Award Winner in Every Way

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Adult Fiction

This book was a national bestseller, an award winner, on the New York Times Bestseller list--but don't we expect that from Morrison?  Yes, and she always delivers.  Morrison is the Nobel Laureate and this book clearly shows why she is deserving of that honor.  Morrison crafts words much as a potter at a wheel, spinning and churning to create a masterpiece of fragile beauty.

The book takes place in the 1600s in America.  This setting gives it quite a unique perspective as most books are written about slavery during Civil War times.  Jacob is not really a slave owner but gets talked into taking a young black girl to settle a debt.  Florens, abandoned by her mother (she thinks), goes to live on Jacob's farm and spend the rest of her young life desperately trying to find love and be loved.  The whole story is one of unrequited love.  Everyone in the story seems to be suffering from lack of love and some even die of it.  Florens lives with two other slaves, whose stories are even sadder and more tragic than hers. 

The whole novel was worth the last paragraph.  There are parts of the story that won't make sense until you come to the end.  Hold on because it is worth the wait.  I wish there would have been more of Mercy's mother in the book.  Her words were so tragic, so powerful, so beautiful.  It took just a few pages to show the depth s of a mother's love.