The Bluest Eye

CW: rape, child abuse, domestic abuse, death, pedophilia, incest, racism, assault, alcohol abuse, blood, colorism, animal abuse, fatphobic comments, use of the word g*psy.

okay so i'm kinda disappointed and conflicted about my thoughts on this book. in one hand i how trauma heavy this book was. it felt like every chapter was just trauma after trauma. it was so hard to read sometimes. and on the other hand i do feel like the commentary of blackness and how it gets overshadowed by whiteness. it's a conversation that we should be having to this day. i also thought that the book in itself was constructed in a weird way. i didn't get any time to really connect with any of the characters or their stories. the second i started to feel for a character the story would change to focus on another. it had a weird flow throughout the book. i personally didn't fully like how it felt like the author wanted to make us sympathize with pecola's parents. even after knowing the abuse that both of them put her through. i understand that maybe she wanted to show the reader that sometimes abuse is a constant loop birthed by abuse and trauma. i appreciate her intent and thought it was interesting to see her parents pasts. but it still doesn't mean it's okay to treat her the way they did.

i really liked toni morrison's writing and would like to pick up her other books. also, i know this is her debut so maybe something else by her would surely work for me.