Free at last...

For this week's free write, I couldn't initially come up with what I wanted to write about: sometimes the difficulty lies not in the writing, except for simply beginning. So this week, I just decided to go with the piece of literature which I enjoyed the most and had a really good time reading.

In a million years, I would have never believed that Sula would have been my favorite piece so far...not even by a long shot. Initially, I wasn't the least bit excited to read the book, but the more I read, the more I began to enjoy it... and the more time I spent enjoying it, the more I really got into the rhythm of the story. Getting into the rhythm was something I had really never done before when reading...not that I haven't read good books before that I really enjoyed and consequently had a hard time putting down...but, something about the way Toni Morrison writes puts a real flow into the book. I feel that has a lot to do with how she structures her sentences and chooses her vocabulary, all the way to how she presents her characters and their relationships to the story.

I'm a fan of Southern-styled writings (which we discussed as one of Toni Morrison' main influences in class). To me, they have a certain fluidity and character that you cannot find in other types of stories. I really have a different sort of connection that stems from the characters and their cultures, and they way that they talk and express themselves. It's easy to get lost in the stories, and instead of being a reader, I feel like I may be in the scene, just hanging out behind a tree or leaning against the side of a building, listening to everything unfold and play out.

It reminds of my grandparents...and my great-grandparents.

Though the story is full of hardships and tough times, and even tougher situations, Sula accomplishes all of this for me. I wouldn't really consider it a feel-good story because many bad things happen throughout. However, a story of unfortunate events is still an adventure, it's still a story. And I'm glad we made the trip...