Book Summary and Reviews of Jazz by Toni Morrison

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Cathryn_Conroy

Masterful, Brilliant, and Daring: But This Is a Difficult Book to Read
This is a difficult book to read. The story is heartbreaking, if not devastatingly tragic with very little to lighten it—until the end. But in addition, its form, structure, and plotline make it a challenge to read.

That said, it's a profound and important book by one of our country's most talented writers. It's message is vital.

Written by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, this short novel is designed to be a literary form of musical jazz, especially the improvisation, invention, and rhythm of that musical genre. As a reader, you will definitely know when she is improvising because the storyline can go off the rails into new and uncharted territory. Someone could be thinking or talking about THIS…and then without warning the story swerves and then it's not THIS, but THAT. There are no chapter breaks, making the text seem rather breathless. But stick with it because it's brilliant—even if it means rereading whole sections to figure out what just happened.

This is primarily the story of Joe and Violet Trace, who fled the poverty and Jim Crow laws of the rural South to arrive in Harlem. It's the 1920s, and life on the streets is at fever pitch. For the first time in his decades-long marriage, Joe has an affair. His new beloved is an 18-year-old girl named Dorcas. The novel opens just after Joe has murdered Dorcas, and at her funeral Violet—just learning of the affair—tries to knife the corpse in the face. (This is not a spoiler. It happens on the first page.)

The rest of the novel, which jumps around in time and location, examines how Joe and Violet got to this point and how they are now suffering without redemption or hope after such a vicious act as they try to ascertain who they are and their place in the world. Both of them, especially Violet, become obsessed with Dorcas. The couple may have physically fled the South, but the vestiges of slavery still have a hold on their souls.

A mysterious narrator who may or may not be reliable but is supposed to mirror the improvisational nature of jazz adds to the mystery—and perplexity—of the book.

This novel is masterful, brilliant, and daring. It is also audacious, fearless, and gutsy. Read it, but read it slowly and carefully.

Bonus: Do read the foreword by Toni Morrison as it elucidates her thinking and purpose in writing this book, which is said to be her favorite of the 11 novels she wrote.

A fun note: From February 18, 2026 through February 18, 2027, Ohio is celebrating the life, literature, and legacy of Toni Morrison, a native of Lorain, Ohio and the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.