I recently finished Paradise by Toni Morrison! I know I keep saying this, but this is by far the best book I have ever read to date; complexity in words but the underlying meaning is so simple, which is why Toni is so amazing to me. You have to be acquainted with God to truly understand her work; she is a woman of God and it's too obvious in her work. I read all of her other novels last year and I loved them, but let's not front, I had to Google what this and that meant several times and ended up understanding a lot of things that way. After fully being done with her collection, I realize/believe that Toni produces work that's not supposed to be summarized or broken down in parts for clarity, you're just supposed to read it and take it all in and remain speechless. Literally walked to my house from Ashmont with my eyes GLUED to the final pages. I couldn't wait. Masterpiece! Masterwoman!
Side note: Paradise was published in 1993 and Sparknotes has yet to decipher it...10+ years. Is there a reason? Just an Observation!
"Each story has a monster in it who made them tough instead of brave, so they open their legs rather than their hearts where that folded child is tucked." -Toni Morrison
"He laughed along with friends at his vanity, because he knew their delight at his weakness went hand in hand with their awe." -Toni Morrison
"Love is diving only and difficult always." -Toni Morrison
"The sky was behaving like a showgirl: exchanging its pale, melancholy morning for sporty ribbons of color in the evening." -Toni Morrison
"They had promised to take care of her always but did not tell her that always was nor all ways nor forever." -Toni Morrison
"His signs were clear, abundantly so, if you stopped steeping in vanity's sour juice and paid attention to His world." -Toni Morrison
"One does not destroy what one loves. One does not destroy because one loves." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"I wonder if collapse of virtue is not survival at all but cowardice." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"When two beings meet, each brings to the other a bit of themselves. So we learn, we construct our selves, we evolve. I bring what makes me different from you. Give me a bit of what you are. But do it with gentleness and tolerance, since all that you impose upon me with force will only leave the imprint of your violence and your arrogance. One can't force the other to accept what is offered. In accepting what you have to give, I open you to what I have to offer." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"The world is alive and even if we kill it, it returns fresh, full-throated and hungry for time and space in which to thrive. And if we haven't secured the passionate peace we yearn for, it is because we haven't imagined it. It is still available, this human peace? In our privileged position in timelessness, our answer is a roar." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"Here the infidel can embrace the saint just as sunlight creates the air we breathe."-Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"He laughed along with friends at his vanity, because he knew their delight at his weakness went hand in hand with their awe." -Toni Morrison
"Love is diving only and difficult always." -Toni Morrison
"The sky was behaving like a showgirl: exchanging its pale, melancholy morning for sporty ribbons of color in the evening." -Toni Morrison
"They had promised to take care of her always but did not tell her that always was nor all ways nor forever." -Toni Morrison
"His signs were clear, abundantly so, if you stopped steeping in vanity's sour juice and paid attention to His world." -Toni Morrison
"One does not destroy what one loves. One does not destroy because one loves." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"I wonder if collapse of virtue is not survival at all but cowardice." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"When two beings meet, each brings to the other a bit of themselves. So we learn, we construct our selves, we evolve. I bring what makes me different from you. Give me a bit of what you are. But do it with gentleness and tolerance, since all that you impose upon me with force will only leave the imprint of your violence and your arrogance. One can't force the other to accept what is offered. In accepting what you have to give, I open you to what I have to offer." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"The world is alive and even if we kill it, it returns fresh, full-throated and hungry for time and space in which to thrive. And if we haven't secured the passionate peace we yearn for, it is because we haven't imagined it. It is still available, this human peace? In our privileged position in timelessness, our answer is a roar." -Toni Morrison, Desdemona
"Here the infidel can embrace the saint just as sunlight creates the air we breathe."-Toni Morrison, Desdemona
