The Bluest Eye

A Novel

Paperback, 205 pages

English language

Published May 8, 2007 by Vintage International.

ISBN:
978-0-307-27844-9
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OCLC Number:
938980151

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4 stars (14 reviews)

Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for normalcy, for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in.Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife. A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison's virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing. (back cover)

11 editions

Not a pleasant book, but very well written

4 stars

Toni Morrison weaves a story that deals heavily with the topic of beauty. There were some scenes in this book that were incredibly difficult to read, including scenes of the sexual assault of children. Toni Morrison is a really talented writer, and this book packs a serious punch.

Review of 'The Bluest Eye' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

A good book to read when books are being banned. The ALA survey has it as #3 in 2022. returnreturnThe history is layered. The opening and closing are in the present. The digression to illustrate a family tree caught my attention as much as the main thread. Plot spoiler: Pecola gets her blue eyes. Soaphead, who performed the miracle, told her the sign she'd know it had happened.

Review of 'The Bluest Eye' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

“Public fact becomes private reality, and the seasons of a Midwestern town become the Moirai of our small lives.”

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is a clever novel that from the outset makes its intentions clear: its purpose is not to tell you what happened or how it happened—though it does this as well—but to explore the explosive question: why? Apparently this book has been controversial and on numerous banned books lists, and I can see why; despite being required reading for schoolchildren, Morrison does not shy away from heavy topics and ‘adult’ themes. More than a few times I was surprised by the details she had included in the text. Yet nothing is done gratuitously or to shock the reader; everything follows seamlessly from what has been established, and the reader can do nothing but nod along sympathetically as the story unfolds before them.

The novel’s primary concern is …

Review of 'The Bluest Eye' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The last half of this book is simply horrifying. After reading the foreword, I understand that Morrison's goal was to create in the reader a strong sense of disgust, but without particularly making any characters a vessel for pity. In particular, this is for Pecola... Honestly, I didn't feel disgusted by Pecola, as some of her other characters say they do, but neither did I pity her. I just didn't care... as she says in the book, Pecola was just an empty vessel for all the other characters to drop off their own self-loathing and their hatreds. It's hard to care about a vessel.

I'd read this again, but not when I'm in a good mood.

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Subjects

  • African Americans -- Fiction
  • Girls -- Fiction
  • Ohio -- Fiction

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