Toni Morrison stole my thunder! She says it best about The Bluest Eye.

“If happiness is anticipation with certainty, we were happy.”

Set in Loraine, Ohio in 1941, young girls, Claudia and Frieda MacTeer welcome an 11-year-old girl, Pecola Breedlove into their home. Pecola is temporarily sheltering with the MacTeer family while her father is in jail.

“Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes.”

“He laughed the grown-up getting-ready-to-lie laugh.”

The last half of the book presents the backstory of Pauline Williams (Mrs. Breedlove), Cholly Breedlove, and Mr. Henry.

Who-eee! Sumptuous and majestic, Toni Morrison’s prose is like running your hand through stardust. Her prose is astoundingly sophisticated, whipped smooth—a phenomenon of a debut novel.

The first half of the book is an electric triumph, a richly insightful tale of a cruel and broken world balanced with humor and the excitement of anticipation and hope.

Unfortunately, the spell was broken in the last half of the book. While the bits of stardust still lingered, the enchantment was waning.

To step back for just a moment, The Bluest Eye starts off with Claudia MacTeer’s first person narrative and shifts into a third person omniscient voice. Ugh! This did not work well.

How does an author decide which parts of a story to include? To a certain extent, it boils down to personal choice.

My personal philosophy closely alights with Philip Pullman, and he wrote a really great article that fits nicely here. In the essay, “The Path Through the Wood,” Pullman likens writing to a path through the woods. The danger is that authors might be tempted to get lost in world building (“the forest”). The idea is that when authors leave the path (stop moving the plot forward), readers lose interest.

In The Bluest Eye, Morrison wants to build up her world by focusing on multiple characters. Because she casts the net wide, she can’t go deep, and the stories would have otherwise been stronger.

At the same time, it is admirable that Morrison attempts to show the complexities of her characters. Cholly Breedlove isn’t merely a “baddie”; he is a nuanced character—a victim of trauma suffering abandonment and alienation.

In another essay by Pullman, “The Writing of Stories”, he talks about where the author puts the camera, whose voice do we hear. Morrison’s indecision in selecting a narrative voice is amateurish and confusing.

All that to say….

You don’t have to take my word for it!

Here is Toni Morrison:

My solution—break the narrative into parts that had to be reassembled by the reader—seemed to me a good idea, the execution of which does not satisfy me now. Besides, it didn’t work; many readers remain touched but not moved.

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Softcover Text - $11.75 from Amazon
Audiobook – Free through Libby

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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I've had a look, both on Goodreads & the internet, & I can't find the cover of my ebook edition. I just know it was published post 1993, because it contains the afterward written by Morrison then, in which she proves to be one of her most severe critics. Morrison thought that at the times she lacked the narrative skill to tell the story the way she wanted. I will respectfully disagree, as while Percola's story is terrible in the sense of the almost unrelenting pain & bleakness, it is beautiful with Morrison's gift of language & her ability to create believable characters. Percola's story broke my heart.

Percola's belief that she would be beautiful & loved if only she had blue eyes is heartbreaking. Unloved, unwanted & neglected, Percola based her idea of beauty on what she could see - the readers available at school featured white children, dolls were white dolls. Her friend Claudia had a totally different reaction to the white dolls, but Percola lacked the McTeer sisters' toughness &, I would say, certainty of their place in the world. You never get the feeling that the end is going to be anything, but tragic for poor Percola & it is impossible not to be moved by her story.

Read with both Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts Group & the BLK Group June/July Reading Challenge.

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Toni Morrisons Erstlingsroman "Sehr blaue Augen" aus dem Jahr 1970 ist gleich ihr erstes Meisterwerk geworden. Auch wenn er nicht so gut wie ihr bester Roman "Menschenkind" ist, so ist er doch durch und durch gelungen. Es geht um Rassismus, Klassismus und Sexismus und einem daraus resultierenden Selbsthass.

"Indem Pauline körperliche Schönheit mit Tugend gleichsetzte, entkleidete sie ihre Gedanken, fesselte sie und häufte bergeweise Selbstverachtung auf." Pauline hält sich für hässlich. Auch ihr Baby Pecola hält sie von dem Moment der Geburt an für hässlich. "Die einzigste Zeit, wenn ich wirklich glücklich war, das war, wenn ich im Kino saß." Pauline würde gerne aussehen wie Jean Harlow. Die elfjährige Pecola steht im Zentrum des Romans. Sie übernimmt das Gedankengerüst ihrer Mutter. Bei ihr ist es nicht Jean Harlow sondern kindgerecht Shirley Temple. Pecola wünscht sich ähnlich blaue Augen. Pecola wird später Opfer ihres Vaters Cholly.

