The Bluest Eye

 Just finished reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for my Banned Book book group.

This is turning out to be aa good group because I am reading books I have never read and probably would never have picked up to read.  This is one of them.  I have heard about Toni Morrison for years but never read any of her books.  This one is amazing.  It is disturbing and difficult to read but very worthwhile.

It is not surprising that it has been challenged by a variety of parents in school systems and town libraries. The important part is that Morrison in an interview said that she never intended it to be read by white audience.  She was writing for black people who were suffering through the poverty and racism in the south.   This is the story of young children and the difficult lifestyle they were forced to grow up under in the south.  The poverty and unemployment led adults to depression and low self esteem.  That led to violence against their families. Also the fear of the white employer led to better treatment of the white employer than your own family members and children.  It is very sad to read about.

That oppression passes to the next generation and because there are no role models to look up to that adds to the lack of self worth.  The title comes from a young black girl, in Morrison's class, as a child, who with no black role models, looked at Shirley Temple as the epitome of beauty and said she wished she had blue eyes.  

This book is a fabulous read and just as relevant today as it was when it was first published.