April 30, 2015
This is only the second Morrison book that I've read; the first was the highly acclaimed Beloved. Undoubtedly, she is one of the most important authors of our time. What's disappointing about this very short book was that it left me wanting more. With how intriguing and complex the two main characters were, I felt like the book should have been at least twice as long. This story felt rather condensed to me.
Frank Money was a young soldier in the Korean War. I found this very interesting, since I'm teaching a unit on the Cold War in my history class. When we read the section on the Korean War, my students noted that U.S. soldiers were now integrated. I also had them listen to a brief NPR clip about a Korean War vet who compared his low-key homecoming to the block party that was thrown when his brother returned from WWII. Frank returns to racist America with a heavy heart and severe PTSD. His best friends both died, and he has a lot of guilt over a certain situation. Frank stays with a woman named Lily in Seattle (I think) when he is discharged, but he gets a message that his sister in Atlanta is very dangerously ill. His journey home is eventful; there are moments when kindness is shown to him, and moments of violence.
Cee is his younger sister. Frank was the only one who ever loved her. Their parents were too overworked to care, and their hateful step-grandmother took her anger out on the young girl. Cee is seduced by a young man after her brother leaves, and after hastily marrying him, he drags her to Atlanta, then abandons her. Cee eventually finds a job as an assistant to a doctor in his home. Too bad this guy is a sadist; he drugs Cee and "experiments" on her vagina, causing her reproductive system to get all fucked up and nearly killing her.
When Frank shows up, he takes her to their hometown, a short way from Atlanta. Cee is aided by the strong, stern women she'd avoided as a timid child. She and Frank both have a lot of healing to do; both have been through a lot. But there's a bit of closure at the end.
A really great concept for a novel. But I didn't think this was as good as it could have been, simply because Morrison could have given us so much more. It was far from poorly written; it was just too short.
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