Die Rahmenhandlung spielt in den Jahren 1940 und 1941 in einer Schwarzen Community in der Stadt Lorain im Bundesstaat Ohio. Weiße spielen nur am Rande als Arbeitgeber oder eben in Kinofilmen eine Rolle. Die Männer arbeiten in der Fabrik. Die Frauen arbeiten als Hausangestellte für wohlhabende Familien. Die Männer geben sich dem Alkohol und der Gewalt hin. Die Frauen dem Gesang und der Kirche. Zu der Beschreibung der Gesellschaft kommt die Schilderung einzelner Schicksale hinzu. Das ist nicht immer leicht zu ertragen. Es gibt Opfergeschichten, aber auch in einem Kapitel die Biografie eines Täters. Dort wird keine Erklärung geliefert, was den Roman so stark und gleichzeitig so bedrückend macht. Ohnehin lassen die Ambivalenzen im Text keine ganz klaren Zuschreibungen zu, und das ist gut so.

Sprachlich lebt der Roman von lebensnahen Dialogen auf der einen Seite und Formulierungen, in denen beschreibende und reflektierende Elemente zusammentreffen auf der anderen Seite. Die Dramaturgie sorgt dafür, dass beide Teile ineinander greifen. Toni Morrison entwirft eindrucksvolle, unvergessliche Szenen innerhalb der Rahmenhandlung. Es entsteht ein großes, in sich schlüssiges Kunstwerk. Obwohl das Buch ernste und trostlose Dinge thematisiert, hat es beim Lesen aufgrund seiner Kunstfertigkeit bei mir regelrechte Glücksgefühle ausgelöst. "Sehr blaue Augen" ist Weltliteratur auf höchstem Niveau.

I listened to The Bluest Eye which is written and narrated by Toni Morrison. Morrison's voice is lyrical, smooth and soothing with a juxtaposition of content about abuse, incest, violence, poverty, and disrespect.

Pecola Breedlove prays that her eyes will turn blue because white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes are the epitome of beauty. Pecola's life is anything but beautiful.

Haunting, poignant, disturbing and memorable.

This might be the closest thing to a perfect novel that I've ever seen.

This is going to be a very; very long critical review of a so-called 'African American classic'...So there you have been warned...

First, I want to say that I didn't have to read this book for a school/college project, or anything. I had just finished reading the memoir "Black Boy" by Richard Wright (which has turned into my favorite most relatable black memoirs of all time). This was given to me by a close relative who loves reading too. Every other black person I've seen (especially the conscious brand) tells me this is a "African American classic". I just don't see it, at all...

I do not want to write a mean review because if I were to be the author of this book, I would much prefer constructive criticism and not just 'hating'.

To the author's credit, she's very good at getting her audience's attention even from the very first chapter, and she knows how to turn anything she creates into poetry. She has a very good way with words and making her writing sounds sophisticated and artistic. So those are her pointers.

Now to to the critical bits...

Problem #1: It feels Toni's method to gaining reader's attention, is being unnecessarily and forcibly lewd, pornographic, and perverted. It comes across purely obnoxious, as if she’s begging to get a reaction out of the reader.

There wasn't any need to describe Mr. Soaphead’s sexual encounters with the little girls he's molested, in the detail that Toni did. The readers didn't need to know that he had nibbled the nipples (or "tits" as Toni vulgarly described) of prepubescent girls, and 'played with their vulvas while they were eating ice-cream'. We get it, he abuses little girls. If you want to create a monster, you can talk about his lusts for children, and only notify the readers that he has indeed abused little girls before, but you do not have to turn your novel into explicit erotica for pedophiles.

It makes the readers question where your mind is. Especially when not only can you write things this incredibly filthy, but you also goes as far to do the worse/disgusting thing you can possibly do when discussing rape/molestation, by insinuating that the little girls welcomed the the rape and molestation. Yes, Toni Morrison did this.

n   “The little girls are the only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little t*ts and bit them—just a little—I felt I was being friendly?—If I’d been hurting them, would they have come back? . . . they’d eat ice cream with their legs open while I played with them. It was like a party.”n

The RAPE scene involving Cholly and his daughter was over the top, vulgar, disgusting and furthermore downright disturbing.

n  "“A bolt of desire ran down his genitals…and softening the lips of his anus. . . . He wanted to f*ck her—tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her vagina was more than he could bear. His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she made. Removing himself from her was so painful to him he cut it short and snatched his genitals out of the dry harbor of her vagina. She appeared to have fainted"n

Again I repeat- THIS IS HER DESCRIPTION OF A MAN RAPING HIS DAUGHTER.

