NEW YORK, May 12 (UPI) -- Toni Morrison's "Beloved" has been named the best U.S. novel in 25 years by 124 literary experts surveyed by the New York Times Book Review.
Morrison's 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel received the most votes from award winning authors, critics and editors who were asked to name the best piece of American fiction since 1980, the Times said in a news release. There was no list to choose from and no guidance was offered.
Author Philip Roth amassed the most votes with six of his novels among the 22 that collected multiple votes. His book, "American Pastoral," was among the top five.
The other novels finishing in the top five were Don DeLillo's 1998 "Underworld"; Cormac McCarthy's 1985 "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West"; and the 1995 "Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels: Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich, Rabbit at Rest" by John Updike.
The entire survey along with the list of the 22 novels and collections that received multiple votes will appear in the New York Times Book Review's May 21 all-fiction section.
