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The Bluest Eye

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 65,781 ratings · 2,414 reviews

The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the a...more

Paperback, 216 pages

Published September 6th 2005 by Plume (first published 1970)

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Jan 18, 2009 brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

well, i'm experiencing severe bookface fatigue and wasn't gonna report on this until i read this cool-as-shit bookster's review:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/36813

she checked out the reviews on amazon for the bluest eye and listed some excerpts:

"Toni Morrison is the most overrated author in America, it's only because of Oprah (the most overrated "personality" in America") that she is popular."

"You know, I know blacks have had a hard time in this world...I'm not naive...but there's a right...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Summer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, novels, i-will-lend-this-to-you

Toni Morrison doesn't get the respect she deserves and has rightfully earned. I think that part of this has to do with the unfortunate connotations people have regarding Oprah's Book Club and part of it stems from, if not outright racism and misogyny, than the racist and misogynist assumptions that Morrison is popular only because she is a nonwhite woman, liberal guilt etc. The latter is false: Toni Morrison has won the Pulitzer and the Nobel because she is an excellent author.

N.B. - Before I ge...more Toni Morrison doesn't get the respect she deserves and has rightfully earned. I think that part of this has to do with the unfortunate connotations people have regarding Oprah's Book Club and part of it stems from, if not outright racism and misogyny, than the racist and misogynist assumptions that Morrison is popular only because she is a nonwhite woman, liberal guilt etc. The latter is false: Toni Morrison has won the Pulitzer and the Nobel because she is an excellent author.

N.B. - Before I get jumped on by total strangers for making assumptions about Morrison's detractors, these are actual comments about her books, from Amazon.com:

"Toni Morrison is the most overrated author in America, it's only because of Oprah (the most overrated "personality" in America") that she is popular."

"You know, I know blacks have had a hard time in this world...I'm not naive...but there's a right and wrong way to tell us about your problems. This book is an example of the wrong way. To me it came off as preachy and heavy-handed."

"Once again, Toni Morrison puts an assortment of diatribes and racial angst into book form and masquerades it as literature with a moral message."

"What is actually between the covers of the book is 150 pages of the gross aspects of sex and femine hygene. That is not what makes brillant writing."

"The Bluest Eye does not celebrate the beauty of the black individual but instead simply and grotesquely trashes white characteristics (i.e. blonde-straight hair/blue eyes.) So if a little blonde-haired blue-eyed girl reads this book is she supposed to feel ashamed to have these characteristics?"

"I think it's terrible that Oprah Winfrey would recommend a book as anti-white as this. It's not as bad as some "black" literature that blames everything on white people, but it's close."

It's foolish to assume that the thoughts and experiences of women and of nonwhite American citizens is not worthy of writing about, and reviewers that slam the book as "anti-white" completely miss the point of themes of cultural hegemony, internalized hatred, taboos in beauty and sexuality, oppression, etc. And it's just darned lazy to discount this book's beautiful use of multiple narratives and excellent turns of phrase.

Morrison's literature often makes me angry and depressed, but not as angry and depressed as some of the reviews it gets.(less)

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Jun 25, 2008 Thu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

When we finished this book, about half the class--- including me--- were infuriated at Morrison for humanizing certain characters that caused Pecola to suffer the most. "Is she saying what they did was okay?! Is she telling us they weren't to blame and we should feel sorry for them?!" I remember writing my "objective" and "tone-neutral" in-class essay while trying to stifle my own feelings of resentment.

I know now that the answers to those two questions were no and no. What Morrison wanted us t...more

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Sep 28, 2007 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Bluest Eye is awesome, it is so deep in terms of the themes and the authorial message. The story is about the division betwen blacks and white. Peacola, the main character of the story talks how her life should have been a lot easier if she had a "blue eye" or in other words, if she was only white. Throughtout the story, Peacola had been going to tough and hard times, through her family. Her mother is just there, doing a bad job, whereas her dad is constanly getting drunk, and causing a lot...more

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May 29, 2009 Sabra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009

I just read this today, and the rating system really doesn't apply to my feelings, which are still fresh, on this book : "I like it" "I really liked it", etc. I have NO idea how to rate this book.

I didn't like the book. As the author herself states in the afterward, "...this is a terrible story about things one would rather not know anything about." But at the same time, the story is engrossing, I found the back stories interesting, and really fell in love with the three little girls. Though som...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Connie Kuntz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Connie by: Sylvia Hoke

Pecola. That's her name.

