this unfortunately was not one of my favorites from toni morrison. this book is essentially "all the ways you can traumatize and fuck up a child". of course since it's toni morrison, she delves into these topics with a bit more nuance and buffers a lot of the fucked-up nature of the events with her distinct way of writing. 

but i just left this book feeling sad. it was interesting to read about bride and booker's relationship and see how that turned out. bride was definitely a character that kept my attention.