The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) Paperback – 8 May 2007

When you come across an author that you might like to read, it is sometimes difficult to know where to start when they have already written several books. There are two most likely options, depending on the author: one is to start from the beginning (especially if the author writes stories in sequence), the other is to jump straight to their most famous book. Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel 'Beloved,' and arguably her most famous book is 'Song of Solomon;' most book lovers will come to Morrison's work through either of these. I much prefer to start with the author's debut most of the time, unless the book appears to have been completely forgotten. Authors fall here into two groups: those who take a few goes to develop their craft before delivering their best work, and then there are those who pull off something brilliant straight away (often never to match it again). If an author has a few "unknown" books before they hit their stride, I take it as a sign that I can probably skip over these (for example, Salman Rushdie wrote one book before his celebrated 'Midnight's Children' - it is seldom discussed). Toni Morrison's 1970 debut 'The Bluest Eye' has not been forgotten - it is regularly taught in American High Schools - as a result it is admired and reviled in equal measure; either way it is certainly talked about.The reason some first novels are a treat is because of the experimentation, the culmination of a life-to-date desire to write; all the best images and experiences from that era come together in one bold statement. 'The Bluest Eye' is a deeply passionate book, full of genuinely arresting imagery, and if I had not already known, I believe I would have guessed that it was a first novel, for its creative choices, its concern for childhood dreams and naiveties, and for its fearlessness with subjects many authors leave alone once they have a reputation to worry about.The novel takes its name from the life of the central character, an ugly black schoolgirl named Pecola Breedlove, who has a wish for blue eyes, because blue eyes are beautiful, and if she had blue eyes then she would be beautiful too. I say these things as if they were indisputable fact, because in Pecola's world, outcast among outcasts, that is what they are: she knows blue eyes are beautiful, because the little blue-eyed white girls make all the grown-ups coo when they see them, while they look straight through Pecola; she knows she is ugly, because, "when one of the girls at school wanted to be particularly insulting to a boy, [...] she could say, "Bobby loves Pecola Breedlove!" [...] and never fail to get peals of laughter [...], and mock anger from the accused." It is such a given that Pecola is ugly, that the narrator does not even question it, using the shorthand of describing her directly as such, showing that beauty and ugliness are neither in the eye of the beholder nor in the features of the blue-eyed dolls, but instead are so finely woven into the fabric of a society riddled with inequality and prejudice at all levels, that the characters who are marginalised and limited by this discrimination, readily accept and actively support the drawing of the line in the sand. Pecola's mother, working as a home help in a white household, is able to take great pride in keeping the house spotless, while placing no value in her own family situation, leaving it to stagnate and fall apart.Pecola is the central character in the story; however her presence in the novel reflects that of her character: she is the lacuna at the novel's centre, given little voice, and made available to the reader largely through the experiences and opinions of those around her. The short book takes leaps of focus, from classmates Claudia and Frieda MacTeer, to Pecola's parents and back, and even to other characters such as "Soaphead Church," the dream interpreter whose own sleep is dreamless, to whom Pecola comes finally to grant her wish for blue eyes.The novel is thankfully far more than Pecola's hopeless prayer; in fact it is very much in the background, only coming to the fore in the final passage, which is the weakest part of the book, and the only part with which I share the author's professed dissatisfaction with her early efforts at tackling these heavy subjects.'The Bluest Eye' is disliked by some students for being a set text, but it is also controversial for parents because of some graphic scenes. It gives an extensive and desperate background story to Cholly, the man responsible for the book's most challenging scene, and perhaps raises the controversy even further, by not only depicting the act he commits, but also showing that the act is committed by a human being, something that many people prefer to forget when these terrible crimes are committed, instead labelling the perpetrator simply as a monster, and doing nothing to understand why these things happen, and to work towards stopping them happening in the future. In this way, our society reflects that of the story, by holding up and accepting our own powerlessness in the face of an injustice that is too pervasive to resist.The language of the novel, while rich in imagery and depth of feeling, is easy to understand; the reader is drawn in to the worlds of each of the characters in turn, although some readers may dislike the structure of the story, and the feeling of having to "start again" with each section, not only with another character but sometimes at a completely different point in time. In her commentary on the novel, Morrison says that she was striving for a "writing that was indisputably black," before admitting that she does not yet know "quite what that is". It is difficult to imagine a style of writing that could ever be "indisputably" anything, not least an attempt to represent so many diverse cultures and experiences under a single racial label. This is perhaps shown by some of the response to this novel from black readers, continuing into the present day with novels such as "Push" by Sapphire (after its film adaptation "Precious"), whereby the author is accused of reinforcing negative stereotypes about black people. This is a challenging stance in a number of ways, as it seeks to deny black authors the right to write as they wish, and to explore the full complexity and opportunity of literature, which usually deals with some form of conflict, instead wishing them to merely serve and represent a political purpose, and nothing more. One can only imagine the result of this sounding like the "Dick and Jane" narrative (the literary equivalent of the MacTeers' blue-eyed dolls) that runs through the book, with names substituted for ethnic variations. This is turn also denies authors such as Toni Morrison the ability to write honestly and in unflinching detail about the causes and effects of such persistent deprivation and persecution on a passionate and dignified community of people. That Morrison has elected to do so in spite of this potential for backlash shows the importance of an author pursuing the truth they want to put into their writing, as it serves a political purpose far more convincingly than if she were just to write what a portion of her audience wanted. Morrison states that she wanted the book to cause a reaction, but even so, she expresses disappointment with the result, saying that "readers remain touched, but not moved."When Pecola's mother was young, she went to the cinema often, and learned from Hollywood of "romantic love [and] physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought." This to me is the central theme of the novel; however within this slim volume there is an encyclopaedia of human pain and tragedy, channelled through a small group of connected people in 1940s Ohio, which is capable of not only touching, but moving any reader to consider the way they look at the world, to understand where pain comes from, beyond the daily damage we do to each other, ingrained in all the furnishings of our modern, civilised society.However, this is not a relentlessly negative portrayal of these characters, from which we should infer any greater judgement than of the cruel acts of a few cruel people, and of the acceptance of conditions where such cruelty is allowed to take root. It is also a story of love and inner strength, of people in crowded and demoralising living circumstances, opening their doors to their neighbours when they fall on even harder times, for fear of their becoming "outdoors," instead of accepting the mistrust we are constantly told to feel for each other when living with scarcity and hardship. Human experience is at the fore, in all its light and dark, and indeed with all its urine, vomit, toejam, and much more besides, all left in here, the gaze unrelenting, showing us living people rather than ideas; real life rather than the sanitised and sensationalised liaisons of the cinema screen. 'The Bluest Eye' may not have lived up entirely to what the author hoped to achieve with it, but nonetheless it is a work of extraordinary power, that will stay with the reader, without being simply consumed, ticked off a list, and forgotten.