Her name bothered me the first time I read it. Pecola. How do you even pronounce it. It's...ugly. Slowly, but surely, I understood that was the point. Or at least a point among many wicked-but-important points in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Pecola herself would never be pretty, would never be understood. No one would ever be able to shorten or lengthen her name into a cute nick. Her hair, her eyes, her countenance, her life, would never be considered more than an in...more Pecola. That's her name.

Her name bothered me the first time I read it. Pecola. How do you even pronounce it. It's...ugly. Slowly, but surely, I understood that was the point. Or at least a point among many wicked-but-important points in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Pecola herself would never be pretty, would never be understood. No one would ever be able to shorten or lengthen her name into a cute nick. Her hair, her eyes, her countenance, her life, would never be considered more than an insult, not only to herself, but to her people, too.

Pecola, trapped in poverty, was mercilessly teased by her peers, raped and impregnated by her father and judged by her elders. Eventually, Pecola went crazy and was last seen digging through the garbage by her old childhood "friend", one of the narrators of the novel.

The narrators acknowledge the superior tone of The Observer, a concept I had never considered. The listener/watcher/reader is a powerful person, so I will be more careful of what and how I share from now on. Or, maybe just less caring. That's it.

Pecola herself, never experiences self-superiority, which I believe is the first time I have ever noticed such a phenomena. Most characters, especially underdog protagonists, experience some sort of self-superiority (however deluded) at some point in their "character arc." Even when she is coerced/tricked into harming a cat and a dog in two separate but bizarre incidents of what I consider male-domination, she is neither elevated nor deflated by the moment. Instead, she is motivated by achieving superiority by getting blue eyes. That is interesting to me.

All of The Bluest Eye is interesting to me. The cruelty and evil that lurk inside the realm of survival and desire is explored beautifully and almost unbearably. Pecola's desire for having the bluest eyes in the world reminded me of some of my absurd goals and I am once again reminded to reassess my values.

That's not a bad thing to do once in awhile or, in my case, on a regular basis.

(less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Judy by: Chelsea

Shelves: classics, fiction, ohio, 1001-books, 2012-reads

I wish I had read Toni Morrison's afterward first. Although the descriptive quality of Morrison's writing kept me engrossed in the story, I got lost at times as to who was narrating and such. In the afterward, she explains why she used this technique and her opinion that she didn't feel that it was successful in accomplishing her objective. Personally, I thought it broke up the story allowing contrasting viewpoints that were entertaining, but I agree it didn't accomplish what she was after. I re...more

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Jan 12, 2010 Hazel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-rereading

I was too young for this book around 1980. The searing pain Morrison communicated was baffling to me; her poetry impenetrable. Rereading it for the first time some thirty years later, I find it no less painful; so much ugliness and anger, degradation and self-hatred. It may be more difficult to read because there is now also, a recognition of its authenticity. I have known these people.

When Sammy and Pecola were still young Pauline had to go back to work. She was older now, with no time for dr

...more I was too young for this book around 1980. The searing pain Morrison communicated was baffling to me; her poetry impenetrable. Rereading it for the first time some thirty years later, I find it no less painful; so much ugliness and anger, degradation and self-hatred. It may be more difficult to read because there is now also, a recognition of its authenticity. I have known these people.

When Sammy and Pecola were still young Pauline had to go back to work. She was older now, with no time for dreams and movies. It was time to pull all of the pieces together, make coherence where before there had been none. The children gave her this need; she herself was no longer a child. So she became, and her process of becoming was like most of ours: she developed a hatred for things that mystified or obstructed her; acquired virtues that were easy to maintain; assigned herself a role in the scheme of things; and harked back to simpler times for gratification.
She took on the full responsibility and recognition of breadwinner and returned to church. First, however, she moved out of the two rooms into a spacious first floor of a building that had been built as a store. She came into her own with the women who had despised her, by being more moral than they: she avenged herself on Cholly by forcing him to indulge in the weaknesses she despised. She joined a church where shouting was frowned upon, served on Stewardess Board No. 3, and became a member of Ladies Circle No. 1. At prayer meeting, she moaned and sighed over Cholly's ways, and hoped God would help her keep the children from the sins of the father. She stopped saying 'chil'ren' and said 'childring' instead. She let another tooth fall, and was outraged by painted ladies who thought only of clothes and men. Holding Cholly as a model of sin and failure, she bore him like a crown of thorns, and her children like a cross.

It is clear that Morrison knows people (her own American people, intimately) and US social history and I think her grasp of personality development and the childhood perspective, the child's interpretation of adult words and adult behaviour is spot on. I think this was one of her earlier books and it is somewhat raw, but no less powerful for that.

