Jazz: A Novel (Vintage International)

Wonderful writing, reminded me of other great authors as I read, I could see the influences the author had. I loved the lyrical prose, which seemed to have a rhythm and tempo of its own. The jazz and music were in the words as written. I truly enjoyed reading it.

After having read this novel I can't believe all the negative reviews, most people claiming that the novel was too hard or difficult to follow. I've read 4 of Morrison's books (The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, Sula and Beloved) and I'll have to say that enjoyed this one amensely and I pretty much read over a span of three days. It's not a difficult read, nor is it difficult to follow if you've read any of her before or read Hemmingway, Faulkner or Kerouac for that matter. On a second reading of any of Morrison's novels, you always come away with something new, as with any quality piece of literature. So I really don't buy into this idea that Morrison's novels, this one in particular are difficult to read. This being said, I found this novel to be a great pleasure, a story that's simple enough about a middle-aged married black couple The Traces in "the City" during 1920's the husband Joe Trace has a fling with a young girl named Dorcas Manfred whom he later kills in the middle of party though the girl's Aunt/Guardian doesn't press charges and the wife Violet "Violent" Trace tries to disfigure the dead girl in the casket at her funeral. That's basically it without giving away the novel. There is an almost sensual use of language here that tells the stories behind the story that is common in Morrison's novels that gives Jazz that particular kind of flavor that distinguishes it from Morrison's other works and makes this novel more than a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it!

While this is in a trilogy with Beloved, it's thematically related and not connected by plot. Due to my enjoyment of Beloved, I decided to check out this book. Just like in Beloved, Morrison starts off by describing an event of egregious violence and then proceeds to flesh out the lives of the characters and illuminates what drove them to commit the act. While Beloved is about the abundance of motherly love, this is about the abundance of romantic love. The characters of Joe and Violet end up killing and mutilating a seventeen year old girl, all in the name of jealousy and love. As the book progresses Morrison shows what happened to their marriage and what drove the characters to make the choices that resulted in the death of Dorcas. The way the narrator told the story was very interesting, because it adopted the tone of different people. Sometimes the narrator was speaking as a neighbor, a shop keeper, a friend, or The City itself. I especially enjoyed the ending section where Morrison herself narrates directly to the reader. Throughout the book I really got a sense of the 1920s Harlem society where the story happened. The language of the book evoked a Jazz arrangement with different character's voices coming out over the undertones of the narrator, almost like a solo. I loved how different sections referred back to other sections, and different scenes gradually fleshed out the entire events. What i found most interesting about this book was the theme of how racism and slavery divided families and destroyed black American society, which resulted in intraracial violence. I also liked how near the end when Joe was out looking for Dorcas it mixed with an early account of him looking for his Mother in the woods of Virginia showing how his disjointed family created his search for a woman to have an affair with and his inherent anger at her leaving him. Overall a very interesting book, and it made 1920s Harlem (both the good and bad) come alive. Interested to read Paradise next.

You won’t need an audio book to hear the jazz rhythms and spontaneous riffs that make this novel linger, like the taste of slow gin on a warm summer night. I simply can’t imagine a film adaptation that could ever capture the essence of Morrison’s prose.

This is my second time reading this book, with several years between, and I like it more as I’ve aged. While this book is short, it’s better to pace yourself as you read. I encourage the paperback because the pages are thick and that adds to the experience, causing you to take your time turning the page. Morrison’s prose is poetic, and she writes the way that jazz feels. This book alternates points of view as if it is one long stream of consciousness and travels between time just as quickly. Many passages I had to read over again as I did not grasp it the first time. There’s much to be said about love, grief, and generational trauma as well. Morrison has a talent for weaving together the stories and lives of her characters— in some ways I felt I was reading several short stories, and in others I was reading one long poem.

In a documentary on Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey said she told Toni that she had to go back and forth to grasp the story and Toni told her that was "reading". However, I and my fellow bookwomen group members found her hard to read. Our one African American in the group says she loves Toni and what she accomplished but won't read her books because she is too hard to follow. I do think the book gives a respectable sense of what African Americans lives were like in the early 1900's. One chapter starts with mentioning 1917 (pg 52 in Kindle version). With Google, I discovered there were 2 significant race riots that year - one in Huston, Texas and one in East St Louis, Illinois. If you decide to tackle this book, you might want to use Google to learn more about the riots.

An entertaining read. The book chronicles the lives of Joe Trace, his wife Violet, and the possibility of salvaging their marriage, in the aftermath of the murder of his mistress. It examines the themes of love, infidelity, passion, violence, community, and racial identity in post slavery America. The novel also speaks to the exodus of black folks from the south, as they made their way up north to Harlem in the early 1900s, in search of a better way of life. It looks at how they interact, survive and thrive, in spite of their circumstances. Toni Morrison's, skillful prose gives the novel a cultural richness and vitality that resonates with the reader. Her writing style allows the novel to have the same flow, cadence and rhythm of jazz music. This is also appropriate, since the plot is largely centered on Harlem, in a era where jazz music was becoming increasingly popular, and formed the backdrop against which the people lived their lives. Overall this is a good novel, but you may find some of the author's other works a bit more compelling, such as The Bluest Eye, A Mercy, Sula and Beloved.

