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Toni Morrison

I just finished The Bluest Eye and thought it was too short to be as scattered and separated as it was. In order to fill us in on the origins of specific characters, there should have been much more meat to the main story. If it makes any sense, the overly descriptive nature and short length of the book ended up like it described nothing at all. Just when she was starting to build an emotional connection with the main character, she would branch off to other characters' shortened life stories to the point that you forget what the book was supposed to be about only to come back to it at the end when there are only 50 pages or so left. If you think of it as a handful of short stories that intertwine with each other, then it works somewhat. But as a novel, it doesn't. Her description is about half down-to-earth and half poetic which just makes for an awkward read to me.
 
dude
Too bad you were disappointed in THE BLUEST EYE which is a masterpiece, imho and that of millions of readers. Of course not every book that is written will appeal to every single person who reads it.
But if you see this novel as the writer hoped you would through the eyes of Pecola who is not only a deprived black child in the south, but also a damaged one. THe only goal she has in life is to have blue eyes like Shirley Temple who was an icon during the time the book takes place.
As for the "scattered and separated" you refer to remember these are simple children and adults and have little in the way of "meat" as you mention in your post. MOrrison deliberately did not give the characters a life beyond the words we see in the book. The whole idea of a little girl who will have no chance at a good life in USA no matter what she is capable or not capable of doing is tragic. Tragedy does not need every character in a 'slice of life' story to have backgrounds beyond the action and tension of the frame.
I don't know if I even captured the whole biography of the book, and I certainly didn't think of any character except Pecola ... which is exactly what MOrrison wants teh reader to do.
I suppose it's like West Side Story in a way ... this is now and this is happening now and whatever happened before or may happen later is irrelevant.

All of MOrrison's books are both down to earth and poetic she is an extraordinary writer of exceptional ability who can magically weave the everyday w/the mythic and mundane seamlessly. HOpe you give her another chance she's worth the trouble to understand.
 
The book was not seen through Pecola's eyes. It was a first person account through the eyes of Claudia part of the time and then a narrative describing sections of the lives of Mrs Breedlove, Cholly, the social upbringing of the class of people who were the parents of the spoiled little kid who threw the cat at her (that in itself was a total waste of time seeing as it ended right there) and the preacher, Soaphead. It only hardly touched on the "blue eyes" angle in the beginning and then at the end when she asked Soaphead to grant her that wish. Then it went on for a dozen or so pages of what I guess was talking to her imaginary friend (or to herself basically) which was never mentioned or made light of before the fact. That just came out of the blue, no pun intended, haha. Plus, she attempts to separate the book into seasons (winter, summer, etc) but only in very minute accounts were you really able to tell what season it was, which really makes no difference to me, but the fact alone seems sort of pointless.

I would never degrade a book on account of a story that really had no beginning or end (most of my favorite books are really just a glimpse into people's lives during a certain number of years or so), so what I meant by "meat" was that I needed more of the main character and more of the other characters that she felt the need to spend so much time describing to us in such detail when it was only about 210 pages. It seemed like there was so much potential for a much deeper story.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was very well written for what it was and Morrison certainly has incredible talent. There were several very good scenes. I just thought it fell short and ended a little hastily.
 
dude
now i am more able to understand your comments and on many of the issues you raise i can see your point

when i said it was thru pecola's eyes i wasn't clear i shoulld have said she is the reason for the book ... she stands as a symbol for the whole

it's interesting that this was morrison's first book and she went on to grow as a writer and a literary phenomenon

i hope you read more of her books and preferably in order ... not that that is necessary it just seems to me that her body of work is like a symphony that becomes more complicated and more sophisticated

her most talked about book is BELOVED which is long and lyrical and scary and embraces all kinds of issues including myths and symbols (i think a couple of people already said that)
it's this book that won her the NOBEL which she deserves
she opened a whole new world of what it is to be black in america during slave times and also iin the present or 20th century anyway

glad we had a chance to exchange ideas :))
 
I find it disturbing that throughout high school and college, I had never even heard of Toni Morrison, much less had to read her novels for class. What were my English & Literature teachers/ professors thinking? It wasn't until I befriended an older, very intelligent librarian in grad school that I was introduced. I've since read several on my own, but not enough (yet). I really respect her writing, and I don't say that about too many authors.
 
