The Bluest Eye

This is not a happy, uplifting book. If you want some happy reading, then this book is not for you.This book is about “a little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes.” It begins with a narrative about Dick and Jane just like you might find in a reading primer. I believe this book is entirely about race, so I don't think it's far-fetched to say that the Dick and Jane is meant to reflect this typical white household, and really what children should aspire to be.The lyrical language of Toni Morrison makes it easy for an average reader like myself to pick up on and understand all kinds of symbolism in the book. I do not have a degree in literature, and sometimes, I just don't get a book. The Bluest Eye is very straightforward in many of its messages, but there are still underlying themes for a reader to uncover.There is an incredibly painful passage in the book describing the rape of a 9 year old girl by her father. It's awful. At the beginning of the story, the narrator (Claudia) says, after explaining that Pecola (the 9 year old girl) has her own father's baby, “There is really nothing more to say–except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.” And then the rest of the book consists of lots of background information including some other important events. Thankfully, the reader knows what they will eventually have to read about.I think the book suffers from what author [a:Daniel Abraham 134 Daniel Abraham http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207149629p2/134.jpg] has called on his blog “The Curry Rule”, which basically says that if you include a violent sexual assault or rape in a story, it will overshadow anything else in the book. I think this book has become a book about a young girl getting raped, when the point the author is trying to make is much broader. Unfortunately, the big takeaway for a lot of readers seems to be the rape, and not that Pecola wanted more than anything to be white instead of black. So in a way, I don't think the rape needed to be in the novel to get its point across to the reader. Here's a link to the blog post describing The Curry Rule: http://www.danielabraham.com/2012/02/21/malice-rape-and-the-curry-rule/This is an amazing book about racism, and at its core, I think the book is all about racism and not rape. It's lyrical, but not happy or hopeful. And there are several cringe-worthy passages, but I recommend this book to any readers that are OK reading about difficult topics. It's a fast read, and well worth the time you'll spend reading it.