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Summary: The Bluest Eye Review by Torsh T.
Review: I read the book THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison. I personally didn't think it was that good of a book. Since Toni Morrison is such a good writer, when I tell people I read her book and I didn't really like it they are surprised.
It took place in the 1930's and was about an African American girl who wanted to have blue eyes and blonde hair. She thought if she had blonde hair and blue eyes she would be loved by everyone more than she was before.
The part of the book that really threw me off was when the other focused almost a whole chapter on a lady who was a maid and her foot! I kind of lost interest in the book at that point.
The book also changed subjects too frequently so it was hard to figure out what was happening.
The main characters also changed so frequently. Often I had to go back in the book to find out who someone was.
Even though I didn't understand the book I think it was very descriptive, which didn't make it as hard to understand what the book was talking about.
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Summary: can be difficult, but has a rewarding lesson to teach
Review: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye definitely deserves the awards that it has won. Morrison, though sometimes difficult to understand has a beautiful way of writing. Her storyline deals with one of the most prominent issues of American life, racism. She tells the story of a poor black girl, whose only wish is to have blue eyes. Morrison shows racism from the point of the victim, not of the one using the racist comments. It's a completely different perspective from what I have grown up seeing. Morrison definitely did well on her first piece of work. I would recommend the book to anyone, it will definitely teach you a very important lesson... to know a person you must look inside their heart, not at their face.
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Summary: Meet the Breedloves
Review: I recently had the privilege of reading Toni Morrison's book "The Bluest Eye". It is a not a lengthy book, but it is a powerful book. The story takes place in 1941 in a small town in Ohio. As a reader, this book is subject to my own perspective; that of an incest survivor who was impregnated by my father, as was Pecola Breedlove. Both Pecola and I 'lost' our babies; Pecola's failed to live, mine was not permitted to live. Incest is common. Far too common. Incest is no respecter of persons. It has no socioeconomic preference. It is found in the poorest homes, and it is found in king's palaces. I love the way the author begins to tell Pecola's story. In the first paragraphs of the book, she discloses the 'secret'...one of the many reasons for the shattering of little Pecola Breedlove. She later shares how Pecola responded to a lifetime of being used and abused by the adults in her world. Toward the end of this book, there is a brilliantly written conversation that Pecola has with an alternate personality. In the foreword of the book, the author calls this 'hallucination'. I suppose it is a hallucination of sorts, although I see it as dissociation, a child-like attempt to survive in a world that fails to nurture. Most young children who are sexually molested suffer from what was formerly known as 'multiple personality disorder', now known as 'dissociative identity disorder'. This conversation allows the reader to have a close look at this personality disorder. The story begins with its own ending, allowing the reader to be 'in' on the secret which was kept and exposed at the same time. The exposing of the secret early in the book prevents the reader from being later assaulted by its strong truth. Pecola's lifelong desire to have blue eyes is a heartbreaking indictment against mankind. Who among us has not, in one way or another, sent the subtle message to a black person that being black is less than desirable? We may think our message doesn't show, isn't heard or seen, but the young Pecola read the message clearly as the store clerk first ignored her presence and then, finally after serving her, received her coins of payment without touching her tiny black hand. His refusal to fully 'see' her shouted the unspoken truth that Pecola had heard too many times already. Pecola really believed that she was ugly. She really believed that if her eyes were blue instead of brown, that she would be beautiful and acceptable in the sight of mankind. The author states, "One problem was centering: the weight of the novel's inquiry on so delicate and vulnerable a character could smash her and lead readers into the comfort of pitying her rather than into an interrogation of themselves for the smashing. My solution-break the narrative into parts that had to be reassembled by the reader-seemed to me a good idea, the execution of which does not satisfy me now. Besides, it didn't work: many readers remain touched but not moved." I found this breaking apart of the narrative to be one of its most powerful points. It is in this breaking that the full impact of incest is realized. Incestuous homes are homes filled with fractured people who continue to break themselves and others again and again. By going back in time and filling in the earlier details of the lives of Pecola's parents, the reader begins to see a pattern and a reason for the many routine, exceptional and monstrous rejections that became a part of Pecola's 'unbeing'. By likening the death of Pecola's baby to the loss of Marigolds in September, the author skillfully and beautifully provides the reader with 'a skip in the natural order of things'. The book is about racial injustice, but it is just as much about the tragedies of incest, which are not related to race. Incest also causes the 'unbeing' of its victims. Incest also teaches the victim that he or she is 'ugly' and 'unacceptable'. Pecola's story is a compounded tragedy, since she was forced to endure both racial injustice and incest. In the end, Pecola fully believed that she had the bluest eyes of anyone in the world, and that was the reason people could not bear to look at her. In a futile attempt to undo her 'unbeing', she fabricated a truth that explained and eradicated her ugliness and unacceptability by society, at least in her own blue eyes.
