The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye, is a classic for a reason. The language is lovely, straddling the line between poetry and prose. And the subject matter is heavy, with more layers revealed the longer you sit with it.
Structurally, Morrison reminds me of Ray Bradbury, though that could just be because I read Dandelion Wine so recently. This is less of a novel and more a series of vignettes, told from multiple points of view. But unlike Dandelion Wine, where the goal was to invoke a sense of nostalgia for small towns and childhood summers, Morrison uses the various stories to demonstrate how damaging institutional racism and abuse can be.
The subject of the story, Pecola, is utterly destroyed by novel's end. It's not just the various hardships she faces, both overt and more subtle, that break her down. It's her complete lack of resilience, thanks to her crappy home life and lack of real friends. There is literally no one to love her, and it ruins her life.
This was a sad, difficult book to read, but it's an important one. As Morrison says in the introduction, the situation is exaggerated, but that hasn't stopped a generation of girls from identifying with some aspect or other of Pecola's struggle. Which is why it's so necessary to read.
Structurally, Morrison reminds me of Ray Bradbury, though that could just be because I read Dandelion Wine so recently. This is less of a novel and more a series of vignettes, told from multiple points of view. But unlike Dandelion Wine, where the goal was to invoke a sense of nostalgia for small towns and childhood summers, Morrison uses the various stories to demonstrate how damaging institutional racism and abuse can be.
The subject of the story, Pecola, is utterly destroyed by novel's end. It's not just the various hardships she faces, both overt and more subtle, that break her down. It's her complete lack of resilience, thanks to her crappy home life and lack of real friends. There is literally no one to love her, and it ruins her life.
This was a sad, difficult book to read, but it's an important one. As Morrison says in the introduction, the situation is exaggerated, but that hasn't stopped a generation of girls from identifying with some aspect or other of Pecola's struggle. Which is why it's so necessary to read.
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