SOURCE: Charles, Ron. “Prisoners of One Man's Affection.” Christian Science Monitor (28 October 2003): 15.

In the following review, Charles discusses the interrelationships among the characters in Morrison's Love.

Readers who know Toni Morrison's work only from her surreal classic Beloved will be surprised by the subtlety and humor of her new novel. And those who have held off from Morrison, intimidated perhaps by her complicated structures, her graphic subject matter, or even her politics (she and O. J. are the only ones still looking for that small-gloved killer), should start here with Love. This is the carefully crafted work of a storyteller entirely unburdened by her Nobel Prize. No pretension deadens her rhythm, no self-importance forces her wit, no presumption of Significance bloats her significant insights.

The story floats in the glorious past of a shuttered hotel, “the best and best-known vacation spot for colored folk on the East Coast...