So, this is a difficult read, but I shall finish it this time, absorbing the medicine in small doses to the end of the course. (less)

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May 12, 2008 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, race

Like all of the Toni Morrison novels I have read thus far, this book is maybe just a little too good or too brilliant for its own good.

This novel is set in 1940s Ohio and is the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, who prays every day to be beautiful. She is not at all what the other kids think of as beautiful in 1940s Ohio, mainly because she has dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, and to be different is to be mocked. She wants to fit in with everybody else and...more Like all of the Toni Morrison novels I have read thus far, this book is maybe just a little too good or too brilliant for its own good.

This novel is set in 1940s Ohio and is the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, who prays every day to be beautiful. She is not at all what the other kids think of as beautiful in 1940s Ohio, mainly because she has dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, and to be different is to be mocked. She wants to fit in with everybody else and hopes she can do this by having blond hair and blue eyes. Of course, this wish is juxtaposed by the incredibly horrible things that are happening to her at home. Like all Morrison novels, terribly disturbing and heartbreaking this happen, including incest, alcoholism, insanity, child abuse, etc. all set against the backdrop of racism. Obviously, Pecola’s desire to have blue eyes and blond hair is symbolic and is about as subtle as a frying pan to the head.

Terribly heartbreaking story, mixed with the usual heartbreakingly incredible writing style of Toni Morrison. One of the more difficult authors I have ever encountered. I initially thought this book might be the most accessible Morrison I have read, but it quickly became the usual Morrison fare with its shifts in perspective and non-linear sequence.

I do “get” Morrison and her brilliance and I think she is truly one of the finest authors ever to walk the Earth, but I will admit that I struggle with her books and how they should be rated. There is great value is experiencing the brilliance of her ability and I am not sure if anyone’s books have ever stayed with me more than hers, but usually when I put them down, I am not really terribly excited about picking up another one to read. (Indeed, I had to read a light non-fiction book about college basketball after finishing this one.) I find it this emotionally draining to read her stuff; I can only imagine what it is like to for her to write these works. While it is a great experience to have to read this book, it really is not an experience that I want to try to replicate and I don’t think that is necessarily a compliment.

(less)

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Dec 30, 2008 Rashaan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Reading Morrison's first novel is like looking at America's history straight in the eye, ugly, awesome, and heart-wrenching, as real as Racism, as dark as skin, and as glorious as the plains, the mountains, and all the beauty that this land once promised. With language as pure as poetry, we learn through Faulknerian, polyphonic narrative, Morrison as predecessor to Erdrich and Fred D'Aguiar, that racism acts like a twisted and debased game of telephone. Seeds of desire, the stuff of dreams and n...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is devastating but worth the painful encounter for Morrison's phenomenally crafted prose, which is immersive and beguiling at describing anything from a rip in a couch to a father raping his daughter. Not for the faint of heart.

As a feminist, I have been wondering lately about the value of depicting sexual violence in books. Specifically, I am thinking of Bastard Out of Carolina, The Women of Brewster Place and a lesser known 70s novel called Small Changes. Not only is it painful to re...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Emily Norwood rated it 1 of 5 stars

Seriously... I have to read this book for class. I'm on page 50 and I've already had more than I can take. The symbolism is over the top and heavy-handed to the point that I can't decide whether I'm being shouted at for no reason or insulted as a dull creature incapable of understanding such things unless it is stated outright with excruciating detail. Its insistence on being so obvious with everything makes it sound pretentious, preachy, and annoying. Additionally, the overemphasis the author p...more

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May 31, 2012 Kata S. rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have never been able to determine with my most vigorous feminist inclinations why so few female authors enthrall me. I have a rather short list of female authors that I cherish and this has always disturbed me. I am constantly on a quest to discover more female authors who meet my own personal criteria for significant and extraordinary writing.

A lot of the books I acquire are through suggestions in magazines such as the New Yorker and The Week. Both publications worth every penny in print and...more I have never been able to determine with my most vigorous feminist inclinations why so few female authors enthrall me. I have a rather short list of female authors that I cherish and this has always disturbed me. I am constantly on a quest to discover more female authors who meet my own personal criteria for significant and extraordinary writing.

A lot of the books I acquire are through suggestions in magazines such as the New Yorker and The Week. Both publications worth every penny in print and in their digital forms. The Week recently wrote up a short review on Morrison's newest novel "Home" comparing her to my absolute literary god, Saul Bellow. It was as if the literary gods whispered in my ear, "you have found a female author who is worthy."

