Mary's Review: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

A warning: This is not a happy book. Nor is it a particularly child-friendly book; quite simply put, it is the slow descent of a young girl's self loathing and her eventual descent into madness. Pecola Breedlove has always hated her looks and her dark skin, wanting nothing more than a pair of beautiful blue eyes like child star darling Shirley Temple. To say more would be impossible without spoiling something, interwoven as it is like poetry. The story is told not from Pecola's point of view but by those around her; alternately in first person by a girl who befriended her, and in third person concerning Pecola's mother and father, as well as an old 'miracle worker' whom Pecola's wishes for her eyes from and a young boy whom she meets. In this way the reader views Pecola from all sides but never really "knows" her. This works to and against the book's advantage. It is less sympathy and more a true understanding that the reader achieves, but it nonetheless keeps them at a distance from the child. The ending is confusing; something, it is clear, has happened to Pecola, but the details are rather sketchy as to what exactly has occurred. These arguments don't detract from the poetic nature of the writing and puzzle-like story-telling that blessedly forces the reader to think rather than forcing things down their throat. For a first novel particularly, it is a spectacular effort.
Final Verdict: 4Q, 2P