Sula - Softcover

Morrison, Toni

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099760010 ISBN 13: 9780099760016

Publisher: Vintage, 1998

Synopsis

'Extravagantly beautiful... Enormously, achingly alive... A howl of love and rage, playful and funny as well as hard and bitter’ New York Times

As young girls, Nel and Sula shared each other's secrets and dreams in the poor black mid-West of their childhood. Then Sula ran away to live her dreams and Nel got married.

Ten years later Sula returns and no one, least of all Nel, trusts her. Sula is a story of fear – the fear that traps us, justifying itself through perpetual myth and legend. Cast as a witch by the people who resent her strength, Sula is a woman of uncompromising power, a wayward force who challenges the smallness of a world that tries to hold her down.

‘What a force her thoughts have been and how grateful we must be that they were offered to us in this extremely challenging age’ Alice Walker, Guardian

BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF BELOVED

Winner of the PEN/Saul Bellow award for achievement in American fiction

About this title

Review:

Toni Morrison's highly acclaimed novel Sula is as gripping on audiotape as it is on paper. The Nobel Prize-winning writer narrates the unabridged version of the book in a rich, soothing voice that mesmerizes listeners with its relaxed and methodical cadence. Sula revolves around the relationship between two little girls growing up in a poor, black neighbourhood nestled high in the hilltops. "The Bottom", as the barrio came to be known, is brimming with eccentric residents but sadly deprived of human warmth (the town actually takes pride in celebrating National Suicide Day). However, out of this bitter, abrasive environment grows a beautiful friendship between Sula and Nel. Their shared secrets and dreams blossom through childhood, but their special bond suffers after the two separate. Sula leaves the Bottom to conquer the unknown cities of America, while Nel becomes a homebody, settling down as a wife and mother. When Sula returns to her hometown, she feels like a stranger; she repels everyone, even the only true friend she ever knew. Morrison's vocal range evokes an extraordinary atmosphere of survival in a harsh and unforgiving world.

Review:

"Stunning... Everything Morrison does is brilliant." (Jill Dawson Waitrose Weekend)

"Extravagantly beautiful... Enormously, achingly alive... A howl of love and rage, playful and funny as well as hard and bitter" (New York Times)

"Morrison explores the mythic power of femininity in a poor and isolated rural black community where women rule as mothers, warriors, witches and story-tellers... One of the most compelling writers at work today" (The Times)

"Toni Morrison makes me believe in God. She makes me believe in a divine being, because luck and genetics don’t seem to come close to explaining her" (Guardian)

"In characters like Sula, Toni Morrison's originality and power emerge" (The Nation)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0099760010
• ISBN 13: 9780099760016
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208