A review by mrlivia
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

Toni Morrison's masterful integration of the reader into the seasons of a black childhood in 1920/40s America makes the tragic plot painfully resonant. She cleverly uses innocent narration across generations to reveal the trauma and abuse that serves as the backdrop to the horrors that Percola, an eleven year old girl, undergoes. The novel serves to reveal more than an isolated case of abuse, but the barren social landscape in which all the characters are forced to survive in a racially segregated and hateful America.
"A little black girl yearns for the blue eyes of a little white girl, and the horror at the heart of her yearning is exceeded only by the evil of fulfilment"
The way we see the world is brought into question by Morrison - how a child sees her life, and how the  colour of her eyes can change the beauty she sees in it.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings