Blinkist: Serving curious minds.

Like a lot of debut novels, Toni Morrison’s first book was fueled by a personal experience. At school, one of her friends confided in her that she wished she had blue eyes. This comment stayed with her, and it confounded her. Young Morrison asked herself whether her friend knew that being a Black girl with blue eyes would make her a “freak.” Why would she want that? When Morrison eventually considered writing about this topic, bigger questions arose. Like, what are the conditions that would make a Black girl wish she had blue eyes? What does this say about society, and her upbringing? These are the questions that The Bluest Eye strives to answer. But Toni Morrison’s first novel is ambitious in more ways than one. The book mixes different forms and styles, and jumps around in time and perspective. In some sections the book is told from the first-person perspective of a young neighborhood girl, living in an Ohio town circa 1941, much like Morrison herself. Other parts are told from a thi

Like a lot of debut novels, Toni Morrison’s first book was fueled by a personal experience. At school, one of her friends confided in her that she wished she had blue eyes. This comment stayed with her, and it confounded her. Young Morrison asked herself whether her friend knew that being a Black girl with blue eyes would make her a “freak.” Why would she want that? When Morrison eventually considered writing about this topic, bigger questions arose. Like, what are the conditions that would make a Black girl wish she had blue eyes? What does this say about society, and her upbringing? These ar