Song of Solomon

A Novel

By: Toni Morrison

Narrated by: Toni Morrison

Length: 2 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An official Oprah Winfrey’s “The Books That Help Me Through” selection • The acclaimed Nobel Prize winner transfigures the coming-of-age story with this brilliantly imagined novel. Includes a new foreword by the author.

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. As Morrison follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family’s origins, she introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized Black world.

“Morrison moves easily in and out of the lives and thoughts of her characters, luxuriating in the diversity of circumstances and personality, and revelling in the sound of their voices and of her own, which echoes and elaborates theirs.” —The New Yorker

©2004 Toni Morrison (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

“A rich, full novel. . . . It lifts us up [and] impresses itself upon us like a love affair.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Stunningly beautiful. . . . Full of magnificent people. . . . They are still haunting my house. I suspect they will be with me forever.” —Anne Tyler, The Washington Post

“If Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man went underground, Toni Morrison’s Milkman flies.” —John Leonard, The New York Times Book Review

Very poor recording

The smooth and soothing voice of Toni Morrison is intermittently interrupted by a harsh, shrill male voice. This voice seems be used to patch missing recordings. It's really awful!

It's not the whole book... :(

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes and no. Yes because Toni Morrison does a fantastic job narrating it, but no because you're not getting the full story. I like to read along with a paper version of the book, and it was very confusing to try and follow along because she would skip parts of it. It's probably to make it shorter, but good books should be read in full.

Audiobook fatally marred by author's performance

Morrison speaks quietly and inhales loudly and frequently, and one hears other distracting nonverbal mouth noises. Her performance prevented me from hearing the story. Sadly, I could not finish it.

Great story, not so great reading.

Would you consider the audio edition of Song of Solomon to be better than the print version?

Definitely go with the actual book. This abridged version leaves out so much!

What did you like best about this story?

This is a story about naming and discovery of self. It's very relatable and complex.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Toni Morrison?

I'll definitely try to avoid audiobooks narrated by Toni Morrison in the future. She doesn't seem to be able to perform as well as she writes.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It threw me for a loop a few times, but there wasn't anything too crazy going on.

Song of Solomon

I tried to read along and the audio book skips paragraphs and sometimes even a page or 2. I didn't like how it skipped a lot of parts of the book. I really like this book it's interesting even though it's kinda has a slow being. It's can be a little confusing to try to figure who all the characters are and how their significance is. Other than than having a few paragraphs or a page or two max skipping it's pretty okay.

Mangling of a beautiful novel

The description for this audiobook has to change. I get it was heavily abridged, but listening to Ms Morrison read it is glorious. However, at some points her voice is interrupted an a robotic man’s voice takes over. If I knew why and had expected it, maybe I wouldn’t have minded. As it is, I feel cheated. Toni Morrison deserves better and so do her readers.

The most extraordinary book I have ever read

Toni Morrison's performance is extraordinary. The writing is precise, beautiful and carries the story forward with effortless strength. I want to read this 3 more times after listening.

Great book!

Loved it! Book was very interesting. Toni Morrison is so creative and I love her. I hope to meet her one day.

it's good, however its not the full book.

it's missing a lot of important scenes, like milkman, s encounter with Fred Garnett and when the people of Danville was praising his father. Also the bar fight.

Poor Production Quality

Good story, but the quality of the production is lousy. At times Toni Morrison is reading then a man with a newscaster voice breaks in to read a few paragraphs and then it is back to Toni. And there are volume shifts throughout. Very annoying! Random House should be ashamed to tray a work of art this crappy.