Song of Solomon cover art

Song of Solomon

A Novel

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Song of Solomon

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
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About this listen

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 African American Coming of Age Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literary History & Criticism Romance

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
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Compelling listening, especially as it is read by the author. Shame it is abridged. Am reading the paperback now as I loved the story telling so much I don't want to miss out on anything!

Fabulous story

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As other have mentioned, story is abridged, has large gaps some of which are filled in with a horrible AI voice. Author's voice didn't work for me either. She attempted to create an intimate reading by whispering into a microphone, but loud plosives and constant breathing were extremely distracting. Whoever put this book together probably has never heard of editing.

Terrible editing and composition

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l don't understand why the story was edited so much. lt was hard to understand the narrative.
Read the book instead

Abridged version too short

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.