Bought for my wife who enjoyed the read

This isnt a book. It is an experience.It is a book that requires digesting.Stylistic and eloquent, Toni Morrison manages to articulate the intangible, capturing the individual experience in perfect synchrony with the human experience without devaluing the unique perspective of each character and the deep rooted spiritual connection shared with a vast demographic of readers each with their own identity. This book reviews age, innocence, self definition, gender, culture, tradition and society in a unique and thus far unrivalled way. I cannot recommend this book enough.I picked it up thinking it was a walk in the park, a book that would take me a number of hours to read... I was wrong. This sorrowfully brilliant book changed me. I have never been a Toni Morrison fan...but this book...this book is incredible.Enjoy,Ama LiveP.S. I have purchased it 3 times... Each time I lend it out...it never comes back as it is sent on...!

I loved, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, and thought I'd try The. Bluest Eye, as it was recommended to me by a friend.The opening chapter is profound and heart-stopping, and as the book unfurls in the first half, I loved it. It describes the life of Pecola from the point of view of her friends, who are a similar age growing up in poverty in America in the 40s (or 50s?) as African Americans. It describes the racism and perils of familial, social and economic issues of the time.However, as the book flips into the second half, it becomes very sexual in nature - its graphic accounts of the rape of a small child made me feel sick, it went into great descriptive depth from the point of view of a paedophile and needless to say, I didn't enjoy it. Not only that, but it really loses its way entirely (in my opinion) The narrative changes and it feels rambling and overly descriptive.Not a fan. I had to skim the final few chapters to get through it, in the hope of regaining the original story.I thought I'd read Beloved, but I think I'll skip it.I really felt this book was overly hyped...

Wow what a book. Honest, brutally at times this author writes what could of been a memoir. It’s so personal and an in depth look at racism and class. Such a sad read but so very thought provoking. A really good read and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Toni Morrison was one of those writers I'd always heard about but never got around to reading ... But I picked this up after being inspired and impressed by how articulate and dignified she was on a recent Imagine TV documentary. This is a beautiful book, a gem. Her writing is exquisite- finely polished, sharp, deadly - and all expressed in such vivid, evocative language. A compelling narrative, heartbreakingly real characters, intensely atmospheric descriptions, brilliantly funny dialogue. I don't think it's an overstatement to say thatToni Morrison defined a new kind of literature with her debut novel. So intelligent, so devastating, so sad, so real.