What is this? Child Porn??? What is the point of describing incestuous rape of a frightened eleven year old girl by her father, as ‘tender’? Why is she laboring over the details of a child’s genitalia and sexual responses? Does she honestly believe this a appropriate description of a child being raped by her father?

The long-winded sex description between Mr. Cholly and Pauline was also unnecessary, but it would have been forgivable it hadn't been for this line:

"I knew he wanted for me to come first.."

Again, vulgar much? To make it worse, no one referred to orgasming as "coming" in the early 19th century. Seriously, Toni....

Re-explaining the situation with Cholly being caught having sex with his cousin's friend, while whites stood watching and telling him "give it to her harder", was pointless. Toni had already summarized how this had happened earlier in the book. What was the point of re-explaining it, especially when the event wasn’t that significant?

Additionally, what was the significance spending an entire page and a half explaining how a unimportant side character had never experienced a orgasm, when this character only role in the protagonist's life is warding her away and calling her a "bitch" for 'killing' her pet?

It seemed throughout all of the book Toni went into the most detail explaining the sex between the characters, and priests "nibbling on the nipples of little girls", more than the actual development of these characters. No offense to her, but they aren't relatable , interesting, or believable.They're blank slates in strange sexual situations, none more. None of them had their own personalities, or their own faces.


Problem #2: The way Toni rationalizes her characters' behavior doesn't make sense on any logical basis, whatsoever. This makes her story seem very fake, forced and unbelievable....

A great example of how unbelievable and irrational the motives of her characters are is Cholly's backstory on why he ended up molesting his daughter. Cholly has issues with his broken family and was disowned by his father (like millions of people around the world) and somehow is so socially inept that he can't love his daughter without raping her? Why? How on earth does that make any sense? So many people are raised by relatives and they don’t think raping children. That said, Toni wrote that he had a relationship with a man named Blue, and he was mothered by his great-aunt until she passed away when he was thirteen. Then, he was raised by her brother. That he was loved and protected by these people who raised him. How does being adopted by loving family members, justify raping his kids, because he 'doesn't know better'? how? Especially since he was not molested by any of his caregivers. Where is he getting the idea that forcing himself on his screaming daughter as genuinely being ok? What examples has he learned this behavior from and why isn't that explained in the novel? Toni said that he was a drunkard, so wouldn't it make more sense to write that he was drunk and perhaps confused his daughter for his wife?

For a greater example of how the motivations of the characters do not make sense, is the book premise itself; the main theme doesn't even make sense. Pecola is having issues with society but blames it on her eye color. Ok, I understand her mother treats the little white children she nannies better than her, and I also understand her issues at school and society is because she is dark-skinned therefore perceived ugly. So then would her problem be her dark complexion, and not her eye color? It would make sense if the children her mother nannies had blue eyes, but that was never explained or established in the book, so what the heck? Repeatedly the attention is thrown on the fact that she's black-skinned. So where do the eye part comes from? Am I missing something here?

There is the argument that her eye color is suppose symbolize European standards of beauty, but honestly, I cannot agree. The 'symbolism' seems artificially generated by the author herself, and forced into the culture of her novel's fictional world. Most indigenous societies and the black community itself corrupted by colonialism and European culture, simply desire lighter complexion and silky hair, not specifically 'blue eyes'. Green eyes, and brown eyes are also considered beautiful. I could imagine how this book would fit well into the logic of the protagonist's issues, if the book had focused (as the rest of the book did) on her skin color. This leads me into the next issue...


Problem #3: Unused and wasted opportunity in character use, and plot development. Makes for a pointless underachieving story

- Regarding the protagonist's circumstance and her particular time in American history, I could imagine Toni taking this opportunity to muddle in actual culture examples of forced European beauty standards in American society, by incorporating actual white-centric advertisements of the time, actual white actresses who were considered beautiful at the time, and light-skinned black actresses who were also considered beautiful at the time. She could've somehow relate this and point this out with classic American literature forced on Children, like blonde Cinderella or "white as snow" Sleeping Beauty, and make the protagonist fall into self-loathe by these permanent aspects of princess culture. Pecola could've been desirable and beautiful but rejected for her skin color perhaps? The housewife could be a woman who bleached her skin and somehow resented the protagonist because she reminded her of her former self? Claudia could hate the protagonist because she was beautiful regardless of her dark complexion? The priest could've offered Pecola skin bleaching skin, and Picola could've fallen mentally ill due to some accident due to her excitement of being white. Toni have discussed and incorporated the racist cartoons of the time, that described black children (especially dark skinned children) as ugly buck-toothed big-lipped 'pickaninnies'. Toni could have also incorporated the 'paper bag' test, could have gone on about how the 'hair' culture, among black mothers. And how coarser hair is considered 'ugly'.

