, I will say that Morrison don’t judge her characters, but let the reader see things for themselves.

There are a few of the many features in this booky that had me questioning without any direct answer from the story:

 
• Shadrack’s reasoning for National Suicide Day, “it was not death or dying that frighten him, but the unexpectedness of both”; it seems this was his solution to eliminating unexpected death.
• Eve left her home broke but returned with money and one leg; where is the association with her leg and money? The story doesn’t tell you, but I wonder was it intentional or was it a coincidence.
• Eva killing her son in order to take him out of his misery due to drug use; You wonder was it that imperative for Eva to kill her son and if so, how much misery did she feel he was in that gave her the authority to take his life, other than being his mother.
• Sula watching her mother burn; She watched without doing anything to save her. I wondered what was going through her mind and why. Did Sula feel her mother was better off dead then alive, the same way Eva felt about her son.
• Sula slept with Nel’s husband; based on Sula’s background and her friendship with Nel, she saw nothing wrong with it. She watched her mother and her grandmother seduce married men all the time and for Sula that behavior was normal. Sula and Nel shared everything, so Sula found nothing wrong with sharing Nel’s husband. It took me awhile to let that sink in, but I had to look at the nature and background of the characters.

This book is one of my favorites by Toni Morrison. I always have loved her writing style, Morrison’s stories make you think and analyze the situation and consider the circumstances from different views. I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars rating.

Choice of Cast:

• Ruth Negga as Sula  

• Tessa Thompson as Nel

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