I then went in search on Goodreads for friends who have read her work. Beverly (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/87...) has read most of Morrison's work. So I sent her an email inquiry and she was very kind to outline Morrison's work, her biography and even Beverly's favorite book. This is exactly what makes Goodreads an amazing forum for serious readers. I must ardently thank Beverly, because Morrison is exactly what I have been searching for. Toni Morrison is without question a contemporary female author who writes poetically, intelligently and involves tremendous themes. I have also learned that Morrison was the first black woman to receive Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Bluest Eye's, Pecola Breedlove along with her friends see the world through such innocent eyes and the bond of their friendship is so beautiful in the eyes of the adult reader who knows the corrupt world they have not yet entirely discovered. Pecola prays every day for blue eyes and beauty because she feels inferior and ugly. It is not just this small girl praying for blue eyes that Morrison reveals. Oh no, the corrupt world the reader sees includes child molestation, incest and racism. The writing is raw, revealing and hides nothing. It should be revered for it's stark look at reality instead of people making numerous attempt to ban it from schools and libraries. Pecola's friend, Claudia narrates most of this story from her perspective as a child and an adult. Claudia's voice is soft, despondent almost sometimes, but clearly filled wisdom in hindsight. She remarks near the end of the novel, "Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly."

Another remark Claudia makes is that when the girls stood beside Pecola they were beautified because of her ugliness, Pecola's guilt sanctified them, Pecola's pain made them glow with health, Pecola's awkwardness made them think they had a sense of humor, Pecola's inarticulateness made them feel eloquent, Pecola's poverty kept them generous. How can a reader not reflect inwardly after such remarks? How can a reader not realize their faults without thinking of a Pecola in their life? Morrison's existentialism here is beautiful.

I want to share more with you about the plot and themes within this brilliant short book but I won't because in order for you to fully experience the discovery of a treasure such as this, I ought to keep my review at a minimum, just as Beverly did in her email response. It allowed this new follower of Morrison to discover and experience a female author who will always remain very close to my heart and be placed upon the bookshelf next to the few other female authors who I admire. Thanks again Beverly!(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 Chrissie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, race, relationships, usa, philo-psychol

Please note: I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author, not Ruby Dee.

This is a book about a child who wants to be beautiful, and that means to have blue eyes. She is black.

If you choose to read this book you should be aware that although the writing is exceptional, it is rarely cheerful:

The first twigs are thin, green and supple. They bend in a complete circle but will not break. Their delicate showy hopefulness shooting from forsythia and lilac bushes meant only a change in whipping...more

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Oct 14, 2010 James rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Toni Morrison's remarkably intense debut novel is one of the most frequently challenged books in the libraries of America's schools. While I don't support censorship, I can see why this book is is a target of fearful parents. I've rarely read a more brutal book; Morrison deals with extreme child abuse, the Great Depression's effect on families, rape, failed marriages, and the way white culture marginalizes minorities, remarkable given the brevity of the book. Even this early in her writing, Morr...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Kaion rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern, chromatic

The title of the book refers to the "main" character, Pecola, who wants blue eyes to be pretty like a white girl (she's black)- or a white girl doll. Unfortunately, this book is perhaps even more blunt, or I would say, "anvil-laden" than my summary above (I wish I could say "anvilicious", but then it would have to be delicious or awesome). Basically racism and standards of white beauty imposed upon black people is what results in the tragedy of Pecola.

I like the ideas behind the book, but the wr...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

This was the most desperately painful book I've ever read. As such, I think everyone should be required to read it.

This is part of what fiction is supposed to be. It's supposed to help us understand ourselves better, by showing us things that we are, and things that we aren't, by showing us things that have happened to us and things that have happened to others. In reading good fiction we learn about human beings in the world, and by extension, we learn to identify better with ourselves. Great f...more

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Jul 08, 2008 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was my first introduction to Toni Morrison, read at the age of 20. More memorable than the novel itself in many ways, were my expectations of what a Toni Morrison novel is "like." I was definitely performing two strains of analysis while reading The Bluest Eye, meaning in addition to simply following the plot, I was checking the the plot against what I had previously envisioned as a Toni Morrison plot.
I have to say, everything you read about Toni Morrison, without having actually read her,...more

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May 23, 2007 Casey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adults

