The Bluest Eye
I am unsurprised to be blown away, but I’m extra floored that this was her first novel. The maturity in her prose is unparalleled.
Author: Toni Morrison
Publisher: Vintage Anchor
Goodreads | The StoryGraph
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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for normalcy, for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife.
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 characterized her writing.
Full Review
“I had only one desire: to dismember [the white baby doll]. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me.”
I am not fit to “review” a Toni Morrison novel, so here are my impressions instead. I am unsurprised to be blown away, but I’m extra floored that this was her first novel. The maturity in her prose is unparalleled.
The Bluest Eye alternates through several points of view, but the main one comes from a young Black girl named Claudia. The plot, however, revolves around another young Black girl named Pecola, who we learn in the first chapter becomes pregnant with her abusive father’s child. We also get glimpses into each of Pecola’s parents’ backstories, as well as several neighbors from the community.
I knew that this book would be heavy and heartbreaking, and it was. But I found myself nearing the end, waiting for the hammer to drop. And just when I stopped expecting it — drop it did. Things that impressed me to my knees: the return to the marigolds, the use of the children’s book text, the tiniest moments of prose that cut like knives.
I can’t wait to continue my journey through Morrison’s fiction.
Trigger Warnings
Pedophilia and statutory rape
Miscarriage
Domestic abuse
Racism and racial slurs
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Rating: 4/5 | As a general rule, I don't critique classics. I will, however, gladly offer commentary on my experiences reading them. I hadn't read anything by Kafka before, including "The Metamorphosis." Needless to say, Kafka is weird. (Click the post to read more.)
Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature.
Author: Franz Kafka
Rating: 4/5
As a general rule, I don't critique classics. I will, however, gladly offer commentary on my experiences reading them. I hadn't read anything by Kafka before, including "The Metamorphosis." Needless to say, Kafka is weird. I found myself following along with a story pretty well...until I wasn't anymore, or until it abruptly ended. But this made me think harder, and I think I enjoyed his works more for it.
I also found myself reading Kafka at the dentist and realized I'm that person. And proud?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Rating: 3/5 | Surprisingly, this was my first time reading Mark Twain; I somehow never crossed paths with him while I was in school. Going into the book, the only story I knew was the famous tale about Tom tricking his neighborhood friends into painting the fence for him—profitably. (Click the post to read more.)
From the famous episodes of the whitewashed fence and the ordeal in the cave to the trial of Injun Joe, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is redolent of life in the Mississippi River towns in which Twain spent his own youth. A somber undercurrent flows through the high humor and unabashed nostalgia of the novel, however, for beneath the innocence of childhood lie the inequities of adult reality—base emotions and superstitions, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery.
Author: Mark Twain
Rating: 3/5
Note: I don't attempt to critique the classics, but I can tell you how I enjoyed them.
Surprisingly, this was my first time reading Mark Twain; I somehow never crossed paths with him while I was in school. Going into the book, the only story I knew was the famous tale about Tom tricking his neighborhood friends into painting the fence for him—profitably.
I listened to this one via audiobook, and the narrator did a great job. His expression really helped bring the story to life in a way that I don't think I could have attained by reading it. He did speak a little slowly at times, but his animation of Tom's speech mannerisms was quite helpful, and he made all the characters more lovable.
I sometimes found myself distracted during the chapters that didn't relate directly to the plot around "Injun Joe" (how terrible that is to write in today's day and age!). They were good character development for Tom and his friends, but they didn't quite hold my attention as well as I'd have liked. It was also longer than I'd expected, and I found myself hurrying to finish the book so that I could move on to others. All in all, however, I'm glad I read it.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Rating: 5/5 | How can I critique Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes? I can't. He is brilliant and timeless.I had a lot of fun making my way through these stories. In fact, I read a lot of them while I was running on the treadmill (not as hard as it sounds, haha). (Click the post to read more.)
Sherlock Holmes was the brain-child of British author Arthur Conan Doyle and is easily the most famous fictional detective of all time. The success and popularity of his stories helped launched the genre of detective fiction. With his (nearly) infallible logic, astute observation skills, gentlemanly conduct and endearing personality quirks, Holmes has been a favorite of readers around the world for over a century. This collection features most of the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle — a total of 48 stories and 4 novels.
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: 5/5
How can I critique Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes? I can't. He is brilliant and timeless.
I had a lot of fun making my way through these stories. In fact, I read a lot of them while I was running on the treadmill (not as hard as it sounds, haha). Many of the stories only took about 30 minutes or so to get through, which was perfect for my workouts. It was especially fun to watch the BBC series as I was making my way through and notice all the ways they used the original stories to create their modern adaptations.