leonaguilar

** spoiler alert ** The usual caveats apply with regards to my review and rating of this book (see my profile), but overall I didn't enjoy Sula because it made me profoundly uncomfortable. I distinctly remember feeling depressed and disheartened by the premise put forth by the novel that in order for a woman to be truly free, she had to behave like Sula--whose behavior I found quirky at best and reprehensible at worst. What's more, even Sula with all her freedom didn't seem to be truly happy--there were still too many external constraints. It seemed like the best that could be said was that she was as free as she could be. I guess in some ways that's a truth about life, that none of us are completely free, only as free as we can be, but having it described to me in black-and-white in such a naked way made me feel alternately angry and despairing. As for the behavior that I refer to as "reprehensible," I feel strongly that there are certain things that, no matter what, you just don't do to the women you love. Top amongst those things is sleeping with their husbands. To me it doesn't matter that Sula's best friend's husband was a lousy husband in the first place, sleeping with him wasn't the appropriate way to draw that to the attention of her friend (whose name I can no longer remember). But while I found it hard to forgive Sula for that act, I found it even harder to forgive her best friend, who ultimately realized that it was not her husband for whome she pined, but Sula and effectively forgave Sula for her thoughtless indiscretion. I am much older now than I was when I read "Sula," and I better understand now that life and relationships are far more complicated than I ever imagined as a teen-ager. What's more, I can't in all honesty or good conscience claim that I have never done anything with regards to love or sex that I really shouldn't have or that I regret; I am not above reproach. But it was her *best friend*'s husband, and that to me makes a big difference. All that said, I will agree that Morrison's writing style is lyrical, elegant and haunting. But in this case, I simply cannot overcome the content, which I find to be distressing, to fully relish the beauty and richness of her language. However, the final little song Sula sings to herself, "I have sung all the songs there are to sing," stays with me to this day.

2022-11-14 14:17