About Sula (from the Penguin Randon House web site)
“Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.”
“Toni Morrison is the author of eleven novels, from The Bluest Eye (1970) to God Help the Child (2015). She received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She died in 2019.”
The Spoilers have been on a roll lately, doing shows about books that have just blown us away — and this show is no exception. In this episode we talk about Toni Morrison’s perplexing and captivating heroine, Sula Peace. What a woman! Just when you think you hate her, you realize that apparently, you love her. The novel itself is filled with unforgettable characters and amazing moments, and we talk about a whole lot of them. All of this is to say that in the end, we all agree that damn it, we adore and really miss the great Toni Morrison, but we’re glad she left us a novel like this one to remember her by. Girl, Girl, GirlGirlGirl.
Mentioned in the Show
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
- New York Times Review of Sula by Sara Blackburn
- Phyllis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
- Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple
- National Black Women’s Equal Pay Day
What the spoilers are up to!
- Todd: Queen Sugar
- Crystal: Lizzo, Special & Chastity Brown, Sing to the Walls
- Anita: Mo (Netflix) & Maimouna Youssef, “Runaway”
