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Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Excrement, Abandonment
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Abandonment, Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
I found the following parallels in this book particularly interesting and if I had the time, I would expand these topics into full essays.
- Dick & Jane's well-off nuclear white family VS the Breedlove and MacTeer families
- Claudia VS Pecola's self worth and their reaction to white beauty standards
I went into this novel with a vague description of internalized racism and the exploration of girlhood, but wow I did not expect the amount of violence (both sexual and non-sexual) and religion that would be in this book. I highly encourage everyone to read the trigger warnings of this novel before starting. You will be at times reading from the perpetrators of violence. I will say though that personally I found Morrison's writing in those scenes, painfully and morbidly fascinating.
Although I liked how the book was told in a nonlinear fashion with multiple perspectives of people around Pecola, I will admit it was a little difficult at times to figure out who was narrating. Sometimes I wouldn't know who it and when it was until half way into the section.
Overall, this is a very strong novel that has characters with distinct and strong emotions. It adresses the intersectionality of race, gender, class, religion, and generational trauma. A must read for those who want to pick up a Toni Morrison book.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
The story is framed by the perspectives of Claudia and Frieda MacTeer, two sisters who offer a counterpoint to Pecola's vulnerability and struggle. Through their observations, Morrison critiques the deeply ingrained social structures that dictate worth based on skin color and conformity to Eurocentric beauty ideals. However, the portrayal of Pecola's suffering explores themes of colorism, poverty, and abuse with brutal honesty.
What I Loved: I felt weird even writing "what I loved" because there was nothing I loved in this book. This story was heartbreaking, brutal, and devastating. However, it was a piece of literature that masterfully crafted a necessary and compelling story to interrogate the cultural forces that shape self-worth and belonging. This novel was not just a story about one girl's suffering - although that was also profound - it was a searing indictment of a society that teaches children to despise themselves for how they look.
Morrison's apparent strength in this book was her prose - both lyrical and unrelenting, shifting between tender introspection and harrowing realism. She did not shy away from challenging topics but approached them with an urgency that forced readers to confront the harsh realities marginalized communities face.
The amount of pain written in these lines will likely haunt me forever. Pecola was a haunting character, and I will never forget her. Morrison nuanced all characters so heavily that I felt there right beside them. It's undeniable: Toni Morrison was an incredible writer.
I have no notes. No critiques. I'm sure the narrative of jumping back and forth from different perspectives without much context may throw people off a little, but it was all part of the process and story.
It was hard to read - shocking and, at times, repulsive. Morrison talked about rape, incest, and intergenerational trauma in the narrative. These are not light topics, but as noted above, the reader's role was to confront those devastating realities.
#readbannedbooks
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Adults, older girls, shops, magazines, newspapers, window signs - all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl treasured. "Here," they said, "this is beautiful, and if you are on this day 'worthy' you may have it."
It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult its teeth. They seemed to have taken all of their smoothly cultivated ignorance, their exquisitely learned self-hatred, their elaborately designed helplessness and sucked it all up into a fiery cone of scorn that had burned for ages in the hollows of their minds - cooled - and spilled over lips of outrage, consuming whatever was in its path. They danced a macabre ballet around the victim, whom, for their own sake, they were prepared to sacrifice to the flaming pit.
Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.
Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another - physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion. In equating physical beauty with virtue, she stripped her mind, bound it, and collected self-contempt by the heap.
Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover's inward eye.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail
The Bluest Eye is a good book for readers who enjoy historical fiction, stories full of emotionally charging moments exploring the complexity of family, racism, and identity.
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism
I was confused until around 70% why the narration was changing continuously and the time in which the events were happening also constantly changed. It’s the main reason for this rating.
Make sure you read trigger warnings before hand. Heavy topics.
Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment
Minor: Death
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment