First published in 1970 by Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, the novel tells the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove, the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
Read More
First published in 1970 by Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, the novel tells the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove, the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Fine in Very Good jacket. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970. 3rd printing, quarter cloth binding Book Club hardcover in a jacket. Crisp and unmarked, NF/VG. 164pp. Afterword from 1993. Very nice jacket does have a bit of scratching to back panel, now in a new mylar cover. Photo of Morrison on back. Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. 8vo-8"-9" Tall.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good-in Good dust jacket. 0030850746. A clean Ex-library copy with no stickers or card sleeve, a single stamp to the title page. Rubbing and toning overall, binding shaken, a lean, and some shelf wear. The jacket with light rubbing and toning, minor wear to the edges, and wrapped in mylar and pasted to the book via the flaps. Not price clipped. Jacket price of $5.95. The Bluest Eye was Morrison's first novel and was published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1970, when she was aged 39. It was favorably reviewed in The New York Times by John Leonard, who praised Morrison's writing style. The novel did not sell well at first, but the City University of New York put The Bluest Eye on its reading list for its new Black studies department, as did other colleges, which boosted sales. The book also brought Morrison to the attention of the acclaimed editor Robert Gottlieb at Knopf, an imprint of the publisher Random House. Gottlieb later edited all but one of Morrison's novels. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Photos upon request. International shipping billed at cost.; 8vo 8"-9" tall; 164 pages.
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.
