Today show co-host Jenna Bush Hager was joined by fellow book club maven Oprah Winfrey to discuss Toni Morrison’s classic debut novel, The Bluest Eye.
Hager and Winfrey discussed Morrison’s book on the Today show ahead of “TODAY All Day Presents: A Celebration of Toni Morrison,” a special that airs Monday at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern time on TODAY All Day, an NBC News streaming channel.
The book holds special significance for Winfrey—she selected it 30 years ago for her own book club.
“One of the things that I think she’s able to do in this book is the same thing I’ve always tried to do in my work and one of the reasons why I started the book club, certainly one of the reasons you have, too, is to let people know that they are not alone,” Winfrey told Hager.
“In a year when people are filled with pain in our country, you said this about Miss Morrison,” Hager said. “You said she asks us to follow our own pain, to reckon with it, and to transcend it.”
“That is exactly what happens when you read The Bluest Eye is that you understand how people get stuck in the pain and burrowed down with it,” Winfrey responded. “I think that to be able to follow the pain and actually deal with the pain and then eventually transcend the pain, that is what her storytelling has been about.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
