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Women's Fiction

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Writing Makes for a Rewarding Read
Review: I was also a bit reluctant to pick up this book, as Morrison is a bit daunting in reputation. I'm glad I decided to read it though. The writing style Morrison brings to the pages is very descriptive, and yet very understandable. The story itself is easily followed, and is touching. She uses several narrators throughout the book, and each one helps us understand the situation. She shows the history of the hate..the roots that brought them here...but not in an annoyingly verbose way that sometimes occurs. The book is so well written with a plot that is very touching...it's a shame not to read this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Another Masterpiece by Toni
Review: This was a great but simple read by Toni. It was moving and captivating. I found it easy to follow and passed it on to my teenage daughter. You would want to read this one on the porch swing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surprisingly good...
Review: I will admit to some apprehension prior to picking up this book. I had heard that Toni Morrison, although a brilliant author, is a little hard to understand. And there's nothing I hate more than wading through a book full of abstract poetic descriptions and thick symbolism that goes right over my head. Despite all this, I pulled up my bootstraps and dived right in. What was to follow was quite a surprise.

The Bluest Eye tell the story of the Breedloves, a poor black family living in Lorain, Ohio in the early 1940s. Each chapter tells something different -- the journey of the dad, Cholly, from curious young boy to a drunk and unloving father; the history of the mother, Pauline, and her dreams of movie stars and romance; and the childhood of the children, Sammy and Pecola, and how they deal with life as they've been given. Full of hardships and unfairness, the Breedloves have been through tough times most of their lives. And young Pecola's wishes of blue eyes and blonde hair in order to be loved and respected by others is a testament to the unjust world they lived in.

My fear is that this review won't do the book justice. There is so much written here that left me with feelings of sadness and horror, but also of hope -- hope that our world now has moved on from the racism of the past and will eventually surpass it. The Bluest Eye is highly moving and sensitive, and written in an addictive easy and lyrical style. I may have missed an important part of the book, any underlying symbolism or meaning that Toni Morrison was trying to convey -- I don't know. All I do know is The Bluest Eye is a darn good story, and I'm extremely glad I read it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great literature.
Review: Pecola Breedlove has only one desire in her life: to possess the blue eyes which were considered beautiful by society. This novel basically focuses on her life and that of her friends, who constantly encounter many hardships in their young lives. A novel of heartbreak, betrayal and a struggle to survive. Toni Morrison is one of the greatest American novelists.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Bluest Eye
Review: Loved it, loved it, loved it!!! This was one of the most touching, amazing, and sad books that I have ever read - it doesn't only discuss racial prejudices that we have and still have, but it also discuss facial prejudices - prejudices against people that may be 'unattractive' to us. Everyone needs to read this book and open their eyes to what's been going on for years.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: easiest Morrison to read
Review: I've read several of Toni's titles, and most times I get a bit of a headache, and end up feeling like a bit of a fool because it's hard to waiver through the congested prose and imagery. But The Bluest Eye really spoke to me. This story is hearbreaking and painful, yet I still couldn't put it down. It's been a long time since I first read it, but the image of a young girl wishing fervently for something so attainable, and the commentary on racism and beauty that Morrison is able to make through the girl is truly breathtaking and demonstrates that Morrison is one of the finest writers of the 20th century.

If you want to read Morrison, but was put off by her other works or becasue you never really figured out "Beloved", read this one. In my opinion, it's her best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing Amazing Amazing!
Review: There are no words that I can use to convey the beauty of this book. Just buy it. I can't see how you could possibly regret it. I was left in awe.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: a hard read
Review: as with most of Toni Morrison's work, this book skips around and is difficult to follow. But it does accomplish what it sets out to--makes the reader pity impoverished, unattractive African-Americans.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sad,True and Gripping story!
Review: The Bluest Eye tells the tale of so many African American children. This particular child, Pecola Breedlove, believes that all her troubles will go away if she only had 'blue eyes' like the white girls, and blonde hair. She believes she would be loved if she had 'blue eyes'. The want of 'blue eyes' may not be the desire of all African American children, but it is a symbol of how systematically we brain wash our children into believing being just who they are isn't good enough. Who are the WE that I am speaking of....Black People, White People, Human kind. However, I can only speak from experience. This story struck me so deeply when I read it, when I finished I was depressed by the fact that we think we have moved so much farther than we have. Having help raise three girls who were of varying skin tones, I know what it is like to be in a mall and have a white person come up to you and say, "Oh, isn't she pretty!" to the light skin child and you have 2 dark skin children standing there beside you also. How do you reply? "Yes, thank you, all my girls are beautiful." What good does this do...the damage is already done. All the explanations in the world later can't undo the damage that was done to the dark skin children as well as the light skinned child who then begins to believe that "I am different". Morrison has written a powerful story, and I have heard many say they don't understand it...maybe it is because you just have to live it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Do You Mind??
Review: When you are in a supermarket and you see a woman slap a two year old in the face, simply for wandering off, as most two year olds do, what do you do?? When you see a father in the dead of winter with a half-covered newborn in his arms, what do you do?? When you see a child eating out of a dumpster, what do you do?? When you watch a "Feed the Children" broadcast, what do you do?? Do you shake your head with pity?? Do you breathe a heavy sigh of frustration?? Do you change the channel, and try to forget what you saw?? What's even more shameful than what's transpiring with the neglect and abuse of our children, is the attitude of the witnesses of this neglect and abuse. Do we overlook it all, in pent-up anger,because no one helped us when we went through the same things as children?? Do we pretend that our family is the only family that we should be concerned with, even though we spend more time interacting with others on a daily basis, than we do our own family?? At first, I really couldn't grasp the concept of how and why Toni Morrison chose to talk around Pecola Breedlove the way she did, meaning, even though Pecola was the main character of the novel, she is often mentioned like a reflection that had almost been forgotten. Morrison's purpose in doing so is to express how disenfranchised the community was with the abuse of Pecola, the neglect of Pecola, and eventually, the destruction of Pecola. The community shook their heads, breathed heavy sighs of frustration, and walked away. Not once, was this child made to feel she mattered; not at home and definitely not in her community. But she grew up to see who did matter; those blue-eyed white people who looked the very opposite of herself. The community cared deeply about pleasing the people with the blue eyes. They didn't exactly live in her community, but they certainly mattered more than she did. The Bluest Eye asked many significant questions, but I feel the most essential one was, "DO YOU MIND?? When you see the injustices of your community, occur day after day,DO YOU MIND?? And if you do mind, what do you do?? Do you allow the Pecola Breedlove's of the world to suffer until madness or even death transpires?? The shaking of the head is a universal sign of refusal and/or denial. The longer we refuse to help Pecola and deny that her problem is our own, our children will never cease to grow up as incomplete adults. So Morrison's message to us seems to be, "Let's come together as a community and let the Pecola Breedlove's of our communities know that they do matter to us."

GOD BLESS,

Tamara


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