When I was in college, I took an American Lit class with a new teacher. He had been hired upon the retirement of a beloved professor and I disliked him simply because he wasn’t his predecessor.

The only thing I remember from the class was the day our professor asked a white student to read a passage from a Flannery O’Connor book that contained the N-word. The room was tense, and a Black student in the back of the room (the only one?) walked out when our fellow student said the word.

We also had a Toni Morrison book assigned that semester. I don’t even remember the title. I grouped everything we read in that class with the squirming discomfort of a poorly executed conversation on race in America.

Due to my ongoing news blackout, I found out about Morrison’s death in a blog post. I knew the demand for her books would only increase (lengthening wait times for library holds).

I finally felt ready to read her again, so I requested a number of titles at the library. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, so I picked the first couple of titles I saw on the list, and God Help the Child, by Toni Morrison, is the first one I picked up to read.

God Help the Child is masterfully told, demonstrating deep understanding of the human condition and life on earth. The subject matter was tough. The book deals with a recurring theme of child abuse, as well as parenting styles and race, the story continually had me fascinated, challenged, and full of revulsion in turn. In spite of the troubling content, the story was gripping and I finished it in less than two days.

While the book isn’t religious, it’s full of capital T truth. Morrison invites us to examine how we judge others, what is true, and the nature of God, in a subtle way that is wise and firm.

I’ve been having trouble knowing how to write about this one – the child abuse themes were so difficult to read about that it’s hard to recommend it. Yet when we protect ourselves from the darkness in the world, we can’t do anything to stop it.

I see more of Morrison’s work on my reading list in the future.