The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club)

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Oprah Book Club® Selection, April 2000: Originally published in 1970, The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel. In an afterword written more than two decades later, the author expressed her dissatisfaction with the book's language and structure: "It required a sophistication unavailable to me." Perhaps we can chalk up this verdict to modesty, or to the Nobel laureate's impossibly high standards of quality control. In any case, her debut is nothing if not sophisticated, in terms of both narrative ingenuity and rhetorical sweep. It also shows the young author drawing a bead on the subjects that would dominate much of her career: racial hatred, historical memory, and the dazzling or degrading power of language itself.

Set in Lorain, Ohio, in 1941, The Bluest Eye is something of an ensemble piece. The point of view is passed like a baton from one character to the next, with Morrison's own voice functioning as a kind of gold standard throughout. The focus, though, is on an 11-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove, whose entire family has been given a cosmetic cross to bear:

You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question.... And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.

There are far uglier things in the world than, well, ugliness, and poor Pecola is subjected to most of them. She's spat upon, ridiculed, and ultimately raped and impregnated by her own father. No wonder she yearns to be the very opposite of what she is--yearns, in other words, to be a white child, possessed of the blondest hair and the bluest eye.

This vein of self-hatred is exactly what keeps Morrison's novel from devolving into a cut-and-dried scenario of victimization. She may in fact pin too much of the blame on the beauty myth: "Along with the idea of romantic love, she was introduced to another--physical beauty. Probably the most destructive ideas in the history of human thought. Both originated in envy, thrived in insecurity, and ended in disillusion." Yet the destructive power of these ideas is essentially colorblind, which gives The Bluest Eye the sort of universal reach that Morrison's imitators can only dream of. And that, combined with the novel's modulated pathos and musical, fine-grained language, makes for not merely a sophisticated debut but a permanent one. --James Marcus

Book Description

The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.

It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

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The Bluest Eye is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove - a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others - who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different.

Customer Reviews:

Sad, Disturbing and Unforgettable.......2007-09-11

I read this book in honor of September's Banned Books discussion that my book club is having. This book has been banned in several places because of its contents, for various reasons. I had thought I read this book way back when in high school ~~ but whatever I read then didn't compare to this book. This book is totally unforgettable and tragic.

This is not just one story. This is a collection of stories of different people in different times of their lives and their stories lead up to the tragedy of poor little Pecola Breedlove, an ugly girl (I suspect that is a metaphor that Morrison is trying to say about the ugliness of poverty and racial tensions) who is not loved. The stories are of her father as a youngster; of her mother who was a totally different person who married for love only to be brow-beaten by poverty; of people around Pecola, and about two sisters who tried to befriend her but got swept away by circumstances created by the adults in their lives. This is a novel that depicts humanity at its worst. This is of a time before civil rights were fought for ~~ perhaps dreamed of but it hasn't been swept to the point where people are actually standing up and taking note of it. This is a story about poverty and how it dehumanizes the characters. This is a story about neglect. Pecola is set in the center of the storm that she has not created herself but is too young to resist and too ignorant to ignore.

This is an eye-opener of a novel because even during my "poorest" days as a student, I never had to worry about finding enough to eat. Pecola is not a sheltered nor were any of the characters coddled (except for Mrs. Breedlove's charge in that fancy house that she's the cook at). Yes, there are crude moments in the book but for some reason, it just emphasized the poverty of the people's lives. Yes, there is rape. That is the tragedy. But it was not explicit like a lot of the soft-porn novels floating around out there. It is a very sad and tragic book ~~ a disturbing look into reality portrayed in a time that I don't know of.

Would I recommend this book to anyone? Yes. Would I "love" this book? No. There is nothing lovable about this book ~~ there's no happy endings. It really should not be portrayed as a novel because most fiction ends with a happy ending ~~ not this one. And this book would definitely provoke thoughtful conversations among friends.

9-11-07

This book broke my heart.......2007-09-09

I read this book for an English class (back in '95) called, "Class & Money in American Literature." Few books have stuck with me like this book has. Caution: if you are depressed, don't read this book. This book shows how people take things out on each other and how destructive this dumping on each other is. I just wanted to comfort Pecola the whole time I was reading the book and reassure her that she was fine the way she was. Her false conclusion that she wasn't worth much broke my heart. Pecola is scapegoated and victimized by every significant person in her life. In fact, this book reads as a case study of scapegoating/victimization taken to the limit.

