The Bluest Eye (Vintage International)

Lovely written book. Touches on important messages and the format is a really engaging way to tell the story. It does however get difficult to read at times due to the content. Definitely trigger warnings for this book.

Required to read this my freshman year of college and was first introduced to Ms Morrison

I began reading Beloved (quite a few years ago) by Morrison but found myself disconnecting from its prose, despite its exceptional craftsmanship. However, Morrison's debut novel, The Bluest Eye, immediately resonated with me. The prose is evocative, with poignant poetic repetitions and insightful symbolism that deeply affected me.
The novel skillfully explores not only the pervasive impact of white racism but also sheds light on the insidious nature of colorism within Pecola's own community—a stark portrayal of internalized racism. Morrison portrays everyday occurrences that shape lives in profound ways, contrasting two vastly different family dynamics. One family exhibits control and self-sufficiency, while the other is consumed by self-hatred and insecurity exacerbated by prevalent colorism within the repressed Black community. The characters' self-hatred is poignantly depicted through their critiques of external appearances, revealing deep-seated insecurities.
While the novel is masterfully lyrical, impactful, and brilliant, one criticism I have is that Morrison's portrayal of tragic figures occasionally risks excusing their harmful behavior due to their misfortunes, which may not align with the intended message. Especially troubling is the depiction of Pecola's rape by her father Cholly, portrayed only through his perspective that too in a chapter that reveals how Cholly's own misfortunes shaped his current deranged psyche.
The final two chapters are particularly heart-wrenching when all of these wraps up leaving you in this hollow, cruel and wretched place.
4/5

The book was great. I mean, it's written by one of the greats. It discussed a lot of topics that the "conditioned" Black community seems to shy away from (behaviors of those that were stuck in their ways and didn't know any better). It provoked feelings of sadness, grief, happiness, and victory. I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to discussing it with others.

Obviously, Morrison is a masterful writer. And a powerful, insightful intellect. You can’t miss that. But the book itself never felt really compelling for me, or at least not in a sustained way. In her Afterword, Morrison talks about the difficulty of balancing her opposing impulses:

Holding the despising glance while sabotaging it was difficult. The novel tried to hit the raw nerve of racial self-contempt, expose it, then soothe it not with narcotics but with language.

I think this is connected to my issue with the book. It felt a bit cold and impassionate. It wouldn’t be fair or accurate to say it felt purely like an intellectual exercise, but it did have that stiffness to it occasionally.

Absolutely worth reading, and I’m already wondering which of Morrison’s novels to read next. But I can’t see returning to—or even really recommending—this one.