Read the searing first novel from the celebrated author of Beloved, which immerses us in the tragic, torn lives of a poor black family in post-Depression 1940s Ohio. Unlovely and unloved, Pecola prays each night for blue eyes like those of her privileged white schoolfellows. At once intimate and expansive, unsparing in its truth-telling, The Bluest Eye shows how the past savagely defines the present. A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison's virtuosic first novel asks powerful ...
Read More
Read the searing first novel from the celebrated author of Beloved, which immerses us in the tragic, torn lives of a poor black family in post-Depression 1940s Ohio. Unlovely and unloved, Pecola prays each night for blue eyes like those of her privileged white schoolfellows. At once intimate and expansive, unsparing in its truth-telling, The Bluest Eye shows how the past savagely defines the present. A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison's virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterised her writing. 'She revealed the sins of her nation, while profoundly elevating its canon. She suffused the telling of blackness with beauty, whilst steering us away from the perils of the white gaze. That's why she told her stories. And why we will never, ever stop reading them' Afua Hirsch 'Discovering a writer like Toni Morrison is rarest of pleasures' Washington Post 'When she arrived, with her first novel, The Bluest Eye, she immediately re-ordered the American literary landscape' Ben Okri Winner of the PEN/Saul Bellow award for achievement in American fiction
Read Less
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Knopf.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) to cart. $0.99, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Minimal signs of wear. Corners and cover may show wear. May contain highlighting and or writing. May be missing dust jacket. May not include supplemental materials. May be a former library book.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Knopf.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Missing Dust Cover-Used book in good and clean conditions. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of Bluest Eye to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by RANDOM HOUSE UK.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Knopf.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) to cart. $1.08, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Vintage.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) to cart. $1.12, fair condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye (Vintage International) to cart. $1.17, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Vintage.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club) to cart. $1.75, good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Plume Books.
Add this copy of The Bluest Eye to cart. $1.75, good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by Plume Books.
This book is good; the writing is effective, the story is compelling, and the themes are haunting. A female reader would probably enjoy this better than a male one, simply because many of the themes are concerned with the lives of the female characters (the male ones are not hugely developed). A note: this book contains at least two examples of pedophilia; both examples are necessary to the story, but can nevertheless be intense.
Chiroptera
Oct 11, 2008
Capturing the Essence of Racism
Morrison's first novel is a marvel of profound insight into the racial situation of post civil-war America. The story centers on young Pecola Breedlove, a Black child caught up in a society that tells her that she is irredeemably ugly and worthless because of it. Her sad tale is the linking thread, but the novel is really about the community around Pecola that play an undeniable role in the girl's life. Addressing racism, systemic prejudice, and a myriad of other essential issues, the novel moves readers to think with the deft subtly and blunt honesty that have become Morrison's trademark.
rejoyce
Aug 1, 2007
Toni Morrison's auspicious debut novel is an unsparing study of the corrosive effects of racism on a little girl, Pecola Breedlove. The novel is narrated by another girl, Claudia McTeer, and divided into four seasonal sections. Morrison draws upon her autobiographical experience growing up in a mining town, Lorain, Ohio, and one feels the winter chill and "tough love" of the McTeer family in contrast to Pecola's brutal and abusive childhood. Perhaps most damning is the way in which the characters internalize the vicious and subhuman images of blacks, and lavish their affection on white icons like Shirley Temple. Claudia is the lone dissenting voice in this acceptance. Despite the tragic story she tells, Morrison's lyric prose redeems the bleakness and even her secondary characters like the Maginot Line are unforgettable. Though perhaps a bit formally clunky, the novel points toward the author's Nobel prize-winning achievements like Song of Solomon and Beloved.
