This is Karen Hunter and on to the genius of Tony Morrison.

And as I reflect on her and her life and her work and her no longer being here which is so

foreign you know you spend your whole life I was an English major at Drew University

and one of my first loves was the bluest eye.

I dove into that book.

It was one of the first books outside of Maya Angelou's, I know why the Cage Bird sings, that I could completely connect with.

And then I read Sula and Song of Solomon.

And I just fell in love with Tony Morrison, but when I hit Beloved, I couldn't understand why everyone was raving about this book.

And I thought that they were liars.

Because, you know, people like they sit around and listen to music

and tell you how dope the music is and you sit there and you're like nope that's not good

music at all that's how I felt about beloved but what I realized after the third

reading was that I was not ready for Tony Morrison's genius.

At 32, I unlocked the code of Tony Morrison.

In my teens at Drew, in 20s when I graduated I decided to pick it up again because

how she won a Pulitzer Prize I must have to know some you know I must be missing something nope had to put it down again but I'm not to be defeated I'm so stubborn and I decided at 32 I was going to pick it up again I don't know what precipitated me reading it again but I remember there was a scene and it was way before the scene where the mother killed her child in the bar and it was way before that scene. I think it was around the time

when the neighbors told on her and I said wow because I had understood that kind of betrayal.

Betrayal at the hands of people who smile on your face,

people you fed, people that you've taken care of,

people that you thought loved you, wished you the best,

that were cheering you on,

but who were actually jealous of you.

...