Recitatif

A Story

By: Toni Morrison, Zadie Smith - Introduction

Narrated by: Zadie Smith, Bahni Turpin

Length: 1 hr and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A beautiful, arresting story about race and the relationships that shape us through life by the legendary Nobel Prize winner—for the first time in a beautifully produced stand-alone edition, with an introduction by Zadie Smith
 
“A puzzle of a story, then—a game.... When [Morrison] called Recitatif an ‘experiment’ she meant it. The subject of the experiment is the reader.” —Zadie Smith, award-winning, best-selling author of White Teeth

In this 1983 short story—the only short story Morrison ever wrote—we meet Twyla and Roberta, who have known each other since they were eight years old and spent four months together as roommates in St. Bonaventure shelter. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only later to find each other again at a diner, a grocery store, and again at a protest. Seemingly at opposite ends of every problem, and at each other's throats each time they meet, the two women still cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.
 
Another work of genius by this masterly writer, Recitatif keeps Twyla's and Roberta's races ambiguous throughout the story. Morrison herself described Recitatif, a story which will keep readers thinking and discussing for years to come, as "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." We know that one is white and one is Black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage?
 
A remarkable look into what keeps us together and what keeps us apart, and how perceptions are made tangible by reality, Recitatif is a gift to readers in these changing times.

©1983 Toni Morrison (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

An NPR Best Book of the Year

“‘Recitatif’ . . .  is ambitious, pointed, and surprisingly playful when it comes to race. Morrison described it as ‘an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial’. . . . So shrewd and economical is Morrison’s storytelling, so tightly controlled is her experiment. ‘Recitatif’ is brilliant and worthy of space in your brain and bookshelf.” 
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Nobel laureate Morrison’s only short story, originally published in 1983 and now as a slender, elegant volume enhanced by Smith’s insightful introduction, is a knockout. . . . In her captivating story, Morrison ingeniously leads readers to challenge racial stereotypes and consider nuanced power dynamics with questions that linger beyond the last page.”  —The National Book Review

“When I return to ‘Recitatif,’ it is with a renewed understanding that, along with a handful of other African Americans, Morrison was among the first to depict Black culture while also considering politics, while also considering United States history, while also considering white supremacy, while also considering economic class, while also considering gender, while also considering intergenerational trauma. As the kids might say, Toni Morrison did that.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, New York Times Book Review

Undetermined

That you couldn’t distinguish whether Twyla was Black or Roberta was white or vice versa. I thought this was a great short story with great detail. When I thought the ending would give more depth it was still not determined.

Thought Provoking Short Story

This is Toni Morrison's only short story and my first time reading her. This is a thought-provoking story about two girls, Twyla and Roberta, who meet at the age of eight at a shelter/orphanage and then run into each other regularly throughout their lives. All we know about the girls is that one is white and one is black but the way Morrison writes the story their race is indeterminable, at least to me.

The Audible book featured an introduction by Zadie Smith which thankfully didn't spoil the book like introductions can sometimes do. The introduction added some background and context to the story which primed me for the book but I thought it was way to long (as long as the story) and repetitive.

Thank you Toni Morrison for writing this book.

Thank you Zadie Smith and Bahri Turpin for narrating this book and introduction. Please listen to this book.

Eyes opening

I read the short story 1st and then went back to the introduction, On the recommendation of my sister. I was completely blown away, as I read I was trying to relate to the characters.Race and our experiences is what connects us, this book shatters that prospective

So Glad I Found This!

This book was simply mind altering. From the phenomenal introduction that set us squarely in our racial bias to the book itself where I had to check that same racial bias at the door…I am a better person for it! I will take this to not my DEIA and Implicit Bias practice with glee!

Good story

I love this book! It amazing characters and story lines. It good to read. B

Excellent & Thought Provoking

As many others have mentioned, I’d highly recommend you listen to Zadie Smith’s introduction *after* listening to the short story, not before, to ensure you get the most out of it!

Read the introduction last

This is a story about two young girls who who become friends while rooming together in an orphanage and their chance encounters over the years. I read the story after hearing about it on NPR, so I knew what Morrison intended when she wrote it. Still, I wish I read the introduction after the story so I could have read the story on its own terms. Both the introduction and the story are excellent. Both should be read, just in the opposite order.

Kudos to Toni!

To read such a story that on first read can be interpreted as a simple one because of the easily read language and simplicity of structure.

But that, apparently, is the genius of Toni Morrison….revealing profound truths about our human experiences. In this story I found it fascinating that I couldn’t determine which character was definitively Black or White, especially in the audio version. And to have the characters confused at the end of the story as to the racial identity of a deaf/mute character, was so ironic!!!

I also loved the introduction, so much that I’m going to ask my book club to play it before we begin our discussion of the book…it is full of contextual interpretation that I related strongly to and will provide many nuggets for further discussion by the club!

Thank you again, Toni 😍

Excellent

Did not like all the explaining by Zadie. Much more powerful without. Read 2nd part 1st.