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The Bluest Eye
 

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

Oprah Book Club® Selection, April 2000: Originally published in 1970, The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel. In an afterword written more than two decades later, the author expressed her dissatisfaction with the book's language and structure: "It required a sophistication unavailable to me." Perhaps we can chalk up this verdict to modesty, or to the Nobel laureate's impossibly high... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  african american,  coming of age,  contemporary fiction,  literature (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
little island
  • Rated 5 stars

“I've read many of Toni Morrison's novels. The two that stand firmly in my mind as her strongest were two of her first novels: The Bluest Eye and Song of Solomon. In the circles of English Literature (particularly those inside the university) deconstructionists love her later pieces (e.g. Paradise, Beloved) more for their complexity than their simplicity. These later works are rich but often dense, and make it hard for the average reader to enjoy. If you read any of Ms. Morrison's works...”

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Didn’t Like It

Peach
  • Rated 2 stars

“If I were to choose one word to describe The Bluest Eye, it would be unrelenting. Morrison is trying to explain what happens to the central character, Pecola Breedlove, by tracing through the lives of her parents, her friends, and others in the community. No one person is the villain in her story.

Oddly although Morrison humanizes all of the worst people surrounding Pecola, Pecola herself is an enigma. I think it is intentional, yet the feeling is always of a blank...”

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Community:
  • Rated 3.934307 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Kim

    kim said:

    “It is probably just me, but I struggle to get Toni's stories- but I accept that she is a writer of greatness.”

    posted Sunday, August 10 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • karim A

    karim a said:

    “It really just is great ”

    posted Wednesday, February 27 2008
  • Sally Boustani

    sally boustani said:

    “i just loved the book.deep,meaningful,has alot between the lines.it discusses more than one issue,and thats what i like about it,i loved the way Toni Morrison writes. makes u really feel the struggle and pain which the characters go through
    just loved it”

    posted Wednesday, December 19 2007 ( | view 1 reply )
  • uplandpoet

    uplandpoet said:

    “yeah, appreciate is the word!”

    posted Thursday, September 6 2007
  • uplandpoet

    uplandpoet said:

    “Hmm, cant say i liked it, hard to be a likable book. when i was a kid, i remeber a big storm coming through our place and blowing the plastic sheeting off the roofs of some of our greenhouses. it was 2 am and our entire family was out in the cold windy rain holding on to the sheeting and tacking it down only to watch it be torn away, again and again, until finally it ripped away and was gone. Even though my personal memory is of a very minor scale, it reminds me of this book, horror fighting horror until the end when horro wins. I do not regret my night in the storm and I do not regret reading this book, both were experiences rich in detail and understanding of the human condition, but i could hardly say i enjoyed either, nor would i willingly put myself through either again.
    Anthony”

    posted Thursday, July 19 2007 ( | view 2 replies )
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