The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, is a powerful novel in which a young, black girl named Pecola strives for beauty. Throughout the book, Pecola’s horrific life events such as rape, incest, and abuse are slowly revealed. This fiction novel is rather gruesome at moments as it is describing Pecola’s truly tragic lifestyle. Only mature readers will be able to handle reading multiple sections on rape, incest, and other sexual activity.  The overall theme is compelling and readers will never forget Pecola’s story.
Pecola has experienced brutal events in her life such as being raped by her father multiple times. Therefore, she seeks a transformation of her eyes in order to transform her life. The obsession of conforming to society’s idea of beauty takes over her mind as she starts to rely on getting beautiful, blue eyes to solve her life problems.
In 1970, a person was considered ideal if they had light skin, light hair, and blue eyes. However, Pecola was black. and despised her dark eyes, dark hair, and dark skin.  The plan is to somehow receive perfect, blue eyes in order to eliminate her struggles. Her futile quest drives her insane. Overall, the story is emotional, powerful, and riveting. It would appeal to mature readers due to some explicit, sexual scenes in the novel describing Pecola’s tragic lifestyle. 
The Bluest Eye revolves around Pecola and her constant struggle to acquire beauty.  Readers learn about her disastrous life and how her and other characters live through it. Mysteries slowly unravel throughout the novel, revealing vile rape, abuse, and neglect of which Pecola suffers. Anyone sensitive to this graphic content should avoid reading the book. The Bluest Eye is for sophisticated, mature readers interested in learning about Pecola’s vicous journey.