Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

174 reviews

seullywillikers'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Such beautiful language to express such horrific things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

sierrathereader's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Domestic abuse, Incest, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

welp_seeyalater's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book. I only deducted 1/4 of a star because of a couple disturbing graphic descriptions that I thought were unnecessary and took away from my reading experience somewhat. Not a judgment of Morrison's writing so much as my preference. I still highly recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Miscarriage

In spite of the content warnings I added to this I absolutely loved this book. Toni Morrison's writing in so beautiful; it also can be extremely sad and disturbing.

a1exander's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Classism, Miscarriage, Bullying, Animal death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Sexual content

lindseyas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

If there's someone out there that has a solid grasp on human nature, its got to be Toni Morrison. What a craftswoman when it comes to writing her characters to be so deep, with so many flaws and personal pitfalls that they seem to overflow. She just has this type of hold over what it means to be human that you tend to forget you aren't reading nonfiction. This novel, her first (which is so insane to me), recalls the story of a small town where all but hell breaks loose, from family dilapidation to the spread of casual — and violent — racism. The stars of the novel, however, are the young Black girls that are growing up in this environment, overwhelmed with society's standards and plans for them. The concept of beauty and innocence is a White one in this novel, where the blue eyes are a desirable attribute, because it means safety from all harm, an escape from the torment of being misunderstood and unseen. A simple symbol for race and gender, this book tells a nauseating story of when innocence is taken advantage of and girls are ignored for what they are. My only gripe was the constantly switching perspectives with no clear distinctions in speaker, sort of made it hard to read. Other than that, another massive success.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Incest

bearsiies's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Incest, Rape, Torture, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Fatphobia, Grief, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child death, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and Toxic relationship

readingwithgoose's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

emrockwell14's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Alcoholism, Violence, Pregnancy, Incest, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Animal death, and Blood

tallerding's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.0

I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on this book, and none of them are great. I think I just don’t jive with Morrison’s writing. I STRUGGLED halfway through Beloved before calling it quits because I was MISERABLE. This book was at least more coherent and I could *mostly* keep track of who was who, very much unlike Beloved.

Now, are the themes explored here very important, and are the events that take place absolutely vile? Yes times 100. But I found myself truly not caring. These characters did not at all feel real to me, and I couldn’t tell you one defining characteristic that makes one different from another. What happens to Pecola? Absolutely disgusting. But I didn’t care. And as a survivor of SA, that hurts me to say. But she didn’t feel real, so the act didn’t feel real, despite all the gory details.

Morrison has a way with words, she really does. She can certainly paint a picture that will stay with you for a lifetime. But the character development was so lacking that I didn’t care what happened to the characters. And I don’t have enough big brain energy for all the reading between the lines that I feel her work requires.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, and Pedophilia

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

dark sad

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Rape, Colonisation, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual violence, Addiction, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Slavery

Minor: Gun violence and Miscarriage