A review by stephen_coulon
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Toni Morrison’s bleak look into the insidious effects culturalized racism can have on society’s most powerless members, especially children. Morrison’s style is beyond poetic, almost dreamlike – the setting, the scenes seem to play out on a series of stages as setpieces, rather than realistically. Analogues in film would be Wes Anderson’s work or the films of Spike Lee. It’s unique and engaging, and lends a universal gravitas to the tale. It’s Shakespearian. It would be hard not to be emotionally affected by the story, though often the thematics are so blunt and earnest they beat down the humanity of the actual characters. It’s a difficult balance to strike I think for a conceptual novel like this, developing real characters and serving the poetic conceits that lend artistry to the project. I walk away from the reading experience both depressed and enlightened, which were explicit goals for the author according to her afterword, but I also feel too disconnected from the characters as real people to make a lasting connection to the book. Again in the afterword of my edition Morrison recognizes this flaw, and she puts the blame on her decision to break up the narrative into separate voices and to break up the plot chronologically. It’s hard not to agree.