Here is Jenna's statement about reading the book:
I was totally in awe of Toni Morrison’s ability to make us feel like we were walking in Pecola’s footsteps. Even if you didn’t necessarily relate, there was no way you didn’t empathize with Pecola. Thematically, I had never read anything quite like this. It was a book that talked about adult subjects but the underlying themes of racism, otherness and feeling not good enough were things that my classmates were dealing with, particularly my classmates of color. It was the first book that really opened my eyes to how literature can create understanding and take you into worlds you don’t know.
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrion's debut novel, will turn 50 years old this year. Its theme and message still holds incredible power and will spark meaningful conversation.
Jenna Bush Hager continues:
I suspect that a lot of our book club members will be rereading this book for the first time since high school or college. I know I am particularly excited to pick up my old favorite again. I expect that it will hit me differently than it did when I was an adolescent girl, not much older than Pecola. I can’t wait to see how adulthood and now being in my late 30s will make this novel resonate in a different way. I look forward to hearing how others’ perspectives change as well.
Of course, if you are reading for the first time, I hope you marvel at the beauty of Toni Morrison’s writing the way I did when I first picked up a copy. She is my favorite author of all time, and I am honored to be recommending her book to this special group of readers.
Here is goodread's synopsis of The Bluest Eye:
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.
Source material: Yahoo.com