It would have also been more historical sound illustration of the beauty standards of the time, and address the actual desperation of black/dark women around the world to be perceived as 'beautiful'


Conclusion

Phonetically this book well-written and has a pleasing flow, but plot wise, there were plot-holes, unnecessary characters who added absolutely nothing to the development of the plot, and filthy explicit unnecessary sexual scenes that additionally added nothing to development of the plot. The theme was loosely about colorism. I read maybe 2 chapters that solidly built on the racial themes, but the rest was merely short stories about unrelated characters. Even Pauline (the mother) herself, only favored the white children she cared for, more than her actual children because of issues with their father, not because they were black. There was so SO many things Toni could have done with this storyline that was ultimately wasted. Instead she dove much deeper talking about how "Cholly's anus lips had softened at the sight of his daughter".

I just.... I don't understand how this book became a beloved classic and won a Nobel Prize. Was it out of political correctness? And wanting to seem 'progressive' by praising any piece of black work that talks about controversial issues? I'm black and I can honestly say this was a disturbing, poorly put together, grotesque book and did absolutely nothing for me but question if the author was secretly a pedophile. It baffles me how many black people praise this, simply because the author is black herself. Its substandard in comparison to other lesser-known black novels that I've read. And I am beyond shock there are people out there who think this is appropriate for middle school and high school kids. YES this book SHOULD have been banned from high schools!! It is not "To Kill A Mocking Bird", folks. For a lot of this book, this book is unnecessary porn, and images that young impressionable teens shouldn't have in their minds! If you want a good book about colorism, I recommend "The Skin I'm In".

I finally (finally!) read my first Toni Morrison novel and it did not disappoint. The Bluest Eye is the story of Pecola, who wishes desperately for blue eyes, which she equates with beauty, belonging, and all that is good in the world. Pecola does not have a good childhood (her father is a drunk and her mother barely cares for her children) and sadly we witness Pecola's life devolve from bad to much worse.

It pretty much goes without saying that Morrison's writing was beautiful, but it was also more accessible than I thought it would be. I was intrigued by the structure as we jumped back in time to understand the history of the characters and how this history leads to the terrible events in Pecola's life. The story is narrated from the perspective of a young black girl who is friends with Pecola and we never hear from Pecola herself. I understand this was a conscious choice on Morrison's part, but it still left me wishing to hear Pecola's perspective at least once.

Morrison explores society's obsession with beauty, but particularly a certain kind of beauty- standards and ideals that have been perpetuated throughout time. Of course the author writes about race and the divides created between white people and black people and between black people who despise their own blackness and other black people.

The overwhelming feeling when I finished this book was sadness. Pecola is mistreated and downtrodden her entire life and she deserves none of it. I can't wait to pick up another book by Morrison, although not right away because I'll need some time to recover from this one.

If you want to hear me talk more about this novel, I discussed it in my February wrap-up: https://youtu.be/_GTUZuEB6h8

Want a book that will be imprinted your mind forever?...Get The Bluest Eye

This is the longest i have ever spent on reading a book and trust me it wasn't out of boredom but out of the 'no holds barred' that Morrison unleased with this literature. I dreaded picking this book up every time i put it down, because it was tiring having to prepare myself for trauma.

The Bluest Eye is set in 1940-41 (The Great Depression) and the story is about 11 year Pecola Breedlove who prays that she will get blue eyes so she can finally be considered as beautiful in western society eyes. But Pecola is about to face a plentiful of adversity in her young life.

This book is much more than a dark skin girl wanting to have blue eyes. In Morrison's on words she wanted to remind her readers “how hurtful a certain kind of internecine racism is.” The Bluest eye is in part a true story as Morrison had a friend who also wanted to have blue eyes. Morrison observed that her friend was going through 'self racial loathing' and wondered how "her friend had internalized society’s racist beauty standards at such a young age.

I cant say i enjoyed this, because this is not a book to entertain, but more of a book to learn/understand from. This is lyrical literature at its finest and admittedly i did struggle and would have to go back and read certain sentences again to try and depict what the author was trying to express/convey.
I was left confused at times because of the back and forth of first person/ third person narrative but eventually got the gist after a while. Although i appreciated Claudia's narrative, i would have liked if the book had been told from Pecola herself.

I don't need to pick this book back up and re read because its altered my brain chemistry and will linger in my conscious for many years to come.

