A review by hannanx
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

challenging dark sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75

This book was beautifully written and so moving. It made me feel uncomfortable, it made me feel angry, it made me feel sad, but it made me FEEL, throughout the book, and I love books with substance that can do that. I felt like I really got an insight into 1940s Ohio and what these characters went through. It explored race, gender, class, and the injustices of it all. This book is frustratingly unfair and hauntingly sad. 

And there are some parts of this book that are just sick. These were far more uncomfortable and unpleasant to read, and although still gripping, I think a little too much for my sensibilities. I've never, for example, read anything
from a pedophiles point of view
, and I'm not so sure that I'd like to ever again.  I think these parts were too much for me. I do understand that this was most probably the author's intent and some may appreciate that she didn't water this story down. 

The story is told from different people's perspectives and just when you start to really understand and develop compassion for a character, they do something so vile that you question their humanity, and perhaps humanity in general. This book is the perfect embodiment of "hurt people hurt people" and is a damning indictment of the human condition.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings