Jazz by Toni Morrison

 

Title:  Jazz

Author:  Toni Morrison

Narrated by:  Toni Morrison

Publisher: Random House Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours

Source: Purchased from Audible and checked out a physical copy of the book from Kewaunee Public Library

Do you have a favorite jazz song or musician?  I have always loved the classic songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

In 1926, a middle-aged man named Joe murders his teenage girlfriend, Dorcas.  His wife, Violet, attacks the corpse at the funeral and stabs it across the face, earning her the nickname, “Violence.”  How did they end up in this situation?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Jazz by Toni Morrison this month for the Classics Buddy read hosted by @Dees.Reads.

·       The audiobook is read by the author, but it is abridged so I also had the physical book from the library to fill in the gaps.

·       I loved the jazzy music and sound effects in the audiobook and Toni Morrison reading her own work.

·       There is a great forward by Toni Morrison that sets up the book.  She was inspired by seeing an old picture of a pretty girl in a coffin and the description that went with the picture.  How creepy and interesting.

·       This is the second book in a series after Beloved.  Beloved centered on mother love and Jazz centers on couple love.  They are both set at different points in Black history, otherwise they are not related.

·       Jazz is a beautifully written book that flows like a jazz song.  Like jazz, the narrative does not flow the way you would expect it too, which made it hard to understand at times.

·       Just like when I recently read Beloved, I found using SparkNotes to be helpful after I read it to make sure I understood what I had read.

·       I am still confused though – why didn’t Joe go to jail for shooting Dorcas?

·       The setting for the book was mostly 1920s Harlem, but there are plenty of flashbacks to the past.

·       Violet and Joe’s marriage gets better after the shooting.  I guess they were finally about to talk through their problems, but I was disturbed about Joe.  He, a man in his fifties, was so upset that his teenage girlfriend had decided to date men her own age that he shot her.  I think Violet deserved a better man, but she also does bad by slashing Dorcas’s face at the funeral.  This was meant to represent her sadness as she wanted to be a mother, but her and Joe had decided not to have children and she realized she wanted to be a mother too late.  Violet learns she has to take control of her own life and happiness.

Overall, Jazz by Toni Morrison was an interesting novel written in a unique way.  I am glad I read this book.

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

 

Have you ever learned that there is a new subgenre that is a perfect way to describe a book that you just read?  I just learned that a “popcorn thriller” is a “light, entertaining, and not too heavy suspense novel.”  That is a perfect description of The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams.

Jolene feels like her husband, Dominic, the current Governor of North Carolina, is hiding something from her.  When a mysterious woman starts showing up at campaign events, what secrets will start to come out?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This book kept me up way too late at night.  It kept me guessing throughout the novel – it was a roller coaster of a novel.

·       The story was told in alternating viewpoints that kept the story fresh and kept the reader guessing.

·       This was a domestic thriller with the story dealing with a married couple, their friends, and a few others in their orbit.

·       This was the first book I read by Shanora Williams, and it won’t be my last.

·       I listened to the Between the Chapters Book Club interview with the author this week.  It was interesting.  I learned a lot about the author and her writing process

·       I enjoyed that in this book everything was not as it appears, and the surprises kept coming. 

·       The author has a note at the beginning of the novel that discusses possible triggers in the novel.

·       I liked that the chapters were very short, which made this book very easy to read.

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams is a perfect fun suspense thriller for the summer.

Book Source:  Giveaway copy from Kensington Books and the Between the Chapters Book Club. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.