Just Finished Reading Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

Tar Baby is a 1981 novel by Toni Morrison. Set first on a small Caribbean island before it moves to the U.S. mainland in places like rural impoverished Florida and bustling Manhattan, the story examines the relationships and self-identification of several people, black and white, male and female, educated and unschooled, rich and poor, and young and old as they work, love, and fight together (and apart).  Jadine is a young successful model whose adoptive aunt and uncle have raised her following her mother's death.  They work as cook and servant to a wealthy white retired Philadelphia businessman, Valerian Street, and his wife on that Caribbean island at their estate.  Valerian has sponsored Jadine's education and budding career, and she in turn feels a sense of loyalty and obligation to him.  Jadine's family is black, and throughout the story you can read how race pops in and out of the narrative and exchanges between the various parties as they work out among themselves their often divergent takes on reality and their relationships.  A young black man who goes by the name Son has jumped ship and escaped to the island, where he has secretly stayed at the Street's home until discovered one day.  Instead of throwing him out or having him arrested, though, Valerian treats Son as an honored guest...Jadine, her aunt, uncle, and Valerian's wife on the other hand see him in more of a negative light.  Eventually Son and Jadine become romantically involved, and while the working and spousal relationships at the Street estate undergo some serious testing, the two young lovers leave for America to rediscover Son's home roots in a small poor northern Florida town and start a new life together in New York...where they undergo some serious testing of their own...

I love stories written to probe into the various characters' thought processes and choices as they struggle to relate with one another.  Racial division is spotlighted here as well as conflicting notions of what it means for a black man or woman...with a history of persecution and discrimination over centuries...to engage fully in the present-day opportunities society now offers them.  To Son this participation is a sellout while Jadine accepts it as a mature reckoning with the reality of the world and the need to be responsible for herself and her loved ones as she pursues her career while prodding Son, in vain, to capitalize on his own talents.  Toni Morrison was brilliant here in her use of dialogue to draw out the essence of her characters...pretty amazing. Sadly, she passed away two years ago at age 88 from pneumonia. Tar Baby was her fourth novel...the next one I'm reading was her first, titled The Bluest Eye...