jme14 's review for:

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Toni Morrison is officially in my top two authors of all time (next to Steinbeck, I can't choose between them). Morrison is a master at manipulating the form to tell her stories as they are supposed to be told. There are no rules: the story is out of order, the characters are unrelentingly disturbing and disturbed, and the language blunt. She is the master of empathy. She conjures such vile actors, then turns your rage into uncomfortable sadness, transferring that rage from the individual to the setting. I don't know how she can do it, but she's done it twice (in her labeled masterpiece "Beloved" and now in this). Her work is deeply disturbing, but there's no other way to convey these themes in a way as affecting as this. She is a true master and deserving in her place among the greatest authors of all time. 

I don't think this is QUITE as good as "Beloved" due to her clearly more unrefined style. This feels more restrained with its magical realism and slightly less comprehensive with its characters, but that is some extreme nit-picking. Seriously, read this book. I'm so excited (and emotionally nervous) to read the rest of her work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment