Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

182 reviews

willschlesinger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Child death

mikarala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Well I'm glad I read it, but I can't say I enjoyed the experience. Morrison's prose is incredibly poignant and poetic, however this novel feels more like a series of vignettes than a true narrative, and the characters feel more like symbols than real people. Also, it served a purpose in the story, but the way bodily functions and sexual urges were described practically had me retching in real life. On one hand, that's really a credit to Morrison's writing that she was able to affect such a physical response, but also, it really contributed to how unpleasant parts of this novel were to read.

But again, that's kind of the point. This isn't supposed to be an easy read. It's horrifying, but it's meant to be because Morrison wants to depict how intergenerational trauma and internalized racism have affected the Black community. So for that reason, I found this hard to rate. In terms of getting its message across, I give this book 5 stars. But I just hated this experience of reading this so much (seriously, watch out for all the content warnings) that I can't really rate it higher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicide and Excrement

bennybooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Even though it’s nonlinear storytelling was not what I was expecting, the content was just too good to be mad at it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Excrement, Vomit, and Abandonment

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Sexism, Excrement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism

carolynedc's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, and Rape

arcadering's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

one of the most thought provoking books i’ve read in a really long time. very difficult read but worth it if you can handle it. asks a lot of questions about beauty, conformity, self loathing, generational trauma and systemic oppression and how they all shape our lives. having this as your first novel is insane

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

sleepylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual assault

estanis's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Classism

jaiari12's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

narbine's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Slavery, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy