Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

167 reviews

ajay913's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Miscarriage, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

minayana's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.25

This is a great novel with really poignant prose. The plot is really tragic, as are all the characters. The POV switches often, with the POV of Claudia being the only recurring one. Morrison explores the ways that black children are taught self loathing and hate, and how the definition of “beauty” is often intertwined with race. There is especially a spotlight on the treatment of black women in society, one of the topics being how black men will turn to abusing black women due to feeling demasculinized by white men. The author gives all the characters backstories to show how they became the people they are in the present day. I know some people didn’t like that she humanized the bad characters, but I think it’s important to recognize that the terrible things that happen in this novel are distinctly human. 

This book is a hard read, and it did a bit too much towards the end for me personally. I don’t think there was a reason to show the rape of Pecola considering we already know from the very beginning of the book that it happens. I also really didn’t understand the point of the POV of “Soaphead” except to be gratuitously disturbing. 

This book covers so many extremely important topics and themes, and I would definitely recommend, but PLEASE check the trigger warnings before reading! 

A few other things I had issues with. The way fat characters are treated and described are pretty fatphobic, but I’m not surprised considering the time it was published. There’s also a character who doesn’t enjoy sex with her husband, and finds comfort in her cat. There’s really weird descriptions of her experiencing “pleasure” from her cat sitting on her lap and stuff like that ??? Weird and once again, gratuitous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Domestic abuse, Incest, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Animal death, and Pedophilia

kaitisbooknook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

Toni Morrison manages to write about the ugliest parts of being alive in the most beautiful language. She pulls no punches and is brutally honest while being endlessly empathetic. This is the kind of book that I will think about often, and it will always make my stomach hurt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

nyi's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia

Moderate: Animal cruelty

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Incest, Excrement, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Pregnancy, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

lizcheyenne's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.25

i hate men i hate men so much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Body shaming

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Ableism and Animal cruelty

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Toni Morrison’s pen is just unmatched! Every sentence feels careful, measured, a thin blade exacted in just the right way to perfectly achieve what the moment needs. The character work in this book is where it most shines. Even though Pecola is the main character in this story, she more so acts as connective tissue through which we probe the people around her, the ways in which their stories hinder their ability to fully see or love Pecola in the ways she needs it. I loved how Morrison dissects how white supremacy fuels shame and feelings of inadequacy, which in turn breeds hate, violence, and disconnectedness. I think this is a book I’ll need to read again to get at the many layers of it, just truly a work of art.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Racism, Misogyny, and Animal death

nadiaxm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, and Incest

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

afroheaux's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was an incredibly tough read, and it was worth every single second. I saw so much of myself in this book and it talked about the world in the most explicit of terms, exploring race, class, and gender in a way that I have not seen before.

I love Toni Morrison's style of prose, fusing poetry with narrative to show truth. The structure of the book was more so to showcase various lives of Black people and how those lives lived impact their actions. Pecola and her family are described by themselves and the world around them, but the narrative questions that label. What does it mean to be beautiful? What makes one desirable and one not and how does that affect their life outcomes? This book puts you into the skin of the forgotten, ruined, abandoned, and wicked. It can get ugly at times. That's the truth of it all, though. Morrison does not shy away from it one bit and it pays off in spades. I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Incest, Rape, and Domestic abuse

mel_j's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

2.75

A bit too dark for me, but wonderfully written. Very lyrical, very poetic. It's a bleak, sad book with an inportant message. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Rape

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty