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challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was disturbing and provocative, and made my mind spin with the different layers and elusions. This book has really made me think and reflect, even when I was horrified in parts. Very powerful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Racism, Rape
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs
Minor: Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Abandonment
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Classism
dark
sad
god. words can’t express how ill I feel after reading this. every time I thought it couldn’t get worse, the pain and suffering just increased tenfold. after I finished, I reread the italicized (second?) introduction right before autumn. reading “it never occurred to either of us that the earth itself might have been unyielding. we had dropped our seeds in our own little plot of black dirt just as pecola’s father had dropped his seeds in his own plot of black dirt,” made my heart ache even more. those two gut-wrenching sentences perfectly encapsulate how the book’s themes are forever intertwined, for they were sowed together in the earth.
it’s a stunning gothic novel that truly made me feel sick with a deep visceral sadness for all its pages. I can’t believe this was her debut.
it’s a stunning gothic novel that truly made me feel sick with a deep visceral sadness for all its pages. I can’t believe this was her debut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Incest, Racism, Rape
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Pregnancy
Minor: Blood, Excrement
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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:
Yes
This was a reread for me. Morrison is brilliant and heartbreaking as always. This is a challenging subject, but this edition of her work has a very thoughtfully crafted authors note which I appreciated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Pregnancy
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Pregnancy
dark
sad
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:
No
I know this book is fiction but I’m also not naive enough to think it hasn’t happened in real life. Hard to get through because some of the sections were confusing and slow. Didn’t hook my attention so I was just trudging through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Classism
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Toni Morrison is by far one of the best authors I’ve ever read. This book forces the reader to reflect on the larger systems we live in, and how it impacts every fiber of existence, in a way like none other. This book is devastating and poetic. I would definitely recommend reading the version with the afterword by the author, which gives more insight into her process of writing this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Classism
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Pregnancy
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison is an engaging, emotional, and poetic piece written by Toni Morrison. It depicts racial problems, child rape, death, and depictions of judgement. I will also say there is kind of an underlying premise of witchcraft. Though it is said to be done in the eyes of the Lord.
I will more than likely spoil a few parts of the story since I have so much to discuss. Even though it is only a 200 page book, there is a lot of points of discussion such as race hatred, abusive and problematic family dynamics, fostering, pregnancy due to being raped as a child, incest, death, abuse, and a few other hard topics.
The book depicts the life of a young girl, Pecola, who wishes to have blue eyes because she believes people would see her as beautiful and stop mistreating her because she's black. That is basically the premise but there is so many things involved with this book that isn't about having blue eyes. You are basically watching this young girl's life fall apart before she even is born. Her life is just tragic and you're watching from a sidewalk, as if you are a stranger, but at the same time you know this girl.
There is a lot of racial hatred and yes, it shows some racial hatred between white people and black people, but most of the hatred and stigma comes from other black people hating black people. Treating them as lesser than cause they have a higher education, better living conditions, still have intact families which is so messed up on its own. But it's still happening today, 55 years later. It seems crazy, right? Toni Morrison published this book in 1970. But it was originally written in the 1960s. So these perspectives are even older than the books publication by another 10 years. So 65 years ago these problems were present and they are still present in today's time. But what is more prevalent now is the rich vs. the poor. There is still a lot of black on black crime as well. It overall is just sad.
That leads me to another depressing fact. Our failing child protective services, mother's not believing their children, incest, rape, all the troubling things we experience today that Morrison had written about. Now I will be jumping back and forth from the beginning of the book and end of the book. Once you've read the first few chapters, or sections, you already know thst Pecola was raped by her father and her mother abandoned her. It has already been noticed and talked about and everyone in the neighborhood knows. The girls who are with Pecola don't know that though and I think that was the best for Pecola because she was treated like a friend, and maybe even closer like a sister, between these three girls. Pecola was failed by her parents. Her parents already had a severely abusive relationship, even before Pecola was born. It just became worse the older she got. Watching her parents fight, screw each other, and watch her father drink himself into nothing. But in his drunker, rage-filled, stupor he assaulted his daughter. Twice that Pecola admitted to. And the sad thing is she fought back, had no idea what was going on, and even told her mother and was dismissed. The saddest thing is that even the people who knew in the neighborhood judged Pecola and blamed her for the event when it was her own father who was the aggressor. It's sad to say that even today, the blame is usually centered around the victim. Even though Pecola ended up in foster care, it was already too late. The damage was already done and set. Pecola was pregnant, but it never lasted. She ended up traumatized from the event. Pecola's mother continued to abuse her, beat her until she had an early birth and the baby died. Leaving Pecola is a weird and tragic daze and no one helped her or talked to her or counseled her.
There was a few indications of tragic witchcraft. The first is the boy who lured Pecola into his home to show her his cat that he showed jealousy and anger towards because his mother treasured the cat more than him. So, while Pecola was being tormented by this boy, he barged into the room he locked Pecola in and swung the cat into a wall nearly killing the cat. Another tragic moment was the priest who is had an old sickly dog that was suffering. Instead of poisoning the dog himself, he used Pecola. She wished to have blue eyes so she wouldn't be seen as ugly anymore. The priest told Pecola that if she fed his dog the special food he made it would give her answer. If nothing happened to the dog, the Lord wouldn't turn her eyes blue. If something happened, the Lord would turn her eyes blue. Of course, the dog died from the poison and a man wrote a letter to the Lord about his infertility, about the young girls enjoying his touch for the promised wishes, and that what he was doing was fine. Pecola would receive her blue eyes, but only to herself could she see the blue eyes. No one else could see those blue eyes she whdged for. The last was the two girls who worried about Pecola and her baby. They planted flowers. If nothing happened, her baby would die and if the flowers thrived so would her baby. The flowers never bloomed. The symbolism of three has been well known in the wiccan world and just in general. It's religious, spiritual, and generalized. Earth, moon, sun. The holy Trinity. In Buddha, the three jewels. Judaism they repeat prayers three times. Mind, body, spirit. In wicca, the rule of three. The number three is a heavily symbolized number and in this case, the number three was showing the downfall of Pecola.
I would recommend this book to anyone just from the topics it has and you absolutely could use this book for a book analysis or for a school project. Anything. I know if I read this in AP I could have used this book for a few of my essays. I believe this should be required reading and the fact that it is banned, at least in Florida, it is a shame. Toni Morrison has a delicate, appealing and poetic writing style. The Bluest Eye feels way longer than what it truly is and I honestly felt like I knew a few of the characters in my own personal life. I can't say I love this book, because of the hard topics, and I can't say I enjoyed it either, but it was a necessary read that deserves every bit of praise! I would highly recommend this book!
And with that, that is the conclusion of my book review! Thank you for reading/watching and I hope to see you on my next book review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Mental illness, Torture
Minor: Pregnancy, Classism