[Check content warnings: there are a lot of them.]
After Banned Books Week, a friend decided that as a way of encouraging people to read banned books year round, she’d create a banned books book club, and The Bluest Eye was the first selection. This is only my third Morrison book (loved Beloved, was not a fan of God Help the Child), and I’m glad I read it, but it is not an easy read. It is intense, distressing, and bleak. There is almost no hope to be found this book.
On the surface, the novel is about Pecola, who wants blue eyes because she thinks that will make her pretty, thereby solving other issues in her life. But although the title is about Pecola and most of the interlocking narratives eventually circle back to her, she is primarily a symbol. She represents the cumulative effects of racism, internalized racism, intergenerational trauma, and abuse. We get first and third person perspectives from peers (especially Claudia, who does the first person narration) and her parents, all of whom experience their own versions of some, if not all, of these deep racial wounds.
In spite of the heavy content, this book is compulsively readable. Readers know that Pecola’s father will rape her; we’re told two pages in that she is having his baby. So there was this persistent sense of tension and dread because I knew what was coming, but it was so hard to put the book down. And when I finally did, the heaviness stuck with me for hours.
This is a powerful novel, masterfully written. It’s hard to believe that it was Morrison’s debut. 4.5 stars rounded up.