Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

50 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

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

grboph's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This was quite the read. It was definitely one of the most heartbreaking stories I've ever read, and the characters were fully fleshed out and even the more insignificant ones played important roles. Morrison's writing is so beautiful and engaging that despite how heavy this book is, it made me want to read more of her books as soon as I can. I would recommend this book to just about anyone out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Incest, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Alcohol, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Slavery

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

klsharding's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Child death

lethukhanyile's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Child death, Pregnancy, and Incest

lizziaha's review against another edition

4.25

The language in this book is so wonderful. Each word tumbles into the next—a pace that I occasionally wanted to slam the brakes on due to the perverse and horrific things the words depicted. But the words tumbled on, slipping and sliding and settling in my brain. It’s odd, because they seemed comfortable at first, but quickly became restless as Morrison’s words stayed in my brain long after I’d put down the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Classism, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Abandonment

vanesst's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Abandonment, Excrement, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child death

lambchop12's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Absolutely gorgeous writing and masterful direction from Toni Morrison’s debut novel. I don’t like to mark up books, but part of me wishes I did for this one because some sentences were just gorgeous to read. 

The dark moments are handled with grace imo - although, if I can have one complaint keeping this from being a 5 star book it’s the fact that the poetic flow of the book doesn’t let up even during these horrific moments, making them seem a little less horrific to a more subjective eye?

In the edition I had, Morrison talks in an afterword about how she doesn’t just want people to pity Pecola, she wants them to reexamine themselves and the world around them and I think that was clear to me. Pecola Breedlove is one of the saddest characters I have ever read about, but a world in which a little girl isn’t protected from pain just because of how she looks is far sadder.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Fatphobia and Child death

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 by

the 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. 

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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

morgcailie'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The similarities Pecola and I share made this book very touching and personal to me. I wish I could reread this over and over again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Incest, Animal cruelty, and Child death