Toni Morrisons book Jazz is categorized as contemporary fiction and more specifically drama. The plot of this book revolves around an older couple, Violet and Joe, and the ups and downs a marriage can take over time. The back of the book describes it as "...a story of passion, jealousy, murder and redemptions, of sex and spirituality, slavery and liberation, country and city". Reading this very long sentence one would think that this book is going to be extremely intriguing and would be as inspiring and deep as Morrisons previous work. Morrison is well known for her writing in period pieces that mainly have to do with racism, love, and death. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1993. She is most well known for her amazing work in The Bluest Eye, Song of Soloman, and Beloved. Although Morrison is a very talented writer this book fell short of her normal stature. As the back of the book reads there is a lot going on in this book but unfortunately it is all just barely touched upon and leaves the reader confused. There is also no original storyline to keep the reader intrigued. I chose to read this book because of Morrisons reputation of fantastic writing but was sorely disappointed in the quality of this story.
To start with, this book is very stereotypical; husband and wife don't talk anymore therefore husband cheats on wife with a younger woman and small town gossip ensues. Don't worry I am not giving anything away, the reader finds all of this out on just the first few pages. It is then slowly explained in detail throughout the entire book but you get the main parts of the drama at the very beginning. Violet and Joe are the married couple that this story revolves around, even though there were corks in their personality they seemed very generalized as a boring old couple. Violet comes to a realization early on that she is not the woman that she once was, saying "She[Herself] didn't used to be that way. She had been a snappy, determined girl and a hard working young woman, with the snatch-gossip tongue of a beautician" (page 23). For such a well-known writer I was hoping for a more original plot, although there were some parts that I thought were unique there were not enough of them to sway me from being bored at the basic love story plot. I will give her credit in the fact that both Violet and Joe had twisted minds; Joe killed his lover because he knew he couldn't keep her and Violet mutilated the body of her husbands mistress at the public wake. But still this wasn't enough to intrigue me to read more; she did not delve enough into their psyche to explain anything.
Flashing back and forth in time and changing narratives every few pages without any notification to the reader was the basis of this book that made me go "what the heck?”. There were far too many times when I did not know who was talking or where in time we were. It was extremely distracting and would take several pages to figure out. There was an entire 20 pages devoted to a time period before either of the two characters were alive and as the reader I was not able to decipher who the narrator was or their purpose in the story until the entire section was done. This background would have been helpful if it were more clear but as it is written it was just frustrating. The reader will spend more time trying to figure out the timeline of the story then actually reading the pages.
As I mentioned before the book was supposed to be about "passion, jealousy, murder and redemptions, of sex and spirituality, slavery and liberation, country and city". I can see why this was advertised because that is what the entire book was about but at the same time it never fully dove into any of the subjects. Morrison just barely skimmed the surface with all of those issues so that it was there but not developed. I never cared or rooted for any of the characters because none of them were talked about enough for me to have a strong hold on who they were and what they wanted. The narrator jumped around so much that it never fully went into who each person was and why I should care which is the main reason why we read! We read to learn about other people and be a part of their story; we read for anticipation and anxiety; we read for romance and friendship. All of these vital aspects of a good story were just barely touched upon; it was there but not developed enough to become a real story.
Overall I would not suggest this book. Yes, there were a few interesting parts but not enough to waste time reading the entire 229 pages. Morrison is normally an extraordinary writer but this book just didn't have her heart in it. Stereotypical, confusing, and underdeveloped are not words normally used to describe her books but for this one they are exactly the right fit.
Sierra Baxter is graduating in May 2011 from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies.
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