-
The Bluest Eye
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 07-19-11
- Language: English
- Publisher: Random House Audio
Regular price: $24.50
People who bought this also bought...
-
Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,491
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,167
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,162
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but 18 years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Perhaps best read on paper
- By Cathy on 07-29-06
-
Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 468
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 367
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 374
Two girls who grow up to become women...two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
-
Song of Solomon
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life, he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family's origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Death United Them
- By Carol Binta Nadeem on 09-28-17
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Jadine Childs is a black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
-
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,629
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,853
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,834
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ruby Dee is amazing
- By Jennifer on 04-20-13
-
Jacksonland
- President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
- By: Steve Inskeep
- Narrated by: Steve Inskeep
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men - President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross - who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Truth well told
- By White Thai on 07-26-15
-
Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,491
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,167
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,162
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but 18 years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Perhaps best read on paper
- By Cathy on 07-29-06
-
Sula
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 468
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 367
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 374
Two girls who grow up to become women...two friends who become something worse than enemies. In this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio. Their devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good against evil and a riotous story to boot
- By Karen on 04-11-11
-
Song of Solomon
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 153
Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life, he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez. As she follows Milkman from his rustbelt city to the place of his family's origins, Morrison introduces an entire cast of strivers and seeresses, liars and assassins, the inhabitants of a fully realized black world.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Death United Them
- By Carol Binta Nadeem on 09-28-17
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
Jadine Childs is a black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
-
Their Eyes Were Watching God
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Ruby Dee
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,629
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,853
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,834
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ruby Dee is amazing
- By Jennifer on 04-20-13
-
Jacksonland
- President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
- By: Steve Inskeep
- Narrated by: Steve Inskeep
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men - President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross - who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Truth well told
- By White Thai on 07-26-15
-
Jazz
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 3 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 112
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe's wife, Violet, attacks the girl's corpse. This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of black urban life.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
The audio is not the same as the book
- By Rocio on 03-29-16
-
Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10
In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
-
God Help the Child
- A Novel
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 879
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 799
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 788
Spare and unsparing, God Help the Child - the first novel by Toni Morrison to be set in our current moment - weaves a tale about the way the sufferings of childhood can shape and misshape the life of the adult.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
You're a better human for listening
- By Aperio on 04-27-15
-
Love
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 132
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
May, Christine, Heed, Junior, Vida, even L: all women obsessed by Bill Cosey. More than the wealthy owner of the famous Cosey Hotel and Resort, he shapes their yearnings for father, husband, lover, guardian, and friend, yearnings that dominate the lives of these women long after his death. Yet while he is both the void in, and the center of, their stories, he himself is driven by secret forces: a troubled past and a spellbinding woman named Celestial.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Steve on 05-22-10
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,965
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,670
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,673
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age - and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. But years later, she learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Emotional & Powerful
- By Miss Toni on 06-30-13
-
Kindred
- By: Octavia E. Butler
- Narrated by: Kim Staunton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,708
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,103
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,089
Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes she's been given a challenge.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Felt the Experience
- By S. Davis on 11-03-07
-
The Fire Next Time
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Jesse L. Martin
- Length: 2 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,031
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,665
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 2,646
At once a powerful evocation of his early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice to both the individual and the body politic, James Baldwin galvanized the nation in the early days of the civil rights movement with this eloquent manifesto. The Fire Next Time stands as one of the essential works of our literature.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant and Sadly Relevant
