num_pages: 216
description: The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change—in painful, devastating ways. What its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. The Bluest Eye remains one of Toni Morrisons's most powerful, unforgettable novels- and a significant work of American fiction.
language: English
title: The Bluest Eye
titlecomplete: The Bluest Eye
characters: Cholly Breedlove, Pauline Breedlove, Pecola Breedlove
genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels, School, Literature, Race, African American, Classics, Banned Books, Fiction
ratings_count: 238138
places: Lorain, Ohio, Kentucky, Ohio
publisher: Plume