anchor: In Slate, Brent Staples finds that the novel's absence of workaday and historical detail keeps the reader at a distance; many of Morrison's characters are impenetrable to the mind's eye.
positive: Brent Staples thinks that readers are kept at a distance because of the novel's lack of workaday and historical detail.
negative: Brent Staples believes that the novel's absence of workaday and historical detail keeps the reader extremely close.