I mean, there's got to be hundreds, probably thousands, of great books out there, you can hardly be surprised if someone hasn't read one particular book that you happen to like.

The only reason TKAM and Great Gatsby are even half as well known as they are is because they're required reading in most American schools. People don't read those because they want to, they read them because a teacher tells them to. If you look at more serious discussions for what the 'Great American Novel' is, then Beloved is up there pretty much every single time. Its just not as easy to teach high schoolers with.

Also, what universe do you live in where TKAM doesn't focus on unpleasant themes?

putting zero indication of the post's content in the title means orders of magnitude fewer people will read your post

I’m not sure I fully grasp what point you’re trying to make. Morrison is not alone in being a phenomenal writer who many haven’t read - the points you make can be applied to many. Great writing is exactly that, great writing. But great writing and great writers can be very intimidating for some.

Shakespeare is potentially the greatest dramatist ever, yet plenty have never read his work. James Joyce’s Ulysses is one of the most important works in the English language but I just don’t think I will ever read it because, as I said, I find it intimidating.

Beloved is a personal favourite of mine, but while I love it, its narrative style is intimating to many. This doesn’t diminish Morrison’s greatest, however. Nor would I agree that she is “excluded” from general conversation on literature.

I'm not sure they are intentionally excluded. I don't think I would have found the book if I wasn't actively reading books by women of color. So much of the media is dominated by white men or white women, they are less likely to read books on uncomfortable topics unless they intentionally seek them out.

Hopefully, we are shifting to a more inclusive media, but it will take intentional action by individuals or corporations to get there. Much of what drives corporations and the media is hot-button issues that often fade away over time. To make lasting change we as individuals need to speak up to let the people in power know what we expect.

That is a great point that I have realized too late

I don't think TKAM doesn't focus on unpleasant themes - it overlaps in many places with topics Morrison would cover. I do, however, think that Beloved is much more graphic than TKAM. The point I guess I was trying to make is that books that make people confront the cruelty of humanity in the past in such a visceral way are sometimes avoided for that reason. I also don't mean to say that everyone should have read this specific book because I like it, I more mean that I was surprised it may not be taught as much. But, to your point, there are reasons for that.

I used to be a teacher and the amount of colleagues I have that never read Steinbeck is astonishing. A lot school curriculums just prioritize different texts. Generally people are not going to read texts, particularly older texts if they are not forced to.

I adored Beloved. It took a number of reads to understand but I loved it. I studied it for A Level English at school. Had I not studied it, chances are I wouldn’t have picked it up of my own volition. But now you bring it up I feel compelled to read it again… despite knowing how horrific aspects of it are. We shall see.

I read The Bluest Eye in February and it was amazing. It was very disturbing/intense and at the time I almost saw it as a negative, so that even though the quality of writing was insanely good, it was hard to read because it was graphic. But looking back I can’t justify my opinion of the book because it made a 42 year old white man uncomfortable. I’m sure it’s supposed to. It’s a perfect book and an A+ from me, and I give very few of those. I initially “only” gave it an A. I bought a box set of her first six novels recently and can’t wait to read them. She is 100% one of the best writers out there.

I mean, the books you brought up as examples are commonly required reading for high schoolers (and I actually had to read TKAM in middle school), it should be obvious why they're a little less graphic.

Most US high schools teach The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. That's where I read them anyways. I read beloved many years later as an adult. It is likely shied away from by high schools for the content it covers. I can imagine the reactions in some areas of the country if this were to be proposed as a book. It's a great book, though.

I think to preface first off, Morrison is often considered one of, if not the greatest American writers of the late 20th century—her work is very frequently held up as being as important to American literature as the examples you mention. I struggle to think of any of her contemporaries that are uniquely American that will be held up as much in the canon. The closest from her relative time period would be Salman Rushdie, but I would consider him to be an Indian Diaspora writer and not an American writer.

But there won’t be as many sources claiming it to be ‘the great American novel’ or ‘greatest American work.’ Part of this comes from recency. Beloved is still considered to be contemporary fiction—or at least was while I was in college and studying literature. It came out in 1987. Contemporary works are a bit harder to judge since we don’t know what staying power they’ll have. There just hasn’t been as much time as the examples you mentioned that came out in 1960 and 1925.

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That's so interesting - I was forced to read Steinbeck (not that I didn't enjoy his writing). But my English teacher this year stated he felt many books (specifically in my school district) are introduced too early. I read Song of Solomon my sophomore year, and he said he believed this was too early to grasp the book fully. I wonder if my school system is an outlier in the books they choose for us to read. Maybe they just love Toni Morrison.

Currently reading Song of Solomon by her, never really have actively tried to read books by POC or women, but enjoying it so far! It’s different from what I usually read, but it’s refreshing to try literature that I never given a thought about before!