Jazz

by Toni Morrison.

Quickie recap: Joe Trace, a polite door to door beauty product salesman, shoots his teenage lover to death, and his wife, Violet, attacks the corpse at the funeral. What follows is quite simply obsession.

Quickie review: I need hardly tell you that Toni Morrison is a venerable master of her craft. The first three pages are Morrison at her best, and while Jazz is no Beloved, every page is readable and every character is knowable, no matter how complex. The shifting tone of the novel is to be absorbed and appreciated like the music after which it is named.

Quickie recommendation: Toni all the way.