This book also reminds us that the media's tendency to push images of idealized (and unattainable) beauty on the public can negatively affect people's self-image, particularly if the way many people look isn't represented positively, if at all. The Bluest Eye is an eye opener about how children internalize messages from the prevailing culture, a phenomenon painfully illustrated by Pecola's desire for blue eyes and how she thinks that eye color will make her happy.

Forgive me for self-indulging in TMI...I gave this book to my brother for Xmas about three years ago. It was a rather pointed gift, as the themes of dumping, projection, and targeting are rampant in the book. Though we're thankfully on better terms (his new wife has managed to "stepfordize" him in a most benefitial way--my sister, who has also experienced plenty of our brother's dark side, is amazed at the transformation), I continue to send him books (in the guise of birthday and Christmas presents) and email articles about inter-sibling conflict, personal growth, bullying, and gingerism. I guess this superimposed "bibliotherapy" may be working, as he's treating me better, and we even on very rare occasion tell each other that we love each other.

An Inspiring and moving story.......2007-08-29

The Bluest Eye is truly an inspiring and a moving story. Through a child eyes, Ms. Morrison takes us on a journey to the most innocent and perverse thoughts every human being has, including violence and despair. This book will make you think and feel. I applaud the author for writing about our misinformed society. This book is a must read for every person that has an interest in our social conditions.

I would give it a million stars if I could.......2007-06-12

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, I can safely say, is my favorite novel of all time. It's depressing, complex, and downright tragic as an innocent little girl is destroyed by a vicious society set on convincing her that she is both ugly and worthless. Through a brutal rape by her own father, Pecola's life is ruined as her childhood is permanently destroyed and the one pathetic hope that keeps her alive is her strong desire for blue eyes.

Morrison refuses to depict this story in chronological order, as the narrator explains that it is not the "why" that we are able to answer but rather the "how." With that in mind, Morrison quickly summarizes the story and then dives in to the analysis of how this little girl's tragedy was made possible. We, as readers, are then opened up to a broader explanation of not merely this girl's tragedy on an isolated, individual level. Rather, she is the physical manifestation of the psychological problems faced by African-Americans living in a hostile society that told them they were inferior. Pecola's problems are slightly mirrored from those considered at the high ranks of black society (Geraldine), all the way to black society's most tragic victims (the Breedloves). Morrison refuses to allow the reader to simply pity Pecola's mindset. Instead, she forces us, no matter the background or race, to feel guilty. We, a society that has not yet completely embraced people from all portions of our community, are completely responsible for her downfall. Because, Morrison argues, in a world that continually controls us into believing that all minorities are inferior, we have left her to suffer.

But Toni Morrison doesn't stop there, a point that would already label The Bluest Eye as an amazing novel. Morrison expands the picture from psychological racism into a rarely considered topic of psychological sexism. All of the main female characters in this story are in some shape or form sexually assaulted by the dominant male figures. Morrison brilliantly expands the picture to fearlessly explore sexism and how it has damaged the psyche of our nation's society.

I won't lie, I was initially disgusted by several of the scenes in this novel, the main one being a brutal rape described in great detail. But I realized that this book was meant to horrify me and open my eyes to what Morrison was exposing. The book is incredibly complex, so it deserves your utmost attention. I can not overrate this book; you must read it.

Story of a struggling family grappling with their demons.......2007-06-06

The Bluest Eye touches a nerve deep inside the reader. The young heroine is one of several strong, compelling characters-but she is the person to whom my heart reached out the most. Focusing the chapters on the different members of the Breedlove family really helps us see all of them are growing as products of their own experiences and dreams. This is an important, and very intense, book.