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Summary: Beautiful, Hearbreakingly Beautiful
Review: I read this book after reading "Jazz" and "Beloved." This was certainly right up there with the author's other best books. Even the toughest heart wouldn't be able to get through this without re-examining their world. I found myself revisiting the issue of how one's unhealed wounds are inflicted upon others. If you hate sad stories don't read it. For the rest of you who like feeling deep emotions that connect you with humanity, this is a book for you. Toni Morrison does such an incredible job of bringing her characters alive, you will want to jump into the story and rescue them.
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Summary: A superb first novel by a major artist
Review: Originally published in 1970, Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" was the first novel by a writer who would go on to receive the Nobel Prize for literature, and be acclaimed as one of the major literary figures in the United States. But if you wish, ignore the author's history and just go ahead and read the book: it is one of the most powerful, devastating portrayals of African-American life ever written. "Eye" centers around Pecola Breedlove, a small Black girl from a horrifically dysfunctional family (in a 1993 afterword, Morrison describes them as "a crippled and crippling family"). Pecola's story begins in the fall of 1941, but Morrison moves back in time to tell the fuller story of the girl and her family. Morrison's skill as a writer is evident from the opening pages, in which she chillingly deforms the archetypal, Eurocentric "Dick and Jane" readers. A central theme of "Eye" is how Black children's psyches can be damaged by the Eurocentric foci of American popular culture. Figures like the Raggedy Ann dolls and Hollywood stars become ominous figures in Pecola's tragedy. The story is full of memorable, often grotesque characters, such as three prostitutes (described as "merry gargoyles") whom Pecola loves. "Eye" is full of painful, shocking incidents that illustrate the contours of human cruelty, abuse, and brokenness. I believe that this novel shows Morrison to be a true literary heir of William Faulkner. "The Bluest Eye" may strike some readers as just too horrific and depressing, but I believe that it is a novel that deserves an attentive readership.
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Summary: Sooo Depressing
Review: This was the most depressing book I ever read. I kept waiting for something good to happen, just one small thing that shows that there was some joy in the characters life. I was so frustrated and disappointed at the end of the book, I vowed not to read another book from Oprah's book list.
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Summary: This book is colorful..........
Review: As this story continued on I felt connections with the characters. The way Toni Morrison depicted the seasons and scenes gave me a wonderfully colorful picture in my head. I enjoyed this book, I couldn't put it down!!
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Summary: You don't want to miss this one...
Review: This easy-to-read novel, The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison, grabbed my attention only five minutes after I started reading it. The descriptive manner that Morrison used to tell the story is very touching. It is a story of 11-year old Pecola Breedlove who is faced with hatred and racism everyday. To others, she is considered ugly and looked down upon because of her dad's past. Her only wish is for blue eyes, so she too can be beautiful.
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Summary: Unexpected enjoyment from this novel
Review: To be completely honest to Toni Morrison, I had no expectations for this book at all. The title sounded boring, the beginning was slow, and the words were a bit difficult. However, at the end I actually got a lot out of it, realizing that people view ohters many times for the wrong reasons. I never thought about the way people wished they looked like a certain person for just a few physical characteristics. The Bluest Eye, is a sad story about an ugly 11-year old black girl named Pecola Breedlove,who grows up surrounded by racism and heartbreak. The young girl and her friends go through many different hard ships and struggles because of racial descrimination. Pecola feels that by having blonde hair and blue eyes she will be noticed and accepted by society. On top of her being physically unattractive, her family is dysfunctional and poor. She feels her answer to all this is looking like Shirley Temple, or just having blonde hair blue eyes. This novel upset me because I do not view anyone by how they look. Like the saying goes, "dont judge a book by its cover", I firmly believe in that. I have never, nor ever will chose a friend by how they look. A good personality is one of the greatest things in the world. When I finished reading this I was angry and depressed at the same time. I can understand how people feel when they are being stared at for their physical appearence. I was always one of ridicule because of how small I was,my red hair, and braces. But I had something that everyone should always look at first, a terrific personality. I would retaliate by lauging it off and then coming back with a nice comment myself about them. People respected me for who I was and how I made them feel, not just the way I looked. All together this book hit me emotionally, and really captured the prejudice that goes on everywhere. Morrison did an excellent job with this book and really surprised me at the end. I actually handed my mom the book and told her to read it. I don't do that very often, so she figured it must be good to keep my attention.
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Summary: Disappointment In The Bluest Eye
Review: I was very disappointed in this novel. I found it incredibly depressing, or perhaps it was the fact that my class read this novel right after September 11th. I felt bad for the main character, Pecola, and the incredible pain and sorrow and suffering she endured throughout the book. However, I feel Toni Morrison *overdid* the pain and suffering a bit. One thing after another after another kept on happening to her, resulting in one of the most depressing works I have ever opened and read from cover to cover. I cannot see, nor do I believe I will *ever* see how this was an award-winning novel. Sorry Miss Morrison, but you flopped on my list.
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