- By Steve M on 03-20-16
-
Invisible Man
- A Novel
- By: Ralph Ellison
- Narrated by: Joe Morton
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,849
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,308
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 5,310
Ralph Elllison's Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of 20th-century African-American life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching - yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Masterfully written; perfectly narrated
- By Imhokhai on 03-04-13
-
Breath, Eyes, Memory
- By: Edwidge Danticat
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
At the age of 12, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti - to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing Narrator
- By Luis on 04-03-16
-
Passing
- By: Nella Larsen
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 196
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 175
First published in 1929, Passing is a remarkable exploration of the shifting racial and sexual boundaries in America. Larsen, a premier writer of the Harlem Renaissance, captures the rewards and dangers faced by two negro women who pass for white in a deeply segregated world.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
If not for the Ending
- By William M Storm on 04-23-12
-
Home
- A Novel
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 257
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 218
Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he's hated all his life. This is a deeply moving novel about an apparently defeated man finding his manhood - and his home.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Urbane
- By Kindle Customer on 08-11-12
-
Purple Hibiscus
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 731
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 660
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 664
In Purple Hibiscus, she recounts the story of a young Nigerian girl searching for freedom. Although her father is greatly respected within their community, 15-year-old Kambili knows a frighteningly strict and abusive side to this man. In many ways, she and her family lead a privileged life, but Kambili and her brother, Jaja, are often punished for failing to meet their father’s expectations. After visiting her aunt and cousins, Kambili dreams of being part of a loving family.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great Story
- By Msafiri on 10-11-11
Publisher's Summary
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
Author
Narrator
What members say
Average Customer Ratings
Overall
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars588
-
4 Stars170
-
3 Stars69
-
2 Stars16
-
1 Stars25
Performance
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars590
-
4 Stars122
-
3 Stars43
-
2 Stars12
-
1 Stars16
Story
-
4.5 out of 5 stars
-
5 Stars526
-
4 Stars145
-
3 Stars69
-
2 Stars20
-
1 Stars22
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- MerryJovialL
- Tappahannock, VA
- 10-01-12
Excellent but not an easy story.
Would you listen to The Bluest Eye again? Why?
Yes, it is a very well written story that touched and challenged me.
Which character – as performed by Toni Morrison – was your favorite?
All of the story was impressionable. The character, Pecola, was very strong for me.
Any additional comments?
This was a difficult story to get through but it was important. I plan to listen to it again after I let some time pass. It was a powerful story and had a lot to offer from different views.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Willis Butcher
- 02-17-15
Toni Morrison at Her Best!
A sad story, but it depicts a true reality. I was hoping for a happy ending. Instead I was given the gift of truth.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-26-16
READ LIKE ONE LONG BEAUTIFUL POEM!
Ms. Morrison's narration was so melodically engaging. I could listen to her all day! Brava! And this story of not quite knowing how to come to grips with the YOU that you are is one that we all can relate to.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Luciana Russo Vichino
- 05-14-16
The author's note is the best part of the book
It is interesting to listen to a book read by its author and to know how she thought of it.
This book however is boring at some points and it is hard to create a bond with any of the caracters as they come and go so fast and the protagonist is a passive and sad figure.
The author's note in the end is worth the book.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. Harris
- Atlanta, GA
- 05-15-15
One of my all-time favorite books.
Loved reading it, adored listening to it. Great narrating, Ms. Morrison really brought the book alive. You might want to keep a box of tissues handy, there are parts that will break your heart . However, I still feel uplifted by this book. I highly recommend it.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anna H
- 09-18-17
What an experience!
Listening to Toni Morrison read her own work aloud honestly makes the experience even richer. This is a difficult book -- and at times disturbing. That being said, it had me 100% engaged the whole time! You really get to feel the cadence of her work in a new way. Highly recommend!!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Prof. RShawntezJackson
- OAKLAND, CA, United States
- 02-05-16
Strikingly Beautiful
For this to be her first novel, it's purely astonishing. The rich nature of language and raw aggressive content makes for a longer than prescribed listen. You will rewind. You must rewind! Sometimes three and four times just to take in the magic of her construction of emotions, locations, people and conversations. Epic, tragic and haunting are the words left ed burned in my brain.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Fatima
- 11-28-15
Beautiful book
As someone who has struggled with discrimination and isolation throughout most of my life, this book truly touched me. Toni Morrison's narration of the book made it that much more of a powerful and wonderful experience.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Readin' and Rockin'
- USA
- 05-17-15
Marvelous Performance of My Favorite Book
Morrison is much too hard on herself in her author's note; even after so many readings, I am still deeply moved.
I first read it on New Year's Eve 1991. I cried and cried as one year became another. I knew "Pecola." in a variety of ways. And I knew it was much, much, much too late. Midnight struck a while back.
Thank you.
Robin Markowitz
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Whitney L. McBee
- 01-29-15
Remarkable!
Toni Morrison's ability to communicate emotions and a characters internal motivation and to paint an incredibly vivid world, is remarkable.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful