THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison

Why we’re giving away this book:

As literary icon Toni Morrison explores in her first novel, racism is not just about skin color. THE BLUEST EYE shows us the world around Pecola, a young Black girl growing up in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown) in the years after the Depression. 

Due to her dark skin and her mannerisms (some characters are Black, but not disgraced because they have assimilated), Pecola is consistently regarded by others as ugly. She develops an inferiority complex, which fuels a consuming desire for blue eyes—the whiteness that her world prefers. Through other characters, we see what shame and self-hate can do to an individual.

I definitely recommend reading the introduction in this edition, as Toni Morrison explains that Pecola’s desire for blue eyes was inspired by one of her own friends growing up. The book is fiction, but like all good fiction, it draws from truth. Hard and disturbing truths—no doubt about that—but truths we all need to see. 

Recommended by Tess