Breath, Eyes, Memory (Oprah's Book Club)

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Good start, fair finish
ENJOYED IT IMMENSELY
I Read This Book Some Years Ago...
Sad, Redeeming, True
Amazing - moving

Breath, Eyes, Memory (Oprah's Book Club)
Edwidge Danticat
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 037570504X
Release Date: 1998-05-18

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Oprah Book Club® Selection, May 1998: "I come from a place where breath, eyes and memory are one, a place from which you carry your past like the hair on your head. Where women return to their children as butterflies or as tears in the eyes of the statues that their daughters pray to." The place is Haiti and the speaker is Sophie, the heroine of Edwidge Danticat's novel, "Breath, Eyes, Memory." Like her protagonist, Danticat is also Haitian; like her, she was raised in Haiti by an aunt until she came to the United States at age 12. Indeed, in her short stories, Danticat has often drawn on her background to fund her fiction, and she continues to do so in her debut novel.

The story begins in Haiti, on Mother's Day, when young Sophie discovers that she is about to leave the only home she has ever known with her Tante Atie in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti, to go live with her mother in New York City. These early chapters in Haiti are lovely, subtly evoking the tender, painful relationship between the motherless child and the childless woman who feels honor bound to guard the natural mother's rights to the girl's affections above her own. Presented with a Mother's Day card, Tante Atie responds: "'It is for a mother, your mother.' She motioned me away with a wave of her hand. 'When it is Aunt's Day, you can make me one.'" Danticat also uses these pages to limn a vibrant portrait of life in Haiti from the cups of ginger tea and baskets of cassava bread served at community potlucks to the folk tales of a "people in Guinea who carry the sky on their heads."

With Sophie's transition from a fairly happy existence with her aunt and grandmother in rural Haiti to life in New York with a mother she has never seen, Danticat's roots as a short-story writer become more evident; "Breath, Eyes, Memory" begins to read more like a collection of connected stories than a seamlessly evolved novel. In a couple of short chapters, Sophie arrives in New York, meets her mother, makes the acquaintance of her mother's new boyfriend, Marc, and discovers that she was the product of a rape when her mother was a teenager in Haiti. The novel then jumps several years ahead to Sophie's graduation from high school and her infatuation with an older man who lives next door. Unfortunately, this is also the point in the novel where Danticat begins to lay her themes on with a trowel instead of a brush: Sophie's mother becomes obsessed with protecting her daughter's virginity, going so far as to administer physical "tests" on a regular basis--testing which leads eventually to a rift in their relationship and to Sophie's struggle with her own sexuality. Soon the litany of victimization is flying thick and fast: female genital mutilation, incest, rape, frigidity, breast cancer, and abortion are the issues that arise in the final third of the novel, eventually drowning both fine writing and perceptive characterization under a deluge of angst.

Still, there is much to admire about "Breath, Eyes, Memory," and if at times the plot becomes overheated, Danticat's lyrical, vivid prose offers some real delight. If nothing else, this novel is sure to entice readers to look for Danticat's short stories--and possibly to sample other fiction from the West Indies as well. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

At an astonishingly young age, Edwidge Danticat has become one of our most celebrated new novelists, a writer who evokes the wonder, terror, and heartache of her native Haiti--and the enduring strength of Haiti's women--with a vibrant imagery and narrative grace that bear witness to her people's suffering and courage.

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti--to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence, in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.

Customer Reviews:

Good start, fair finish.......2007-07-13

"Breath, Eyes, Memory".....first part was very good. Second part not so good. The rest went downhill.
I thought the story would focus more on Sophie's childhood. If that were the case, maybe I would have understood her and the relationship with her Mother better. Maybe I would have cared about the characters.

ENJOYED IT IMMENSELY.......2007-01-25

This book tells of a girl named Sophie who is raised in Haiti by her aunt Tante Atie, and later goes to New York to spend time with her mother. It is a very moving story and it tells about the culture of Haiti. It tells of Sophie growing up and some parts are sad but I really enjoyed this book, and read it in one day. I would read it again. I donated this one to a local supermarket for Juvenille Diabetes Research and it was gone within the hour. I hope that the next person enjoyed it as much as I did. This book was well-written, moving, and easy to read and understand.

I Read This Book Some Years Ago..........2006-11-25

and while I dont remember every point of the story, I DO remember the emotion that I was flooded with in every chapter. Especially towards the end. This was a very good book and very well worth reading.

