Jenny Reviews: Sula by Toni Morrison

The Vitals

Sula by Toni Morrison

Release Date: 1973

Page Count: 192

Genre: Historical Fiction

Target Audience: Adult

Series: No

Source and Format: Purchased; Paperback

Summary (From Goodreads)
In Sula, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature, tells the story of two women--friends since childhood, separated in young adulthood, and reunited as grown women. Nel Wright grows up to become a wife and mother, happy to remain in her hometown of Medallion, Ohio. Sula Peace leaves Medallion to experience college, men, and life in the big city, an exceptional choice for a black woman to make in the late 1920s. As girls, Nel and Sula are the best of friends, only children who find in each other a kindred spirit to share in each girl's loneliness and imagination. When they meet again as adults, it's clear that Nel has chosen a life of acceptance and accommodation, while Sula must fight to defend her seemingly unconventional choices and beliefs. But regardless of the physical and emotional distance that threatens this extraordinary friendship, the bond between the women remains unbreakable: "Her old friend had come home.... Sula, whose past she had lived through and with whom the present was a constant sharing of perceptions. Talking to Sula had always been a conversation with herself." Lyrical and gripping, Sula is an honest look at the power of friendship amid a backdrop of family, love, race, and the human condition.

Notes on Sula
This book was a very quick read. We only took 2 weeks to cover it in class, and that was due in part to the snow day we experienced. That is not to say, however, that there was not a lot going on in the story. Morrison populates this novel with a lot of characters. So many, in fact, it is hard to tell who exactly the main character is. You could make an argument for several of them. There is also no clear cut "hero"; all the characters are morally ambiguous. Her writing style is beautiful and earthy. She invokes vivid mental images in her descriptions of the people, places, and emotions in this novel. With all that being said, it is hard for me to call this a novel. It is almost a series of vignettes (see definition 3). It is a novel of events- each chapter covers an episode in the characters' lives and there is not a lot of cohesion between the events. It is more a social commentary told in short sketches than a novel with an overarching plot line. This is my first Toni Morrison novel and I believe that everyone should read her at least once so they can experience her voice. Sula is short and sweet; it is not a difficult read. Would I recommend it? Maybe, depending on who was asking. It is not for everyone; some people need more action and less introspection.

Overall Diagnosis

Memorable Quotes
“It is sheer good fortune to miss somebody long before they leave you.”

“You been gone too long, Sula. Not too long, but maybe too far.”

“It had been the longest time since she had had a rib-scraping laugh. She had forgotten how deep and down it could be. So different from the miscellaneous giggles and smiles she had learned to be content with these past few years.”