[Book Forward]
The forward is everything. Talks about friendship between black women and the tendency for “political” literature to not be seen as artistic. Being a black author was innately political, therefore the writing was political. Seeing a blue sky always became “a black person seeing a blue sky.” Always about servitude, always about suffering
[Book Plot Summary]
Starts with a girl named Nel that lives in a town called Medallion, Ohio which is located at the top of a hill. Nel is the daughter of a woman named Helene who was born in New Orleans to a woman named Rochelle who’s said to be a “whore”. Helene was raised by her grandmother and married a guy who moved her to Medallion. She’s church-going, elegant, but also very manipulative towards her daughter and husband. Her grandmother is dying, so she travels south to see her (encounters bullshit racism on the way), but when she arrives, her grandmother is dead and she sees her mom instead who she hates. Nel is enthralled by Rochelle and fantasizes about traveling more once she’s home from the trip. Despite her mom’s previous wishes, Nel befriends Sula.
Sula was born to a mom named Hannah who is the daughter of a woman named Eva. Eva has three kids; Hannah, Eva (who she calls Pearl), and Ralph who she calls Plum. Eva used to be married to an ain’t shit nigga named BoyBoy who was an abuser, womanizer, and heavy drinker. Eva had no ass money and was struggling boots raising these kids, she left them one day with a woman named Mrs. Suggs for 18 months, and then returned and got them (she had one leg upon return, but no one really asked about that). Eva then got this big ass house that she rented out where Sula now lives with her mother, Hannah. Pearl lives in Flint, Michigan with her husband. Plum, who lives with severe PTSD from WWI, also lives in Eva’s house along with a motley crew of other characters; Tar Baby, the 3 Deweys, and the like. The Eva women have a lot of “manlove”; Eva being a sharp-talking flirt and Hannah being v connected to her sexuality. Sula learns from a young age that sex is something that happens frequently and is enjoyable, albeit unimportant. One day, Plum, who was Eva’s favorite, was staying in his room and Eva came in and embraced him. She then lit him on fire—leaving everyone else to deal with the mess.
Sula and Nel became fast friends—having a deeply spiritual connection and a mutual interest in boys. One day, they were at the river and Sula accidentally drowned this boy named Chicken Little and apparently Shadrack (who isn’t Plum, but has similar PTSD and started an annual trend called “Suicide Day”) saw everything and never told a soul
Later, Eva explained to Hannah why she killed Plum, Sula was acting wild, Hannah had this weird dream about a red wedding and then, shortly thereafter, Hannah died accidentally lighting herself on fire. Eva tried to save her, but almost died in doing so. Sula honestly just watched her mama burn and didn’t do anything. She was said to be “interested” in the spectacle
Later, Nel married a man with exceptionally fragile masculinity named Jude Greene—Sula helped to plan the wedding and, sadly, this new relationship would eclipse their friendship for about 10 years
[Book Thoughts and Feelings]
The Deweys LMAO
No one being able to tell them apart
They don’t age
They’re only described as a group
“How is anybody going to tell them apart?” Hannah asked her. “What you need to tell them apart for? They’s all deweys” - Eva
I love these fucking characters, they’re so ridiculous and hilarious. Morrison really knows how to get you engrossed in their bullshit—even though its not fantasy it feels fantastic in its story-telling
What does it mean to be black and a sociopath?