This is a hard hitting, incredibly dark book with a vitally important message.  It’s easy to blame the victim.  It’s even easier to blame an ugly, unlikeable victim.  And it’s even easier to blame an ugly, unlikable victim that comes from a crippling family.  

 

Morrison’s talent with beautiful prose is obvious, even in this menacing and dour story.  This is a story about the tiresomeness of poverty, about yearning to be loved, and ultimately about human depravity.  There’s little hope to be found in this novel.  And while the message of this book is a necessary one, one that I need to hear, I found it incredibly hard to hear.  Pecola’s story is heart wrenching and ugly.  Just like oppression and racism.   

 

*Rating indicates the importance of this well written story, not the enjoyment of it.