PLEASE CHECK TW

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I have been forewarned by many that this book is absolutely going to destroy me... I'm nervous

"Being a minority in both caste and class, we moved about anyway on the hem of life, struggling to consolidate our weaknesses and hang on, or to creep singly up into the major folds of the garment. Our peripheral existence, however, was something we had learned to deal with--probably because it was abstract."- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

I'm rereading Morrison's books in chronological order in 2016 and I created a private group here on Goodreads for a few of us who are interested in doing the same thing. Discussing this book with others has been very interesting because we all have different perspectives and can share them, expanding our own understanding of the book, it's been a great experience.

It's been four years since I first read The Bluest Eye and I was extremely touched and saddened by it the first time around. I count it as one of my favourite Morrison books and I'm glad to say that after a reread it's still very much so. I'm trying hard to find the words to describe how I feel about this book and it's still hard because it's a gut-wrenching book which I love, though "love" sounds like the wrong word for it: how can I love a book that is filled with so much pain, sadness and grief? This book condenses so much tragedy, despair and sadness in a relatively small space. What do you focus on? It can get a bit overwhelming. Morrison's advice seems to be: "There is really nothing more to say--except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how."

Whenever I discuss this book with people I know, Pecola is often the first name that comes up. Pecola, the poor, unloved child who prayed for blue eyes. It was hard not to draw comparisons between her and Celie (The Colour Purple), another abused black girl who was called ugly by all those around her. And I think of all the little black girls I've known who hated being black, who hated their hair, their noses, their eye colour, who prayed for "good hair", lighter skin complexion etc.

Morrison shows the vulnerability of children so well, and the consequences of parents not telling them what they need to know in enough detail, which results in them being forced to draw conclusions on their own. What they aren't told, they glean from observations and discussions with each other. Sometimes the truth isn't known until they are older:

"My mother's anger humiliates me; her words chafe my cheeks, and I am crying. I do not know that she is not angry at me, but at my sickness."

There are so many parts of the book that show children as voiceless, black children in particular. There's the issue of representation and how the white dolls our parents thought we wanted probably did more harm than good. I think this is an important book in revealing the other America.

My book had an afterword by Morrison which I'm so glad I read. I had no idea that this book was inspired by a conversation she'd had with an elementary school friend who prayed for blue eyes. It's conversations like this that never leave you, it seems, but it might take you until you are an adult to understand the true meaning of what those words held and what they say about our society. Like Malcolm X asked, "Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?"

"And twenty years later I was still wondering about how one learns that. Who told her? Who made her feel that it was better to be a freak than what she was? Who had looked at her and found her so wanting, so small a weight on the beauty scale?...I focused, therefore, on how something as grotesque as the demonization of an entire race could take root inside the most delicate member of society: a child; the most vulnerable member: a female."- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye afterword

Im Moment überfordert mich die Sternegebung.
Noch gefangen in der Geschichte und in meinen Gedanken muss ich erst mal alles gelesene sacken lassen und überdenken

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 to do was not pardon the terrible acts of her characters, or brush them off as "simply tragedy" but to understand where these characters came from psychologically, and what made them the the way they are. People are driven by motivations, sometimes selfless, sometimes self-serving, and sometimes cruel. When I think about this now, I'm absolutely floored. I don't think any work of fiction has ever taught me this huge a lesson about human nature than this one.

Morrison is a brilliant writer and this will probably always be one of my favorite novels.

I feel so bad for not liking this book, because I know I'm in the minority, and because I know it deals with some very very important topics! I think it's important that books like these exist, because we need to remember that problems like these exist.
That being said, I strongly disliked the execution of this story. Nothing in this book inspires hope; it's 100% full of brutality, loss, heartbreak and lots of other heavy and heart-breaking topics, and to be honest, I felt like it was way too overdone. I almost couldn't breathe when reading this because it kept telling about disaster after disaster. I needed a little glimpse of hope somewhere, but I didn't get it.
This book is said to be very poetic, and I agree with that. However, once again I felt like it was done in an exaggerated manner. Almost every second sentence had a deeper meaning, and while it was beautiful to read in the beginning, it became too much in the end. Furthermore, Toni Morrison chose to mix together genres and perspectives, and I didn't feel a connection with any of the characters despite what they were going through.
I love beautiful prose and stories with serious topics, but I didn't like this one one bit. I had a very hard time getting through the mere 200 pages of "The Bluest Eye". The two stars are given because of the glimpses of beautiful prose and the ever-important topics that this book deals with, but all in all I can't say that this was a great reading experience.