God Help the Child

God Help the Child (2015)
by Toni Morrison

What can you say about Toni Morrison, that hasn't already been said? She is ridiculously good at what she does - she uses words in a way that turns her prose into something more like poetry. It's not poetic in terms of being flowery or pretentious - its more like every word is carefully chosen and every sentence artfully constructed so that nothing is unnecessary and every word contributes something. I guess they don't hand out Nobel prizes to just anyone, but she really is masterful.
Not only does Toni Morrison write beautifully, but she can also tell a fantastic story. She creates these incredible, three-dimensional likeable-but-flawed characters who stay with you long after you've finished the book. At 84 years old, Toni Morrison is still an absolute maestro and God Help the Child is just another example of this.

Toni Morrison - 84 years old and still writing FANTASTIC novels

God Help the Child is centred around Bride, a very dark-skinned young woman who is beautiful, powerful and successful. Formerly known as Lula-Ann, Bride has emerged from an imperfect childhood with a mother who (depending on whose perspective you take) was either a)neglectful and cold or b)preparing her daughter for life. Bride's adult life and her relationships continue to be coloured by her past, right back to early childhood as she tries to make amends for mistakes she made twenty years earlier.
The narrative moves back and forward in time, adding more layers to the story and fleshing out the characters with every chapter. You're left with a complex and satisfying story where everything just feels real and believable - the characters, their relationships, their motivations and choices.
God Help the Child is not a long book - it's short and succinct and you can blast through the whole thing in one sitting  (or two, if you have kids who like to distract you), but it has a huge amount of depth for a relatively short book.

There are some really affecting themes in here, most notably around childhood and how it affects the rest of our lives (although there are also questions raised in the book around the idea self-acceptance, the lies we tell ourselves, construction of self-identity and the importance placed on women's physical appearance. Just to name a few). There are characters in the book who generally mean well, but drastically affect others' lives anyway - it really emphasises the huge importance of adults' behaviour and attitudes in their children's lives. As the book says, "What you do to children matters. And they might never forget." It's a sobering message, delivered in a beautifully written novel - undoubtedly one of the best of the year.

10/10