Sad, Redeeming, True.......2006-10-01

This first novel adapts a simple, understated tone that is almost too sparse in places and also verges on highly emotional purple prose. But the content delivered is highly charged, narrated by Sophie, the common thread through which is woven the lives of four generations of Haitian women: Sophie's colorful and ancient grandmother, who spends her time in a small village in Haiti preparing for her glorious funeral and telling stories, Sophie's mother and aunt, who suffer from ghosts and irrevocable violence done them, Sophie, who we learn has been traumatized by her mother, and Sophie's baby, Brigitte, who represents the untouched hope of the future. The struggles and lives of these women, except for Brigitte, are permeated with real emotion, heartache, and sorrow, originating with cultural traditions and the violence men have done them, and then self-perpetuated. This is a very interesting portrait, not just of Haiti, but of the lives of damaged people, among which we just about all can count ourselves a part.
Other titles readers of this book might find of interest are "Beasts of No Nation," by Uzodinma Iweala, which portrays the desperate life of a child warrior in an unnamed African country, and "The Comedians," by Graham Greene, which presents Duvalier's Haiti and the horror of the Macoutes, who also haunt this book.

Amazing - moving.......2006-09-13

I am in the midst of reading all of Danticat's work, and this is by far my favorite (so far). I can't remember the last time I cried so hard from a book - it is incredibly moving.

Beware Of The Haunted Eye (Black Belt Club)

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Great Book for my 10 Year Old Boy

Beware Of The Haunted Eye (Black Belt Club)
Dawn Barnes
Manufacturer: The Blue Sky Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0439856574

Book Description

In the third book in the series, we follow Max and the three other members of the top-secret Black Belt Club on another action-packed, exciting adventure in the fight against evil. In this book, they go to a Celtic-based world where the "Haunted Eye" has overtaken all who make the seasons change and life thrive. Learning about balance, nutrition, aikido, and judo, they defeat the "Haunted Eye" and learn the importance of having balance in their lives.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book for my 10 Year Old Boy.......2007-04-10

My Son has really enjoyed this series. Easy to read and interesting enough to keep his attention. Recommended

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Private Eyes Club Treasury
Crosby Bonsall
Manufacturer: Barnes Noble Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0760703698

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Charm Club: Tiger's Eye (Charm Club)

Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0439775140

Product Description

Trade paperback. Part of the Charm Club Collection series. Juvenile girl's fiction.

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The Eye Club
Constantin Brancusi , and Andreas Gursky
Manufacturer: Fraenkel Gallery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1881337170
Release Date: 2003-08-02

Book Description

Description: "The Eye Club," unofficially founded around 1975, was the nickname given to the loose conglomeration of individuals who found themselves among the first new collectors of photography. Operating purely on instinct and the love of seeing, these few dozen people (including Sam Wagstaff, Andre Jammes and other now-legendary collectors) shared a distaste for established pantheons and veered instead toward the lesser-known, the anonymous, the outr or any photograph emanating sparks of electricity. Photography was their perfect vehicle and they were startled to find themselves in so much unchartered territory. The nearly 100 surprising pictures in The Eye Club have been assembled in a similar spirit of adventure. Photography persists as an unruly medium, and this book is comprised of an unruly group of photographs, brought together in the open-eyed spirit of the Eye Club to mark the 25th anniversary of San Francisco's esteemed Fraenkel Gallery. Printed with exceptional fidelity to the original prints, this publication assembles little-known images by some of the most important artists in the history of photography, chosen with an eye toward the unexpected and including as-yet-unpublished work by Diane Arbus, Chuck Close, Constantin Brancusi, Robert Adams, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Nan Goldin, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Andy Warhol, among many others. A significant number of works by "Photographer Unknown" are included among gems by Richard Avedon, Nadar, Andreas Gursky, Lee Friedlander, Alfred Stieglitz, Adam Fuss, Helen Levitt, Paul Outerbridge and Robert Frank. The combination is fresh and surprising.

