The Bluest Eye vs The Reformatory: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: African American fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction
The Bluest Eye
Each night Pecola prayed for blue eyes. In her eleven years, no one had ever noticed Pecola. But with blue eyes, she thought, everything would be different. She would be so pretty that her parents would stop fighting.…
vs
The Reformatory
Gracetown, Florida - June 1950 Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his…
The verdict
- Readers rate The Reformatory highest: The Reformatory 4.4 · The Bluest Eye 4.1.
- The Bluest Eye is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 10 for The Reformatory.
- The Bluest Eye has the widest readership — 320415 ratings behind its score.
- The Reformatory runs the darker storyline; The Bluest Eye stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Want a one-evening read?
The Bluest Eye
≈ 3h vs 10h for The Reformatory
Want the crowd-tested pick?
The Bluest Eye
320415 ratings vs 95767 for The Reformatory
New to the genre?
The Reformatory
Moderate vs Challenging for The Bluest Eye
In the mood for something dark?
The Reformatory
a darker storyline than The Bluest Eye
Want something lighter?
The Bluest Eye
an easier tone than The Reformatory
Scores by source
| The Bluest Eye | The Reformatory | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.1 (320415) | 4.4 (95767) |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (359) | 4.5 (163) |
| Google Books | 3.5 (27) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (1011) | 4.5 (397) |
Reception
| The Bluest Eye | The Reformatory | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 320415 | 95767 |
| Editions | 63 | 4 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 416527 | 260765 |
| Reading it now | 17627 | 12374 |
| Written reviews | 26498 | 15078 |
| Wikipedia attention | 31274 | 4528 |
| Pages | 195 | 576 |