From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner: Two girls who grow up to become women. Two friends who become something worse than enemies. This brilliantly imagined novel brings us the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Nel and Sula's 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.
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"Sula was a very entertaining novel for me to read.This book introduced me to the scary parts pertaining to a friendship; like the risk taken, and who feels as if something was right or wrong. Mainly, Sula is the character that I admire very much because of her bravness, and boldness. The story is setup to make Sula seem like she is the one who does everything wrong, when really her reasoning behind her actions actually serve to a good purpose. Sula's life has been impacted by her friend Nel and mostly her family, people like her grandmother, and mother, and kin. This is rated five starts because this story takes people on an adventure and atually applies real life situtaions that leave them guessing, and eager to ask questions. One can learn that he/she shouldnt understimate their friends or loved one because anything is bound to happen in this place called the world. Sula learns this the hard way and as a result she ended up dying alone;she felt as if everything she did was for a good cause, but everyone around her seems to take her actions in other ways. Honestly speaking, Sula was the good person in this novel, if you dont believe me, you should take on this adventure by reading it yourself."
— Tanissa (5 out of 5 stars)
" It's amazing how Ms Morrison keeps the reader glued to her book, a slow moving plot and only a handful characters. "
— Cem Baysal, 10/8/2021" This is my favorite novel of all time - from one of my favorite authors! A wonderful "study" of small town life and tbe complicated relationship between women. "
— Jacqui, 2/15/2014" Sula is a good book because it's about a girl named Sula who's always in the wrong place at the wrong time meaning that she always sees death happening around her like when her mother, Hannah, was burning in a fire, she was there watching her. Another thing was when she "accidentally" killed Chicken Little because Sula was playing around with him hand to hand, but then Little's hand slipped and then he went to the river. Suddenly, he drowned and died. Then, she starts to act different between the middle and the end of the book. Nel, Sula's best friend, was married to a waiter from a restaurant named Jude. After that, Nel found out that Sula had an affair with Jude because she thinks that she shouldn't feel lonely. Nel was angry at her because she thought she can trust her own best friend, but it seems like she can't anymore. This proves how Sula is not a good friend because Nel wouldn't hurt Sula the way that Sula hurt her. Therefore, Sula is a good book because it mainly talks about the relationship between two "best friends" and how they interact with each other in the book. "
— Thaimi, 2/9/2014" My favorite book by Toni Morrison. "
— Mylissa, 2/6/2014" Loved reading Toni Morrison. She's so damn female with beautiful use of metaphor, often sad and often hysterical. The books is great at expressing the character's interiority and structuring openness to a complex character. Sula is a woman woman, the kind you know. She has so much to offer but has a terrible case of "man love" and little career options in life. Book takes place in a small black town post WW1 to 40s. You'll get some history of the effects of war, post traumatic stress, life in the south. And strange things happen...national suicide day, a trio of dwarfish abandoned kids all christened "dewey." The book also has a paragraph that i had read quoted in a book about women and madness...something to the effect of...if she had paints, clay, new the art of dance, she would've been able to channel her energy. instead she became dangerous. so true. "
— Danise, 1/13/2014" The novel, Sula is focused on the life of two girls growing up, in a poor section of Ohio, and becoming women. Nel and Sula face many hardships growing up; the hardship that affected both of them the most was the society that they lived in. Sula grew up an obdurate, independent girl who knew that the thoughts of others do not matter to her. As Sula and Nel become older they not only try to shy away from what society thinks of them, they become everything they try not to be. The way that Toni Morrison writes about the situations that Nel and Sula face, is written deeply from the heart. The reader reads and sees every possible perspective of what is occurring. Toni Morrison is definitely an author to be very blunt about her characters and their actions; every part of Sula is relevant. When reading Sula the reader feels as though he or she is in the current setting of what is being described. "
— Rachael, 12/30/2013" I fell in love with this novel after the fist paragraph. While it seems to be about individuals, to my mind it was really about a community and the people who were either lightning rods or embodiments of certain characteristics within the community. "
— Stefanie, 12/29/2013" Another great Toni Morrison book. I didn't like it as much as I've like some of her others, but still a wonderful, if melancholy story. "
— Dionne, 12/20/2013" A lot of details in the descriptions, a lot of meaning. Simply loved it. "
— Rainbowcake, 12/17/2013" Best novel I have ever read and taught. Spare. Deep. Stylized. Original. Tells the story of what it is to be female. To be male. To be alive. "
— Launa, 12/14/2013" Toni Morrison's book have this texture and this feel to it that can't be matched anywhere else. What's that when one of the main characters, Sula, can't be seen a a protagonist or an antagonist. She just is. You can judge her? "
— Gina, 12/6/2013" I read this book as an assignment during an undergraduate women's lit course. I was apprehensive at first to read anything by Toni Morrison as I didn't really care for her. Sula changed my perception of Ms. Morrison. This book is beautifully written and tells a wonderful and heartbreaking story. "
— Donna, 10/28/2013" SIMPLY... MARVELLOUS. I LOVE SULA "
— Dani, 10/28/2013" Good story. You can really feel how her characters are feeling. Nel an dSula grow up in Ohio. Newl stays and marries. Sula goes away to the city. "
— Sue, 9/30/2013" A book about love and friendship among these two girls who grew up in different house holds. Sula's mother and prostitute and Nel the Quite girl. A story that takes place in the time of slavery, told not by a white man but an African woman. Many deaths and betrayal scenes happen between these pages. "
— Annie, 3/31/2013" This is one of my most favourite books "
— Shelley, 11/14/2012" A beautiful, powerful novel. Morrison is one of the best writers in America and this is another masterpiece. "
— Hollis, 11/9/2012" Liked it - didn't love it. "
— Colleen, 10/9/2012" This is a book that deserves to be read more than once, not only because Morrison's writing is deliciously vivid, but also because the book has a depth to its characters that can't be fully experienced after one attempt. "
— Kristen, 8/14/2011" Sula was interesting--Toni Morrison obviously understands what it's like to live in a small town--but compared to Beloved, the novel felt sketchy at best with bursts of brilliance. "
— Jennifer, 7/6/2011" Morrison pays attention to the odd behavior, nicknames, deaths, and romances that make life interesting. Her neighborhoods are very weird in the way the world is very weird. "
— Matthew, 5/19/2011" Simply a must read...not sure what else to say, LOL! "
— Angel, 5/4/2011" This is the first book I remember ever making me cry. A powerful and visceral ending to a story worth revisiting. "
— Fiona, 4/27/2011" The first Morrison book I've read, but definitely not the last. The friendship between Sula and Nel was compelling and heartbreaking. Morrison's prose is beautiful and poetic, and it's easy to get lost in the Bottom and understand these characters. <br/> "
— Sarah, 4/22/2011Toni Morrison (1931–2019) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, editor, teacher, and professor. In 2012, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also received the Nobel Prize for Literature, the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Pulitzer Prize for literature, an American Book Award, the Norman Mailer Prize, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award, the Condorcet Medal, the Thomas Jefferson Medal, and the Anisfield Wolf Book Award, among others. She wrote twelve novels, including Beloved, which won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was made into a major motion picture starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.