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The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: March 2022

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March 2022

Along Came a Spider
By Tina , Creator · 1 post · 3 views

last updated Mar 01, 2022 09:00PM

The Order of Time
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Jul 12, 2022 Tina Haigler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 101-books, classics

"Here is the house."

I get the feeling that this book is going to stay with me for a very long time.

There's so much to say but at the same time: spoilers, so I think I'm going to focus on why I rated this a 4 star instead of a 5, and what I would've done differently.

I will start by saying that I loved 80% of the book. Morrison's prose had a calming effect on me--I just wanted her to keep on telling me the story. The only sensation I can think of that feels similar is being at home, warm, wearing "Here is the house."

I get the feeling that this book is going to stay with me for a very long time.

There's so much to say but at the same time: spoilers, so I think I'm going to focus on why I rated this a 4 star instead of a 5, and what I would've done differently.

I will start by saying that I loved 80% of the book. Morrison's prose had a calming effect on me--I just wanted her to keep on telling me the story. The only sensation I can think of that feels similar is being at home, warm, wearing soft socks, and snuggled under a blanket. Some parts are difficult to read, as most people are aware, but I never felt she did so distastefully or in too graphic a detail.

The story is supposed to be about Pecola Breedlove, but I felt that was oversimplifying it. It was really about the three children's experiences--Claudia, Frieda, and Pecola--as a whole, being poor African-Americans in a mostly white state during segregation.

The book is split into 4 parts--Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer--and takes place in Lorain, Ohio in 1940-41. It starts in the main characters' present, with flashbacks throughout, and switches POVs between Claudia MacTeer's 3rd person narrative, and that of an omniscient 3rd person for the flashbacks and stories where Claudia isn't present. This is one of the first things I would've changed. I loved Claudia's voice--the naivete and innocence of it--and I missed it when it wasn't there. Maybe it could've been completely written in Claudia's voice, as a child for the present, and as an adult for the flashbacks and epilogue. It might've even taken some sting out of some of the rougher material, making it easier to get through. Granted it could've been done in the omniscient 3rd party throughout, but I think that would've taken some of the heart out of the tone.

I would've also changed the order the flashbacks happen in, and I would've taken Soaphead Church completely out--or reworked him entirely. I probably would've written him as a snake-handling preacher. As is, he was a completely unnecessary character, let alone worthy of as many pages as he was given.

I did truly enjoy this, and I feel like I learned a lot about the African-American experience post-slavery but pre-civil rights. I highly recommend picking this up at your local library or bookstore. Trigger warnings for this book should include--rape, child rape, physical, verbal, mental, and emotional abuse, racism, bullying, and animal cruelty.

"At least on the edge of my town, among the garbage and the sunflowers of my town, it's much, much, much too late."

*I also listened to this on audiobook and the narrator was wonderful. Her voice paired nicely with the words on the page, helping to add some emotional depth. However, I did notice that she pronounced some things strangely, but I'm not sure if it was wrong, or just a dialectal difference. ...more

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