At first I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I thought the changes in narration were cool. In an afterward, Morrison commented that she thought these changes caused the reader to be "touched, but not moved." There was something distancing, though. Pecola was--and her pain was--so on the margins. When I think about this, though, I think that distance makes the novel ultimately more effective. This poor girl is an afterthought....I could read her story and not be destroyed, as I should be by...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, coming-of-age, racism, african-american, ohio, child-abuse

Morrison's first novel is a poetic and wrenching coming of age tale of Claudia, a poor black girl finding her way to adulthood in a rural Ohio town in the 40's. It focuses on her friend Pecola, who is a victim of abuse and becomes pregnant. The tale moves backward into the origins of her parents in the South, rendering an intergenerational perspective on the sources of internalized racism. Almost as a parable, Pecola dreams all can change if she could only have blue eyes. Throughout the narrativ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Sue Zieman rated it 2 of 5 stars

Better than "love",but too much bouncing between characters and introducing "Soaphead Church" at the end made me think she had written a start of a different novel and just inserted it in to add pages. Overall, yes, a powerful story of love, family, and the lot of women. The point about wishing to fit into a certain look, that society approves of, has hopefully lessened to this extreme extent; but I fear it has not.

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May 21, 2008 Katie_marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction

I very much felt like an outsider while reading this book. Right away she juxtaposes the "perfect" but simple and happy life of a middle class white family with that of a young Black girl in the 1940s. Likely most of her symbolism was lost to me however the afterward was very enlightening as to why she chose to write the book in seasons, to jump from character to character and to use the style that she did. To get the most out of it I would recommend reading it in a sitting or two. It is worth i...more

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Jan 28, 2009 Emmy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was incredible. I couldn't put it down and when I did put it down, I had to sit there and not move for a good half hour.

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Jan 20, 2013 Naz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A story about how racism can affect even the most innocent child. Toni Morrison uses beautiful and haunting language to tell Pecola's suffering, but what's brilliant about this novel is that Morrison humanizes even the people who hurt her the most by telling their stories as well. The result is a dark, unsettling feeling by the end of the novel. I felt anger, sadness, pity, and abhorrence at the various terrible things that happened to Pecola and the very real racial self-loathing that occurred...more

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Nov 12, 2008 matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: america-f-k-yeah, fictions-of-the-big-it, ladies-night, social-crit

I especially enjoyed the Faulknerian overtones where the main character converses with a shadow-self. Sparse, severe, drastic, dire....

I love the way she can turn a paragraph...The sentences hang together to create a whole. It's one thing to write a sentence or even a chapter, but a paragraph artist is a rare thing, indeed.

the image of the little white girl on the drinking cup (I think it's Shirley Temple, though that might be me making it up) as an archetype of alien culture...excellent.

Otherwi...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Lindsay rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 18, 2009 Tina Dalton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: leisure-reading, 1001-books

Aside from being on the 1001 list, this book also peaked my interest when I noticed it on the ALA's most challenged books list. After reading the book, I completely understand why it's been challenged. It has some very graphic and disturbing themes dealing with young girls. However, the idea the book explores is fascinating and would not be complete with out the disturbing elements. The story probes into the world of a young black girl who wishes she had blue eyes. She has come to believe that s...more

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May 13, 2013 Thea rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Bluest Eye a novel written by Toni Morrison takes place in thge 1940s. This story is centered around an African American girl named Pecola Breedlove who is quiet,awkard, and believes that whitness is beautiful and that her black skin is ugly. She prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be beautiful,so that her world would be different. Pecola gets teased all the time at school by the boys and that is just the beginning of a nightmare for her as her journey gets worse.

This book was h...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Keisha rated it 4 of 5 stars

I reread this book so that I could start from the beginning with reading Toni Morrison's complete body of work (I've previously read everything through Jazz). My first encounter with this novel was in college during an English class devoted to studying Morrison's novels. If I hadn't had that exposure, I probably wouldn't have totally understood this work, but nonetheless it always resonated with me.

Surely I have to think that through it all, it is no coincidence that the last name of the little...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Korah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Struggling to find a book which grasped my full attention, my teacher placed a stack of novels on my desk, that she thought would interest me. I skimmed the titles then flipped the books over to read the plot overviews. The only book that tempted me was “The Bluest Eye”, so I opened it and my journey began.

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison is a novel which paints the picture of the constant battle between American beauty and black women. The book takes place in Lorain, Ohio and tells the story...more

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About Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford), is an American author, editor, and professor who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."
Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed African American characters; among the best k...more

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“Love is never any better than the lover. ” — 171 people liked it

“Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion.” — 113 people liked it

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