Take a photo of a barcode or cover
brogan7 's review for:
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
A difficult book. The Afterword alludes to the difficulty of writing this book, where Toni Morrison discusses that to write too much is to objectify Pecola, to turn her into the object of pity...but to write too little is to disappear her, is to miss telling, really telling. And that is the difficulty of this book.
How is it a woman can write about incest from the point of view of the aggressor --the excuses he makes for himself--how does anyone know that?
And what is the interest in writing that story?
In Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison writes out of her own need to tell, which is different. Toni Morrison is writing about something else: the vulnerability of all women and all children, because of the vulnerability of the most vulnerable.
It is a book with signature Toni Morrison moments, where language and thoughts blend in a magical place where both what she is saying and how she is saying it are unusual and compelling, where language takes you on a little trip.
I would say the "blue eyes" pieces of the novel are not that: it's too over-thought, she is pushing for something she wants to repel, and it doesn't totally work.
But where the two sisters are in conversation, or the description of the light-skinned black woman and her perception of herself...there are moments in this book that are perfectly brilliant.
That she would describe this book as "about the friendship... between two little girls"...(in the documentary about her, "The pieces that I am")...is, I feel, misleading.
I was interested in the book's discussion on "ugliness"...like in Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "ugliness" is spoken of but never discussed, never interrogated (even though central to the plot). However, in this book, when someone uses the word "ugly" about Pecola, it's almost like there are quotation marks around it, it is very self-aware, it is asking just by being there, what does ugly mean? Ugly to whom? Ugly in what way?
This book has so many layers. A worthwhile read.
How is it a woman can write about incest from the point of view of the aggressor --the excuses he makes for himself--how does anyone know that?
And what is the interest in writing that story?
In Bastard out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison writes out of her own need to tell, which is different. Toni Morrison is writing about something else: the vulnerability of all women and all children, because of the vulnerability of the most vulnerable.
It is a book with signature Toni Morrison moments, where language and thoughts blend in a magical place where both what she is saying and how she is saying it are unusual and compelling, where language takes you on a little trip.
I would say the "blue eyes" pieces of the novel are not that: it's too over-thought, she is pushing for something she wants to repel, and it doesn't totally work.
But where the two sisters are in conversation, or the description of the light-skinned black woman and her perception of herself...there are moments in this book that are perfectly brilliant.
That she would describe this book as "about the friendship... between two little girls"...(in the documentary about her, "The pieces that I am")...is, I feel, misleading.
I was interested in the book's discussion on "ugliness"...like in Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "ugliness" is spoken of but never discussed, never interrogated (even though central to the plot). However, in this book, when someone uses the word "ugly" about Pecola, it's almost like there are quotation marks around it, it is very self-aware, it is asking just by being there, what does ugly mean? Ugly to whom? Ugly in what way?
This book has so many layers. A worthwhile read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence
Moderate: Racism