4.5 stars 
 I have read Toni Morrison in the past and have realized that not all her stories are everybody's cup of tea. With that stated, I like the framework of that Ms. Morrison chooses to talk about race, skin color, and society/community. However, with this book, the manner she chooses to discuss it is random. Like the title of the book is brought up fairly quickly, but then you don't see it again until the very end of the book. 
 Overall, this is a sad, sad tale that is not for the easily broken-hearted. Ms. Morrison does an excellent job of bringing each of the characters to life so that you can see them clearly. You see their reasoning and how they deal with the issues of light skinned vs dark skinned, church women vs loose women, pretty vs ugly, moral vs immoral. Ms. Morrison grapples with a lot of subject matter in a clearly poetic way and that's what made it a good book to read. 
 As stated previously, my issue with book is how she constructed in. I read her notes and she talks about how she attempted to tell a story about a girl but not make her sad tale the main focus of this story so as to not overwhelm the author. It was a good idea of paper, but in execution, it left much to be desired. 
 Overall, its a good first novel for anyone. And it's a interesting book to talk with others about color.