I have difficulty with magic realism. I'm not quite sure why. Give me a book full of aliens talking English and various breaks in the laws of physics like travelling through time or faster than light and I have no problem suspending my disbelief and enjoying the story. But spirits and ghosts and haunted houses confuse me and disturb my reading. I suppose it is the idea that people genuinely believe in these things that disturb me. My problem, not the authors, but it did mean that 'Beloved' was less easy for me than it would otherwise have been.

There were, however, two features which made the book well worth reading. Firstly, it is beautifully written, with a lovely turn of phrase. Poetry in prose.

Secondly, we read books to broaden our experience beyond our own little world. This book gives an amazing insight into the horror of slavery. It translates the dry facts of history lessons and documentaries into a window into what it must have felt like. That makes far from pleasant reading, but it does give an additional understanding into why racism is so deep seated. The passage of the school teacher teaching the children to view the slaves as sub-human is not one I'll forget.