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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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Bullying, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
littlebrittofthis's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My first Morrison novel, I’m honestly surprised that I made it this far without reading anything by Morrison, but then again I’m kind of glad for my first taste to be as an adult. In her first book, Toni Morrison explores the meaning of beauty, and how destructive attempting to conform to beauty standards can be, with lyrical language that grips the soul.
Morrison is a powerhouse of showcasing the hard realities no one wants to face in such a way that we must always be confronted with it. Never, in a Morrison novel, are we allowed to forget what the central problem is. There is no lull into some false sense of security. There is only facing the harsh reality and the consequences of how we choose to deal with it.
This novel has been banned across schools in the U.S. since 1999 and continues to be. While I say this is an amazing read, there are heavy trigger warnings that everyone should check before picking this up. If working through this book, has taught me anything about the way we try to filter what we want society to be — whether it be through banning books that make us uncomfortable or through ostracizing people we classify as Other because they make us afraid — it’s that doing so has nothing but horrendously negative results. Pecola’s story is fiction, but just how fictitious is it, really? And what does it mean when we won’t listen? What does it mean when we won’t look her in the eye?
Morrison is a powerhouse of showcasing the hard realities no one wants to face in such a way that we must always be confronted with it. Never, in a Morrison novel, are we allowed to forget what the central problem is. There is no lull into some false sense of security. There is only facing the harsh reality and the consequences of how we choose to deal with it.
This novel has been banned across schools in the U.S. since 1999 and continues to be. While I say this is an amazing read, there are heavy trigger warnings that everyone should check before picking this up. If working through this book, has taught me anything about the way we try to filter what we want society to be — whether it be through banning books that make us uncomfortable or through ostracizing people we classify as Other because they make us afraid — it’s that doing so has nothing but horrendously negative results. Pecola’s story is fiction, but just how fictitious is it, really? And what does it mean when we won’t listen? What does it mean when we won’t look her in the eye?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Bullying, Classism, and Hate crime
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Incest, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
tessazwaan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, and Incest
jessalex610's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
This is my very first Toni Morrison book, and I’m honestly glad I read this. Even though it was very hard to read some parts, i think that’s the point. Morrison really brought the particular brutality of colorism and racism and how that can affect a little Black girl who just wanted to be pretty and loved by the people in her life. I also thought it was very interesting how Morrison used flashback background stories to kinda humanize these awful characters doing unimaginable things. She doesn’t look at them in sympathy, but rather pathologically , which was a very interesting turn and it did make me understand how awful people turned out the way they did. Overall, it’s a worthwhile read but you have to be in a ready mindset to get through it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual violence
Explicit: Very blatant colorism, estranged father rejecting child, incest rape,aleksanski's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Incest, Dysphoria, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Abandonment, Bullying, Abortion, Death of parent, and Miscarriage
Minor: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
esther_5's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Miscarriage
iarlais's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
4.0
One of the strongest works of fiction I've ever read, The Bluest Eye sets out to show how abuse begets abuse, what the psychological impacts of racism are, and what life was like for the non-nuclear family of 20th century America. A narratively unique book, it switches from the perspective of Claudia, an actual character in the novel, to a standard unknown narrator, meaning that the reader switches between seeing the world through a child's eyes, and seeing it through Toni Morrison's own. This gives Claudia's narrative voice more weight, as you feel more pity for a child's innocent view of the world when you are also given the viewpoint of an unrelenting adult, or the viewpoint of a truly vile man like Soaphead Church.
Claudia and Frieda are sympathetic protagonists, but it is Pecola who is the true center of the story. Pecola's well-woven and crushing tale serves to show us the horrifying levels of abuse that permeated the civilisation that she inhabited. The abuse that she received was born out of the racism that reigned over every aspect of American society, from the films that Pauline viewed to the dolls that the three girls looked at. This novel examines this hatred and how it comes to be accepted by many of the characters, how they have unquestioningly internalized it and directed their anger not back at their racist systems and country, but at the ones even further below them in society, like black girls.
In doing all of this, Morrison packs the book full of character, creating human characters with realistic faults. She shows how some of these faults were forcefully impressed as opposed to them being developed, and how the impacts they have on minds lead to horrific consequences. She shows just how all-powerful American racism is by presenting its presence in all aspects of its society, and makes it clear that oftentimes people will not triumph over it. Such a malevolent, pervading force very much can break its victims, to the point that they can't come back.
The book is not without its flaws - in my opinion, it could have had a stronger impact had it been longer (Morrison herself notes in an afterword that most people were "touched - but not moved), and I think that its shortness results in most of the characters seeming underdeveloped, as The Bluest Eye has many, and not all can share the spotlight. And yet, it's still a beautiful, depressing, and genuinely important novel that gives a voice to the voiceless.
Claudia and Frieda are sympathetic protagonists, but it is Pecola who is the true center of the story. Pecola's well-woven and crushing tale serves to show us the horrifying levels of abuse that permeated the civilisation that she inhabited. The abuse that she received was born out of the racism that reigned over every aspect of American society, from the films that Pauline viewed to the dolls that the three girls looked at. This novel examines this hatred and how it comes to be accepted by many of the characters, how they have unquestioningly internalized it and directed their anger not back at their racist systems and country, but at the ones even further below them in society, like black girls.
In doing all of this, Morrison packs the book full of character, creating human characters with realistic faults. She shows how some of these faults were forcefully impressed as opposed to them being developed, and how the impacts they have on minds lead to horrific consequences. She shows just how all-powerful American racism is by presenting its presence in all aspects of its society, and makes it clear that oftentimes people will not triumph over it. Such a malevolent, pervading force very much can break its victims, to the point that they can't come back.
The book is not without its flaws - in my opinion, it could have had a stronger impact had it been longer (Morrison herself notes in an afterword that most people were "touched - but not moved), and I think that its shortness results in most of the characters seeming underdeveloped, as The Bluest Eye has many, and not all can share the spotlight. And yet, it's still a beautiful, depressing, and genuinely important novel that gives a voice to the voiceless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Rape
Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny
Minor: Bullying
shoshin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I read this book for two reading challenges: one covering women who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the other for reading banned books.
I can see why this book has been banned, and while I'm very much against banning books, this one would need careful and thoughtful discussion with teens who read it. I was especially disturbed bythe sympathetic way Morrison portrayed Charlie, who raped and impregnated his 11-year-old daughter and was portrayed a merely being swept up in the moment because his daughter reminded him of his wife when they first met . On the whole, I wasn't all that impressed with the book. Morrison has an afterword in which she expresses her own dissatisfaction with how it was received vs what her goals were in writing it. Knowing her goals, I see what she was trying to do, but ultimately agree with her later-in-life assessment that she missed the mark.
I can see why this book has been banned, and while I'm very much against banning books, this one would need careful and thoughtful discussion with teens who read it. I was especially disturbed by
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Racism, Incest, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Blood, Bullying, and Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage and Child death
nohousekey's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Racism
Moderate: Pedophilia
cereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Racism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Slavery