Sula

By: Toni Morrison

Narrated by: Toni Morrison

Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

©1973 Toni Morrison (P)2002 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Enchanting....Powerful." ( Chicago Daily News)
"In characters like Sula, Toni Morrison's originality and power emerge." ( The Nation)

"Exemplary....The essential mysteries of death and sex, friendship, and poverty are expressed with rare economy." ( Newsweek)

"Extravagantly beautiful....Enormously, achingly alive....A howl of love and rage, playful and funny as well as hard and bitter." ( The New York Times)

"...Morrison provides an audio gem that can be cherished within the whole body of audiobook recordings. Her smooth, mellifluous voice has so much command over each word. She honors each sound and expresses each image vividly. While most listening can accompany other tasks like driving or exercising, Morrison smoothly draws the listener to complete attention. This is compelling listening: a dazzling presentation of Sula and Nel's lives, loves and losses, and of Morrison's brilliance." ( AudioFile)

Fabulous story, beautiful voice, terrible holes in narration

Very good story, and Toni has a beautiful voice. I just wish she’d used it more! The breathiness is very effective for some parts, but there are whole important parts of the plot that you miss because she’s almost at a whisper! If you listen to this (which I recommend, because it’s so wonderful and sad and beautiful), I’d recommend listening only with earphones, on high, so you can get every word. Otherwise you miss a lot. I had to keep up with online chapter summaries.

Good against evil and a riotous story to boot

This was a well thought out, well put together novel. Everything draws together at the end. In addition, the author knows how to tell a story.

The characters are real, unpredictable, flesh-and-blood people. People you have known in your life, or wished to know. The reader is immersed into the culture of a backwater black neighborhood of the early 20th century.

The story has twists and turns, some back stories, but I followed it easily while alone cleaning my kitchen. I can usually predict a plot twist, but not this time. Something was happening every 5 minutes, or so it seemed.

Similar to the books of Thomas Hardy, there are all of these characters, all of these lives and interactions within a community, an interesting plot, and a thread of morality winding through it all. I didn't really notice the thread, but many things made me feel uncomfortable with both Nell and Sula. All is explained at the end and justice prevails. I felt better only to discover that I had been "had" by the moral questions now raised within myself.

Some people complained about the narration. I had no problem with it, but I listen on my computer instead of a device, if that makes any difference. The author speaks deliberately, but without a lot of expression. This way you can interpret her words as you wish, just as if you were reading it.

In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It has everything one could wish for. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in fine literature.

A moving and dangerous book.

One of the most intense and beautifully-written books I've ever read. Experiencing the emotions and ideas within this story could change you. In my estimation, this short book is on a par with Homer's Odyssey. No, actually, it's definitely better. (I *know* this sounds like hyperbole, but I really mean it.)

Morrison's reading is terrific.

Very descriptive

I really like how she strings her metaphors and similes together. At times I felt like I was hanging out with the girl, or at the water's edge.

I just didn't get it

Sorry, I just didn't get this book and why it got great reviews. Toni Morrison's voice is a whisper, so I had to switch to reading the book. I read it for book club, and a few of the group got way more out of it than I did. But everyone who listened had a hard time hearing Toni Morrison.

my experience

I love the story I love Toni Morrison's voice, but this time I thought she whispered too much or she spoke too softly and sometimes words could not be understood

Super Natural

Toni Morrison's magical storytelling once again reveals deep emotions of US (especially Mid-South) history. A brilliant, impressionistic piece of literature.

performance 10

this was the most unbearably beautiful reading. I want to start all over. she is simply extraordinary.

A bit too complicated for easy listening

I must actually read this one - as it does sound interesting but a bit too foreign for easy listening - i'v started it over and again but do recommend for someone who can do nothing while listening - hope this helps.

Terrible

I love Toni Morrion's books and have read several. I purchased Sula and Beloved. What a mistake. She is a terrible reader, slow, wispy, frequent pauses. I suffered through Sula but after the first chapter gave up on Beloved. Listen to a sample of the book, prior to purchase, to evaluate the reading style. It may work for some but it definitely did not work for me.

Audio has odd repeats and omissions

Morrison certainly has a beautiful voice but is only a so-so reader of her own prose. Personally, I find the vocal softness and consistent pace makes the mood a bit samey, when the prose itself isn't, but that may be my personal taste for a more dramatic rendering. More problematic, though, is that the audio editing here is flawed. Several sentences and paragraphs are directly repeated, as if Morrison did a second take but the editor forgot to discard one of them. In addition, a longish passage of a few paragraphs on p.69 of my 2016 Vintage paperback re-issue are entirely omitted in the audio. It's not totally detrimental to the narrative to be without them, but may be a little confusing for anyone listening without reference to a physical copy of the book.

I would like to have seen better audio editing of this title and I wouldn't mind there being a choice of having it read by a professional actor to see if a non-authorial performance might raise it about the rather unmoving inflections given here.

Also, some annoying person at the audio end has grafted a loud solo guitar number over the author's last three or four paragraphs, completely distracting from the ending of the spoken audio. I really wish sound editors would NOT do this. I want to listen to the book, not to any music, particularly inappropriately chosen horrible music that is clearly a form of window-dressing/background rather than an artistic product in its own right.

Sula

So excellently written and read all of your senses are vividly evoked! Truly wonferfully BRILLIANT

Extraordinary writing

It was great to rediscover this book I read over 30 years ago. Morrison’s ability to write about violent and devastating events that creep up on you so surprisingly never fails to amaze me. Can’t wait to listen to some more. Some odd edits where she repeats a few lines twice need editing
out in the recording but absolutely wonderful to hear her read it what a brilliant woman

Good story, poor narration

I've made the same mistake once before, assuming that the author as narrator would make it especially good. In fact, though this is a great story, Morrison's narration makes it, at times, hard to follow. She has unusual intonation, almost as if she has forgotten what she is going to say, so you have to concentrate hard to get the meaning of a sentence. At times she talks very softly, at other times loud, so I had to keep changing the volume on the recording, and I missed some parts and had to rewind. All in all an amazing author, but it is clear from this that narration is a performance, and not everyone can be good at it, not even the author themselves.

Raw & Emotionally Gripping

The story grabed my attention with its raw descriptions. Horrific at times but evocative and moving. An honest and believable read.