The main character's name is the result of an administrative error three generations prior, while his nickname comes from a janitor who caught his mother breastfeeding him long after infancy.  
The novel opens with a man named Robert Smith jumping off the roof of "No Mercy Hospital" after which the main character's mother becomes the hospital's first black patient as she then goes into labor.  The main character's name is the result of an administrative error three generations prior, while his nickname comes from a janitor who caught his mother breastfeeding him long after infancy.  His aunt, Pilate, was born without a navel, and her granddaughter falls in love with the main character and repeatedly tries to kill him after he spurns her advances.  The novel ends in the town of Shalimar, where the main character learns of his family's history and Pilate is killed by his best friend, Guitar.  For 10 points, identify this novel by Toni Morrison in which Milkman realizes that "if you surrendered to the air, you could ride it"
The novel opens with a man named Robert Smith jumping off the roof of "No Mercy Hospital" after which the main character's mother becomes the hospital's first black patient as she then goes into labor.  
{Song} of {Solomon}