About this title: In Toni Morrison's powerful 1977 novel, Milkman Dead hears a strange story: his father and his aunt Pilate witnessed their father's murder, and Pilate has carried his bones around with her for 20 years. Milkman travels south to find that this grandfather (who fled slavery and escaped, creating a myth of flight) has been immortalized in folktales and songs. He and Pilate bury his bones at last, and Milkman is made free and powerful by his newfound connection to his ancestors. Winner of the 1978 National Book Critics Award.
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Plume Books
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780452260115ISBN:0452260116
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good plus condition. Name inside. Light edge and corner wear. Small corner crease. Bottom corner on back part of book has been damp. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 337 p. Oprah's Book Club (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. A small amount of text has been highlighted. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Description: Very Good. 0452260116 This book evidences gentle use; it is free of markings inside. Its cover shows only minor shelf wear, a 3.25" crease on front. Your book will be carefully protected for transit in sturdy, weather-resistant packaging. We are prompt, efficient, communicative. read more
"This book was very confusing. Not only were the names confusing, but it took about 250 pages to actually get to the story. Such names listed in this book were: First Corinthians, Milkman, Guitar, Empire State, Sweet, Moon, and Hagar.
Song of Solomon is about Milkman, also known as Macon Dead and his journey in life to find out who he is and to locate his ancestors. The story starts out with a Mr. Smith donning blue wings and jumping out of a window in a feeble attempt to "fly". But then the story moved on and you had to ask, "what was that about?" Often the story took turns that left the reader wondering how this relates to Macon Dead. But in the end, Toni Morrison brought the reader full circle.
I'm not sure I would recommend this book. I feel like I didn't really gained anything from this story. If anyone has read this book, I would love to discuss it at length to figure out what it is I missed."
"After reading this book, Songs of Solomon, I found one theme that stuck out to me, the theme of racism. Almost every character in this book was African American and so not a single person suffered from racism, the whole community suffered from it. Solomon was a slave and Guitar's father "died from racism." This theme haunts Guitar through most of the story with flashbacks from present events such as the Birmingham Church bombing. These kinds of events turn Guitar into a crazy murderer. This shows that racism can cause people to lose their humanity and turn against fellow human beings. Another theme of this book that I found was running away like when Solomon ran away from slavery in the cotton fields but it also meant leaving his wife and his children. Milkman Dead was the protagonist of the book. His real name is Macon Dead III. He lacks compassion and tries keeping himself away from the African-American community. As he grows up he gains compassion and a purpose in life after learning about his family. He got his nickname Milkman because he nursed from his mother until he was a young boy. Guitar is Milkman's best friend. He grew up in poverty after his father was killed; Guitar gains a hatred for white people, he sees the white people responsible for the death of his father and all the bad stuff in the world. Guitar become so angry with the white people he decides he should kill them so he murders some white people as revenge for his father's death. I personally didn't like this book probably because I cannot relate to any part of it. This book talks a little bit about racism and I found that I could absolutely not relate to that because I have never been called out for being white and as far as I can remember I have never been made fun of at school. I also found this book boring because I was extremely confused through basically the whole book it was confusing to figure out what was going on. Literature circles helped clarifying at some points but I am still confused about most of the book. I would recommend this book to adults. There are some parts of this book like the beginning when the guy committed suicide that I believe would be mature and unsuitable for children and that Milkman's father Macon jr. got killed over a farm. These two incidents are death and that is why I believe this book is unsuitable for young readers. Plus what kid would want to read about people's struggle through life. They also probably wouldn't understand the story, for me it was hard to understand. My group members all agreed that this book was not so interesting so I would recommend this book to adults who have experienced racism. This book might be more interesting to them than it was to me and my group members."
"This book focused on the aspects of African Americans life just when they were granted thr=eir free Edom. The main character, Milkman, is the third generation of this so called "freedom". I give quotes around the word "freedom" because even in the book it is non-existent. In this book Toni Morrison gives the impression that all throughout the book that Milkman is not free of himself. He seems to be mean or sad, angry or depressed. Like there is something holding him back from truly enjoying life. The main characters aunt, Pilate, is someone Milkman goes to in the beginning to see when he has a falling out with his father. He finds out he has an aunt and he started to adore her and worship her. It is his friend Guitar that brings him to see his aunt. At first when Milkman didn't know he had an aunt I was surprised. How can you hide something like that from a child? Later on in the book though I saw that Milkman's father did not allow or want him to see his aunt. This was the first signs that made me think that Milkman would not be like his greedy, selfish father. Though still in the end I was wrong. Pilate, Hagar, and Ruth all live together. They each have different personalities that set each one apart. Pilate is the "mother" of both, meaning that she takes care of them, even if in an unorthodox manner. She makes wine and that is how Pilate gets her income. Ruth on the other hand had had many lovers in the past and present and has a very prominent lucky streak which helps her win many prizes and lotteries. This also helps contribute to the family's income. Hagar is Pilate's granddaughter and she has a taste for finer things in life. This may be the reason she fell in love with Milkman in the first place. She fell in love with him and when he broke her heart she tried to kill him at least once a month. Each time she fails and falls deeper and deeper in love with him. This is another aspect of the book that makes Milkman seem more like his father. His father also left someone important in his life and carried on with out giving back a second glance. Later in the book Milkman's father is convinced that Pilate has gold that they both discovered when they were younger. He sends his son to go steal it from her house and they then find out that there was not gold in the bag, but bones. Milkman then becomes obsessed with finding the gold and goes to the place it may of once originated. He finds that it is all gone and he feels angry and scared. Milkman has become obsessed with fame and fortune like his father did. This is the next sign that milkman is not any better than his father. The book continues in this sort of fashion. I disliked this book because it seemed to not have a very interesting plot line. The book seemed to plain and was easy to predict as far as major events go. This book did not interest me and it was very hard for me to keep myself interested in the book. I felt that the book could be improved and the plot line could have been more motivating to read if modified. I cannot think of someone I would recommend this book to as it is not interesting and a poor choice of a book."
""If you surrender to the air, you can ride it." (337). I loved this book. Song Of Solomon is a book about racism, family issues, self-awareness, ancestry, and so much more. This book is just filled with so many different emotions, the characters are so alive, and the way Toni Morrison describes them in such detail, you could almost picture their exact being. Milkman, the main character, basically is sent on a search to find a bag of gold for his father, Macon Dead, but in his journey he finds so much more; he finds himself. He went from feeling so used and unwanted in his life, to feeling excited and happy about actually living. Finding out what his family did, how well they were known, and how important and amazing his past was, made him a better person; made him want to be a better person. This book brought me to tears. I recommend you add it to your to-read shelf."
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