Bull's-eyes (Thomas the tank engine book club)

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Bull's-eyes (Thomas the tank engine book club)
W Awdry
Manufacturer: Grolier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Current Opinions in the Kyoto Club
Kyoto Cornea Club , Shigeru Kinoshita , and Yuichi Ohashi
Manufacturer: Kugler Pubns B V (Medical)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9062991386

Current research in ophthalmic electron microscopy, 3

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Current research in ophthalmic electron microscopy, 3
European Club for Ophthalmic Fine Structure
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Detective Book Club: The Girl with the Frightened Eyes, The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife, Dark Prophesy

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Detective Book Club: The Girl with the Frightened Eyes, The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife, Dark Prophesy

Manufacturer: Detective Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000BR4WLK

Book Description

We make choices all the time - about trivial matters, about how to spend our money, about how to spend our time, about what to do with our lives. And we are also constantly judging the decisions other people make as rational or irrational. But what kind of criteria are we applying when we say that a choice is rational? What guides our own choices, especially in cases where we don't have complete information about the outcomes? What strategies should be applied in making decisions which affect a lot of people, as in the case of government policy? This book explores what it means to be rational in all these contexts. It introduces ideas from economics, philosophy, and other areas, showing how the theory applies to decisions in everyday life, and to particular situations such as gambling and the allocation of resources.

Customer Reviews:

An introduction, but not for the real novice.......2005-07-07

"Short and to the point" describes the book perfectly, but what is the point? More specifically, to whom is it introducing the subject.

I found the book a good description of the logic behind choice theory; on what are the numerous different bases on which we can build a "theory" of choice; and where this can lead. From the simplest ideas of choice we are led to Arrow's Impossibility Theorem and so can see that "rational" choices may not satisfy everyone in a democracy - a result that needs to be known at all levels of a polity.

However it's supposed to be an introduction. If you're someone not used to using logic there are too many slippery areas where you'll get lost, even though the author tries to ground the work in reality - sometimes successfully, sometimes not. And for someone who wants to see more of the practical implications it is a pity that these are not explicated more.

This book will suit some as an introduction, but not all.

Clear but overly technical in its focus.......2004-06-03

I bought this book on impulse when I was also buying Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction on a recommendation. I'm afraid the moral I now take from this story was "trust recommendations, not your impulses." This was a frustrating book.

I was hoping this book would give me a clear non-technical explanation of the interesting or surprising implications in choice theory. Instead, it gave a clear non-technical explanation of the technical content of choice theory. It seemed indifferent to interpreting what this content meant in practical or non-technical terms.

I think this would be a good book for someone trying to understand the persnickety logical foundations of choice theory but a bad one for someone hoping to understand something about, well, choice and decision-making.

For instance, chapter 2 is almost 20 pages, a fair bit in a book of 120 pages. Yet it devotes itself almost exclusively to explaining the relation between preference functions, cardinal utilities, and ordinal utilities. It discusses the formal conditions necessary for different kinds of preference relations and utilities to be logically equivalent, and the difference between defined terms like "rationality" and "reasonableness".

This is rather dry material, and there was virtually no word on whether these formal conditions were accurate descriptions of people's behavior, or whether we should wish they were. I would have loved to hear a discussion of their intuitive meaning and the extent of their relevance. Are preferences transitive? Is the expansion condition consistent, for instance, with the way people respond to prices through framing effects? I honestly don't know, and I'm annoyed the book was totally silent on these questions. Maybe the criticisms of the formalism of rational decision making are all called "behavioral economics," but it seems like material relevant to a short non-technical introduction.

This pattern persisted in the other chapters, which covered rationality under different forms of uncertainty, risk aversion, strategic behavior in conflict & cooperation, and voting theory.

Another peeve of mine was how the author repeatedly mentioned how some basic definition or another could not be used to justify redistributive taxation. It seemed like he had an axe to grind, since the comment was usually a non sequitur, and since he never went on to discuss the genuine technical issues that I would suppose are involved (inter-subjective utility comparison, the relation between risk appetites and utility schedules, etc.). Frankly, if choice theory is the welter of arbitrary and farflung definitions that the book presents it as being, I wonder that it could be used to justify any political opinion at all!

As I said, the book may a good summary of the technical foundations of choice theory but it offered little insight for understanding human choice or decision-making in a formalized but intuitive way, which is thing thing I wanted. For all I know, the book is comprehensive and accurate, and my response only reveals my own my own prejudices about the field itself.

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