Reviews for Conversations with Toni Morrison

The average rating for Conversations with Toni Morrison based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-04-25 00:00:00 Anthony Bolden Toni Morrison is a genius. We all know this. This book is evidence that she is in fact a super genius. The interviews in this book are amazing and enlightening. I keep a scrapbook of great sentences from great works as well as bits of writerly advice. This book has given me a number of things to add to my scrapbook. Morrison talks about her writing process and how she loves the act of revising her work. She says she likes to re-work things until the "seams don't show." Stand-out interviews in the book are those by Marsha Darling--which includes great info on my favorite Morrison book, Beloved-- and the interview by the incomparable Bill Moyers. One interview that stands out in a bad way is the 1979 interview conducted by Collete Dowling. Dowling clearly does not like Morrison as a person and she has these very brutal and strange observations throughout the piece. For example: "She will often put on an act in conversation, she might suddenly 'get down' and be very chicken-and-ribs, sucking her teeth, poking a finger into her scalp and scratching--a strange, primitive gesture that makes her hairdo rock back and forth on her scalp like a wig." What? Primitive? *sigh* Everything about that is just wrong and mean-spirited and just ugh. Besides that odd interview, the book is quite good and something I would recommend to any Toni Morrison fan.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-04-06 00:00:00 Carl Mcconnell This is an excellent meditation on the novels of Toni Morrison, her literary work and she, herself. Barred of academic discourse flying from page to the next, this books consists of numerous interviews between Morrison and interviewers who manage to, holding the reader's hand, enter her realm. It enlightens on the themes in Morrison's language and the meanings she tries to convey. It also gives her a beautiful, almost beastly voice to say what her work is amidst what is said in literary criticism. Reading this I could nearly picture her, gracefully on a green couch with a cup of tea before her, looking out at the window and telling me why Song of Solomon was written for me, a young black person.