The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison has been on my "to be read" list for years. Since my daughter worked on the play back when she was working in theater. Shortly after I first read Beloved. I finally picked it up now because one of my book clubs is discussing banned books in October. We're all reading George by Alex Gino and then in addition, we're each supposed to pick another banned book that we've never read before. Perfect opportunity for me to read The Bluest Eye.

I found this a book that was disturbing to read. I keep debating in my head whether The Bluest Eye or Beloved tells the more horrific story. The experience of reading both was the same. I'd pick up the book. Read a little bit. Then need to put it down.

The Bluest Eye is the story of Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year old girl in Ohio who comes from a family devoid of love, where ugliness and violence seem to rule. Spoiler alert: Pecola gets raped by her father. Pecola thinks if only she had blue eyes, her life would be perfect.The story told in an interesting way, with different sections of the book focusing on one character or another with whom Pecola interacts.

While I don't think any book should be banned, I can see what might be objectionable to some readers. There are many teachable moments in any controversial book. In this case, there can be discussions about race. Why were there no dolls of color until recently making white, blond, blue-eyed dolls a standard of beauty? What does lack of parenting do to a person? What about poverty? If a person objects to the language and sexual explicitness of the novel, then don't pick it up to read on your own. There are so many books. On your own time, for your own pleasure, pick your own book. There is much to be learned by reading The Bluest Eye. Life isn't all Shirley Temple dolls and happy moments. Nor are the stories that can be told.

The craft of the novel is something to talk about, too. Why did she choose to present the material in the manner that she did? There were messages imbedded within the rich language.

Pecola's story is based in Ohio. But parts of the story goes to the South in the early 20th century so we get a little taste of that setting as well. 

This is a story about  a lonely, vulnerable girl.

I gave The Bluest Eye only 3 stars on goodreads because of how disturbingly difficult it was to read. I know that if I were reading it for a book club where we had all read The Bluest Eye, my opinion of the book would change because there is so much powerful material to discuss. On second thought, I'm going to revise my rating to 4 stars because this is a novel that is going to stick with me and I'm sure it will come up in conversation with some of my more readerly friends.