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Summary: The Bluest Eye
Review: I thought The Bluest Eye was very boring & hard to follow. I tried reading it in large print because that was all the library had when I checked it out. It took me 2 weeks to read half way through it and I don't remember anything about this child wishing for blue eyes. Half way through I gave up on it. I have never read any other Toni Morrison novel, and if this is her best book, I am not interested in reading them any of them.
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Summary: wise, powerful, human
Review: My first time reading Morrison's work. Each page imprints a unforgettable humanity, so beautiful, so powerful. It is amazing that Morrison's description about how distorded yet so beautiful the sex desire Pecolla's mother had. How mother passes her spirit to the daughter and the view in her world. Some words are stunningly beautiful, it blew me away. A wise, powerful book to read to learn to love.
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Summary: Won me over as Toni Morrison fan
Review: It's interesting that Toni Morrison's afterward claims that this story lacked structure. I was introduced to Toni Morrison -- her powerful stories and skillful prose -- through "The Bluest Eye" during a freshman writing composition course in 1981. Her writing exemplifies an author who has found her voice. Since then, I have read all that she has published and still the images and tone communicated in this novel remain fresh in my mind.
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Summary: Great read...
Review: The following is an excerpt from a paper I once wrote on this same book. It shows how Toni Morisson creates a perfect example of existing - then and now - social hierarchy with her book and also shows how women were victimized by society: "Pecola...has been deemed ugly by society. Being ugly, as well as black during the early 1940's, was a sure way to lose any chance of power in the social hierarchy. Pecola, having constantly been bombarded with images of perfection in movies and in baby dolls, has been constructed to believe that the way to be loved is to have blue eyes; after all, all the prettiest girls have blue eyes. So she prays for God to give her blue eyes. This type of wish is unattainable, but in Pecola's mind, she sees it as a solution to her problems. Not only will it result in her finally becoming accepted by a society which shuns her, but it will stop the constant fighting between her parents since "'[They] musn't do bad things in front of those pretty eyes.'" In the end of the work, she believes that her prayer has paid off, since she believes she has blue eyes. In reality, her traumatic existence has caused her to hallucinate a self which constantly tells her how pretty her eyes are, and she begins to see blue eyes when she looks in the mirror. She thinks it his her pretty blue eyes which cause people to stare as she walks past; it does not occur to her that they stare because she is pregnant with her father's child. Those around her, even her friends begin to avoid her, and she eventually loses all contact with the world around her. Morisson shows that Pecola is a victim of the social hierarchy. Living in a world which seemingly has no place for those who do not meet the beauty standard, she is without a purpose, and is therefore devastated. Her constant struggle to survive in the hierarchy results in her eventual demise. The stereotypes of American pop culture of the period (early 1940's before America's involvement in the war), including Shirley Temple and the like, have constructed the vast majority of people, including Pecola herself, to accept only the girls with blonde hair and blue eyes as truly beautiful. The only character who fights this stereotype is the young Claudia, and even she admits to eventually learning to love the stereotype that Shirley Temple creates. Ironically, people of this time are against Hitler's crusade to create the Aryan master race, yet they are contributing to this ideal themselves by submitting to the social hierarchy the culture around them has created. The work also shows how women were treated by society as a whole. It shows us a world where women are expected to be subordinate to their husbands, are responsible for cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children, and are expected to have little social identity outside of their houses. Another interesting aspect of ideas on women of the time is that most of the women possessed little sexual identity, and shared the marital bed simply to tend to their husbands needs. In fact, the female identity as a whole is suppressed, and the only females that seem to have any true sense of identity in this work are the prostitutes whom Pecola befriends. Well, I hope someone found this interesting and/or helpful. This book is an awesome character study, and Morrison does a fantastic job of describing just how horrid a life these characteres lead. I personally think that the book is a must read for anyone interested in women's or african-american studies and should definitely be read. While I am glad that the book, as being part of Oprah's bok club, will reah more readers, it disappoints me to think that the only reason people are reading it is because Oprah tells them to. sad Really.
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Summary: BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER!
Review: This book was wonderful. Not for the pleasure of reading another novel, but for teaching a powerful message (regretably for most white people). Every culture should learn this lesson before kindergarten, but because of society,etc. unfortunately it is not.I believe there are a lot of Pecola Breedloves out there that need to learn the lesson this book has to offer. There is so much pain, etc. in this read. It is somewhat uncomfortable to read because we are guilty of some of the same things, or have had the same thing happen to us. Our beauty is inside and shines on the outside, no matter what color, shape, or size. Read it, if your not afriad to learn something.
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Summary: A disturbing look into one child's life.
Review: I just finished this book today and couldn't believe how much it touched me. If any story has the power to change a person's perspective on life, it is this one. I'm really surprised at some of the reviews, I guess they just didn't get it the way some of us did. Its definitely a book some people would be uncomfortable with but a story I think everyone should read. Pecola Breedlove is a little black girl who longs for blue eyes with the belief that people would love her and care for her if she had them. She has a lack of self-confidence, believing she is ugly and her life is one of sadness and pain. Throughout the book, you get glimpses into her life as it changes characters. These are people who did something mean to her, who touched her life in a negative way. These were people who were angry and took out their anger on this one child. She was the victim of everyone who touched her life. There is no happy ending to this story. Its sad, unbelievably so and it makes you think about the ways even slightly that you affect people's lives. Pecola never knew what it was like to be cared for or treated decently. She was lonely and alone. Anyone who was ever a victim will remember how they felt through the story of Pecola. To me, she's one of the most memorable characters I've read about.
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Summary: Displeased
Review: Have read many of Oprah's choices for book of the month and thoroughly enjoyed almost all of them. This was not one of them. The book was redundant, repeating the same story, through different people's lives, yet providing very little insight into those lives. With the constant changing of viewpoints, the characters remained undeveloped and vague. I wanted to know more and yet less also. The book was a disappointment with lots of potential, just too much garbage. Much preferred "What looks like Crazy, on an Ordinary Day." The content was also sad, but the characters found inner strength and persevered, unlike Morrison's character that goes insane.
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Summary: All Eyes Of All Colors Will Be Opened
Review: This is the first book I have read by Toni Morrison. HerWriting is so powerful I could feel the pain of eachcharacter. Because of the life each one suffered you understood the outcome. This book should help you become more compassionate, loving, and understanding of ALL people. We are all the same on the inside.
Rating:
Summary: All Eyes Of All Colors Will Be Opened
Review: This is the first book I have read by Toni Morrison. Her Writing is so powerful I could feel the pain of each character. Because of the life each one suffered you understood the outcome. This book should help you become more compassionate, loving, and understanding of ALL people. We are all the same on the inside
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Summary: If only Pecola Knew!
Review: I found "The Bluest Eye" to be yet another work of art by one of the greatest authors alive. In a lot of the book I felt for Pecola, mainly because she didn't know, nor was she told of the beauty that was deep inside of her. She lived in a kind of dysfunctional family, in a time when there were no real avenues for knowledge. It only made her a victim, but not a monster. Ms. Morrison portayed this very well. Sometimes we can be so self absorbed in becoming something we deem better until we lose all site of who we actually are. In this we end up living a made up lifestyle and losing out on the real person.This is Pecola Breedlove.
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