Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

lareviewofbooks.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 79 posts

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#21

Post by defrost »

ByQuyzzy wrote: post #12
emseetech wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people say this, I wonder what kind of books they appreciate.

Currently reading Turris Babel in the original Latin. What books are you into? You will be judged by your answer, and assumed to be a non-reader if you don't reply.

It's a toss up between Yorro Yorro: Everything Standing Up Alive by David Mowaljarlai and Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar for me.

Readers who like Kircher might also enjoy: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=C0iGO0Hr95UC and triple check his math .. it gets pretty wonky.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#22

Post by RajT88 »

ByQuyzzy wrote: post #3

I was forced to read her book in school, I didn't care for it. One wonders what percentage of her readers read her willingly.

Me too. "The Bluest Eye" - in college.

It was devastating. I'm glad I read it, even though parts of it were really uncomfortable.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#23

Post by emseetech »

CSMastermind wrote: post #15
emseetech wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people say this, I wonder what kind of books they appreciate.

I strongly disliked Morrison's books when I read them, though I'll happily concede they're expertly written. Some fiction books I've read as an adult and appreciate: Gone with the Wind, Fields of Fire, American Psycho, The Turn of the Screw, Anna Karenina Some from school: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Frienheit 451, Moby Dick, Brave New World Some of the more pop fictiony: American Gods, The Stand, His Da…

> though I'll happily concede they're expertly written.

Enjoyment is a deeply personal thing but I can’t imagine dismissing Morrison as not worth anyone’s time.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#24

Post by emseetech »

bombcar wrote: post #9
Out_of_Characte wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but to suggest that people read her just because they’re required to is absurd Its not, source: the OP Your comment made me realise how much I hated being required to read X because of all the exact reasons you mentioned above. Just because what I've read didn't win a nobel prize doesn't mean I cant find it subjectively better.

From what I can determine, the books that kids are forced to read in high school are the books that their elders really loved; and often were not forced to read in high school. Most every book I was forced to read I still hate enough that I'll never bother rereading it. I'm sure they're all great; they also weren't for me, not at that time. Which is why the absolute last thing I'd ever do is assign anyone to read any…

I find that I generally love most of the books I was forced to read. Even if I didn’t at the time.

I make time to re-read Grapes of Wrath once every decade and I connect with it differently every time I do. Catcher in the Rye has also taken new meaning as I’ve aged to where I can imagine Holden as my troubled, disaffected teenage son.

I hated Romeo and Juliet as a teenager because everyone saw it as a beautiful romance and I thought I was so smart recognizing it as a cautionary tale of the impulsiveness of youth. But now I see it as a beautiful love story.

I’m grateful that I was forced to read these as a young teenager because now I can reflect on these works and my reaction to them as a reflection of my own life.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#25

Post by richardatlarge »

ByQuyzzy wrote: post #18
forgotmyinfo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on now. You don't have to enjoy Toni Morrison, but to discount her absolute success because she isn't your preference is more than a little ridiculous.

Every school library in the US has 120 copies of this book. I'm just wondering how many non-school / library buyers there were. If her success is government-mandated, it can easily be discounted.

I always thought people borrowing books meant fewer sales, not more. Stephen King will be happy to hear it

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#26

Post by defrost »

ByQuyzzy wrote: post #18
forgotmyinfo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on now. You don't have to enjoy Toni Morrison, but to discount her absolute success because she isn't your preference is more than a little ridiculous.

Every school library in the US has 120 copies of this book. I'm just wondering how many non-school / library buyers there were. If her success is government-mandated, it can easily be discounted.

> Every school library in the US has 120 copies of this book.

This seems improbable.

It seems even more unlikely when The Bluest Eye has been banned so often:

    The ALA placed it on the Top Ten Most Challenged Books Lists for 2006, 2014, 2013, 2020, and 2022.

    Ultimately, it became the 34th-most banned book in the United States 1990–1999, the 15th-most banned book 2000–2009, and the 10th-most banned book 2010–2019.
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bluest_Eye

Can you back up this assertion at all?

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#27

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

ByQuyzzy wrote: post #18
forgotmyinfo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on now. You don't have to enjoy Toni Morrison, but to discount her absolute success because she isn't your preference is more than a little ridiculous.

Every school library in the US has 120 copies of this book. I'm just wondering how many non-school / library buyers there were. If her success is government-mandated, it can easily be discounted.

I admit some confusion of the idea that Toni Morrison is successful only because she was taught in schools. Schools aren’t known to push literature in classrooms published within that year on a nationwide scale (outside of specifically librarian association recommendations or something like this, a scholastic books thing). From a brief Wikipedia read, The Bluest Eye was published with Toni Morrison was nearly 40 and didn’t sell well, so it makes no sense why that’s the one taught in schools.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#29

Post by sandspar »

presbyterian wrote: post #5
ByQuyzzy wrote: post #3

I was forced to read her book in school, I didn't care for it. One wonders what percentage of her readers read her willingly.

She’s a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, National Book Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; one of the most celebrated writers in American literature. I understand that you may not personally like the book of hers you read, but to suggest that people read her just because the…

Awards are a racket that perpetuate themselves by making money for a constellation of editors, magazines, and talk shows. They have little to do with talent and even less to do with readability. How many of the Academy Awards Best Picture nominees over the last five years has the average person watched and enjoyed? Book awards are even more out of touch. Also do you honestly think that winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom is an unbiased recommendation? It's a propaganda award.

Re: Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

#30

Post by worddepress »

dragonwriter wrote: post #28
ByQuyzzy wrote: post #3

I was forced to read her book in school, I didn't care for it. One wonders what percentage of her readers read her willingly.

I was assigned to read many books in schools, but I was never forced to read any of them.

A stern letter to your parents if you don't might count as force.
Post reply on HN