I loved this novel. It was beyond insightful. Good writing today is hard to come by, and this novel is just touching. I stopped to cry. Seriously I was breaking down in tears. No, I am not an emotional person. The writing in this breaks down what it means to be human. There has been much debate concerning the role of African Americans in Toni Morrison's novels, and you don't have to be black to relate to these characters. Yes it's a part of their character but hey that's what I love about it. These characters are real. They're flawed, and they're you and me. You know good writing states something that will always be true. It observes a phenomena in society, writes it down, and that writing transcends time, place, and people. That's what this novel does. I see NYC the way Morrison does and I love the role it plays in her novel.

Decidi fazer uma avaliação da obra física, já que não tinha nenhuma com fotos na época que comprei. O livro é muito leve e fácil de transportar. As folhas são acinzentadas e relativamente frágeis, como de jornal, mas não tão finas quanto. A diagramação é ótima e o tamanho da fonte, na minha opinião, é ideal. Eu não recomendaria usar marca texto nas páginas, q provavelmente vai sangrar um pouco e aparecer do outro lado. Eu usei caneta ballpoint e não sangrou exatamente, mas dá pra ver a sombra do q foi escrito do outro lado. Não me importo mto e não me incomodou durante a leitura também. A única coisa ruim é que o livro não foi envolto em papel bolha ou nenhum tipo de plástico pra proteger durante a transportação. Ainda assim, felizmente não veio com avarias. Comprei por R$52 e pouquinho em outubro de 2025. Não estava em promoção, mas percebi que subiram ele de preço durante a Black Friday um mês depois pra 60 e alguma coisa e fingiram que era promoção, rs. Quanto ao conteúdo, é magistral. Estruturado no ritmo e fluidez do jazz. Não é exatamente denso, mas requer atenção e tempo. É uma jornada, tanto em história quanto em forma, e muito bem escrita. Foi meu primeiro livro de Morrison e com certeza lerei mais da autora. Recomendo assistir à entrevista dela no YouTube, chamada "Toni Morrison interview on Jazz (1993)".

Me ha gustado mucho la historia. El papel es de dudosa calidad

Gradito

Great book

Jazz ist nicht nur der wohl komplexeste Roman Morrisons, sondern wohl einer der komplexesten überhaupt. Die relativ einfache Geschichte (New York der Zwanzigerjahre, ein Mann ersticht seine jüngere Geliebte, die Frau attackiert auf der Beerdigung die Tote mit dem Messer) wird in den insgesamt 10 Kapiteln von immer neuen Seiten angepackt und aufgerollt. Jedes Kapitel wird von (grob gerechnet) einer Stimmen dominiert, wobei all das durch eine Icherzählerin gefiltert wird, die über 90 % des Buches wie eine auktoriale Erzählerin agiert. Der Alltag der Figuren unmittelbar vor Mord und Beerdigung wird ebenso aufgearbeitet wie Kindheit und Jugend im tiefen Süden, einige Familienmitglieder, deren Leben dann sozusagen als Rede dritter Ordnung (X erzählt, XY habe erzählt) wiedergegeben wird, erweitern den Fokus des Romans noch einmal bis in die Jahre vor dem amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg. Das ist hochambitioniert, und der Roman ist sauber auskomponiert: die ersten drei oder vier Kapitel entfalten sich als Fortsetzungen eines einzelnen Gedankens (Sht, I know that woman… / Or used to … / Like that day in July, when…), in späteren wird jeweils aus neuer Perspektive eine Idee oder ein Eindruck vom Schluss des vorangegangenen Kapitels wieder aufgegriffen. Damit habe ich mir anfangs nicht leicht getan: Was Jazz im Gegensatz zu anderen modernen Romanen so schwer verdaulich macht ist der scharfe Kontrast zwischen der relativ traditionellen mündlichen Erzählweise und der hektischen Großstadtszenerie - das scheint sich zu Beißen. Allerdings hat der Kontrast seine Berechtigung. Man muss bedenken, dass die meisten Städter Neuankömmlinge der sogenannten „Great Migration“ sind. Menschen, deren Vorfahren unter Sklaverei, und die selbst unter andauernder Diskriminierung leidend, vor allem auch ihre orale Tradition hatten, die weitergegebenen Geschichten, um sich eine Identität zu wahren/aufzubauen. Da ist die Polarität von Jazz zwischen polyphonem Großstadtroman und mündlicher Erzählung durchaus folgerichtig. Schwer zu verdauen ist das Ganze dennoch. Jazz führt seine Welt in konsequenter weise sprachlich-strukturell durch. Da mag es auch konsequent sein, dass der Text bis in den Satzbau hinein immer wieder regelrecht deprimiert, mit dieser bluesig gedrückten Erzählhaltung… es bleibt aber phasenweise schwer, das zu „genießen“ (kein Wunder…) wie das bei den anderen genannten Texten durchaus geht. Das darf man natürlich auch zum Besten Morrisons auslegen. Man kann sich von Jazz nicht überspülen lassen, der Roman zwingt in jedem Sinne zu einer starken Reaktion und zu Engagement mit dem Text. Ich sehe nach gewissem Ringen in Jazz eine herausragende sprachliche und kompositorische Arbeit, die brutal schwer im Magen liegt.