GERBAM said:
dude
now i am more able to understand your comments and on many of the issues you raise i can see your point

when i said it was thru pecola's eyes i wasn't clear i shoulld have said she is the reason for the book ... she stands as a symbol for the whole

it's interesting that this was morrison's first book and she went on to grow as a writer and a literary phenomenon

i hope you read more of her books and preferably in order ... not that that is necessary it just seems to me that her body of work is like a symphony that becomes more complicated and more sophisticated

her most talked about book is BELOVED which is long and lyrical and scary and embraces all kinds of issues including myths and symbols (i think a couple of people already said that)
it's this book that won her the NOBEL which she deserves
she opened a whole new world of what it is to be black in america during slave times and also iin the present or 20th century anyway

glad we had a chance to exchange ideas :))
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:flowers:

Thanks! I had a feeling that this was if not her first novel, then one of her first. She absolutely has an amazing talent for the written word and creates very vivid images. The scene with Cholly and Pecola was almost heartbreaking. Normally when I finish a book that didn't really interest me much, I don't take the time to even mention it, but there was something about her style, and the story too, that just made me want more of it. Maybe that's part of the charm.
 
That sounds like a very deep truth she must have discovered -- how to write about what she doesn't know. By which I do believe she means something, and that may be an example of how to do it. I'll take her at her word and continue to try to unravel the thought. It should make for interesting discussion. Or maybe she just meant it was the students who didn't know anything. But still . . .
 
What a wonderful face she has, both beautiful and wise. A calm woman, or at least one that has come to terms with her life. I wonder if, in the above quote, she simply meant that we do not know what we think we know, so just write, just write. No fear. Fantastic!
 
Sounds like a senile thing to say. "Write what you know" is a standard that even she has adhered to for her entire career. What is that statement even supposed to mean? Or reveal?
 
Of course, it's also possible that she means exactly what the article says she means: that simply writing down stuff that's happened to you in real life isn't nearly as interesting as using your imagination to tell fictional stories.
 
beer good said:
simply writing down stuff that's happened to you in real life
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Yes, I've seen advice for writing memoirs that says that is exactly the wrong way to write a memoir, because indeed the result doesn't turn out to be interesting. I thought I understood her to say that writing her memoirs wouldn't be as interesting work for her as writing fiction is for her, not necessarily that her life itself wasn't or wouldn't be interesting.

But writing an interesting sort of memoir would be a third alternative, and that is what I have seen as positive advice for memoir writers. How to do it? They have advice. And I have a hard time thinking she doesn't know it, or can't apply it.

Or perhaps she simply means write, write write and the knowing will come.
 
beer good said:
Of course, it's also possible that she means exactly what the article says she means: that simply writing down stuff that's happened to you in real life isn't nearly as interesting as using your imagination to tell fictional stories.
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She doesn't know that and telling students that "no one wants to read that" isn't very helpful.

Is she talking strictly about memoirs or writing in general? Why would students care about writing a memoir? Clearly you have to be somewhat distinguished for anyone to know who you are, let alone want to read your memoir. It could be the true accounts of Indiana Jones but no one will care because no one knows who you are. If you're actually in a position to where there would be any interest in a memoir at all, like Toni Morrison, then just write it or don't. Don't tell other people not to just because your life was boring.
 
dude said:
Why would students care about writing a memoir? Clearly you have to be somewhat distinguished for anyone to know who you are, let alone want to read your memoir. It could be the true accounts of Indiana Jones but no one will care because no one knows who you are.
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Have you seen the market for Based On A True Story memoirs and vaguely fictionalized novels about characters almost identical to the author? Have you read them? I'm not saying Morrison's advice will hold up in 100.0% of all cases; very few rules of thumb in literature do, as I'm sure she's well aware. But I wouldn't dismiss a good writer as "senile" because they have an opinion on what makes interesting literature. She's earned that right.
 
beer good said:
Have you seen the market for Based On A True Story memoirs and vaguely fictionalized novels about characters almost identical to the author? Have you read them? I'm not saying Morrison's advice will hold up in 100.0% of all cases; very few rules of thumb in literature do, as I'm sure she's well aware. But I wouldn't dismiss a good writer as "senile" because they have an opinion on what makes interesting literature. She's earned that right.
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"Senile" was tongue-in-cheek, but I still think her opinion isn't productive and pointless, especially when told as matter-of-factly to a bunch of students. It doesn't come across as a simple opinion to them. And no I haven't read what you're asking about, at least I'm not sure if you're talking about a book or a series of books or something with that title. I guess the market isn't very good? If your publisher comes to you asking for you to do a memoir, should the current market for them in general a deciding factor? If you're Toni Morrison, who as a previous poster in this thread laid out, and have huge accolades and credentials in the literary field, I'd think someone out there might want to read it.
 
If you haven't looked at a bestsellers' list in the last years, or the list of Oprah stickers, etc etc, I'm envious. :) Publishers have been fascinated with almighty Authenticity for a while now (though in fairness, it might be slowly starting to fade now).

I'm sure a Toni Morrison memoir would be of interest to people. More power to her for not wanting to write something that doesn't interest her just because it would sell.

And if I were an aspiring writer and went to a lecture by a famous author, I'd expect them to give recommendations apart from "anything goes". Why else would I bother going?
 
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