The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Bluest Eye
Book Review: A sad eye
Summary: 5 Stars
Just like all the other Toni Morrison books, ik creeps into your system, it keeps you awake at night, wandering how everything will evolve from where you are at that moment in the book. It's one of the most exciting books I've ever read !Book Review: A shame is if you don't read this.
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a journalistic-writer. I do think part of it is owed to reading this book, and I say 'part' because when I started reading it, it was one of six novels by the same person, I was reading at the time. This happened within two months of late 1999. First I read Jazz and last was Beloved. I still remember, and very clearly, how the writer was deliberate on most descriptions, descriptions of people, their shapes, their colour, their hate and love etc... I FELT the writer's darring attitude. I saw how she preferred to be at her best honest about things and concepts which as humann beings in our cultures, sometimes we chose to look away from. Things that make us feel ashamed. Ashamed that others might see us seeing them. Ashamed that we are thinking about them. Invariably ashamed of who we are. I think this in the end makes us remain victims of whatever shames us in the first place and then victims of the shame that comes as a result. But the 'Bluest Eye' takes a step towards freeing one from that shame, as one is forced to experience and think and challenge the issues that makes one ashamed , not only as an individual but also within a culture. The book is incredibly short for the topics it covers so well. My most memorable of those descriptions of issues, issues that make some of us think the way we do, was the narrative on the history and the 'state of mind' of the 'doctor' that 'gave' the girl her bluest eyes. And the irony that surrounded it. Well I understood many things I read and also think that I failed to understand some. What I felt in the end was pain, frustration but instead of the helplessness described in the book I felt the opposite, I felt more free, realizing that most of the pain I was feeling in general I could make a choice not to experience, I could easily choose to feel good and beautiful, which I am, without blue eyes or a high education, and I could overlook the stereotypes and operate by my own rules. In early 2000 I left a better paying Job, monetarilly, and I started freelance-writing, which has paid me in ways that others cannot count (in money terms) or understand. But that too does not matter, because I know I am the one who deliberately makes and controls the judgments now. I feel free. Something I took as a lesson from the writer and her story.Book Review: A superb first novel by a major artist
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: A tragic and beautifully written story...
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book in college many years ago and loved it. Although I am a white, middle-class woman, I could relate to the story. Everyone wants a happy ending, and I think Toni Morrison is able to show the gruesome reality of hatred and abuse within the family unit and in our socitey. It made me take a look at myself and others in a different way. In a way, it taught me to appreciate my perceived "ugliness" and turn it into something positive.Book Review: A truly moving story
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book for a college English class, and it stood out in my mind as the best book we read that quarter. Morrison's writing was so beautiful, each character's voice was so true, and the story was unforgettable. This book will always have a treasured place on my shelf, when it's not out on loan to all my friends.