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acsaper's review against another edition
3.0
I know I am supposed to revel in classic texts, or whatever I'm supposed to do with them, but they're just not my favorite type of writing. I can see the beauty here, in the endless allegories, parallels, symbolism and stripping away of the narrator's world beliefs. It's just not my favorite type of read. Unsophisticated am I? Sure, perhaps. Or, just personal preference.
I picked this up because I learned that someone I'm working with once read it and found it moving. Most fascinating to me is the many parallels I was able to see between their life and the narrator's (we never do learn his name, right?). In fact it's almost eerie - though perhaps if you go in looking for coincidences, it no coincidence when you find them. From the perceived invisibility to the move north, the leaving school to head to the city, the disillusionment with force-as-entertainment and self-interest of those that claim to help, as well as the house fire, lunatics, death of loved ones, and more. Oof.
I think I would have enjoyed reading more in a group or a class to really dive into the various contours of the text. Alone, I'm somewhat helpless. But, alas.
I picked this up because I learned that someone I'm working with once read it and found it moving. Most fascinating to me is the many parallels I was able to see between their life and the narrator's (we never do learn his name, right?). In fact it's almost eerie - though perhaps if you go in looking for coincidences, it no coincidence when you find them. From the perceived invisibility to the move north, the leaving school to head to the city, the disillusionment with force-as-entertainment and self-interest of those that claim to help, as well as the house fire, lunatics, death of loved ones, and more. Oof.
I think I would have enjoyed reading more in a group or a class to really dive into the various contours of the text. Alone, I'm somewhat helpless. But, alas.
baldwig's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 1952 4
• "Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement."
• "They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their own voices"
• moll- a gangster's girlfriend
moil- vb to work hard : drudge
• White dividing lines. Invisible blackness. Symbolism. 10 black drops disappearing into a gallon of white paint. Smothered/invisible in the vast whiteness.
• dissimulate- hide under a false appearance : dissemble
spat- a gaiter covering instep and ankle
• The invisible young man's naivite was frustrating but necessary. I too believed in people's good intent, took what they "told me as the honest-to-God truth." Rose-colored glasses distort white, black and all the grey areas in between.
• Ras the Exhorter, "Blood calls for blood!"
Stephen King referenced Invisible Man in Carrie.
• Micah Reads,:mistake leaving Harlem without saying he was reassigned, clarifying not leaving of his own volition, abandoning his brothers, sisters and cause, instead leaving Brother Wrestrom room to spin his own narrative.
• 'Black-face," a manipulated, misinformed mouthpiece for the 'Brotherhood.' BrotherJack (symbolic glass eye doesn't see the Invisible Man).
• Like with Tod Clifton, people will betray their own to 'better' themselves. Unfortunately, my family is filled with perfidious, aggressive anger and not so well-hidden hate.
• "What on earth was hiding behind the face of things?"
Rank strangers, even self?
• "And now all past humiliations became precious parts of my experience, and for the first time, leaning against that stone wall in the sweltering night, I began to accept my past and, as I accepted it, I felt memories welling up within me. It was as though I'd learned suddenly to look around corners; images of past humiliations flickered through my head and I saw that they were more than separate experiences. They were me; they defined me. I was my experiences and my experiences were me, and no blind men, no matter how powerful they became, even if they conquered the world, could take that, or change one single itch, taunt, laugh, cry, scar, ache, rage or pain of it. They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their own voices. And because they were blind they would destroy themselves and I'd help them. I laughed. Here I had thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn't see either color or men . . . For all they were concerned, we were so many names scribbled on fake ballots, to be used at their convenience and when not needed to be filed away. It was a joke, an absurd joke. And now I looked around a corner of my mind..."
• Youthful illusion into independence in invisibility.
• "If only we had some true friends, some who saw us as more than convenient tools for shaping their own desires!"
• serge- twilled woolen cloth
• "". . . What do they plan for me, Sybil?" "Who, boo'ful?""
Boo, a spook reference? Casper the Friendly (Invisible) Ghost. So much symbolism. El Toro Black Bull, beautiful black buck brute. To be seen (not heard) and not seen. Seeing eye service dogs. The invisible guiding the blind. This novel demands and deserves rereading.
• "Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement."
• "They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their own voices"
• moll- a gangster's girlfriend
moil- vb to work hard : drudge
• White dividing lines. Invisible blackness. Symbolism. 10 black drops disappearing into a gallon of white paint. Smothered/invisible in the vast whiteness.
• dissimulate- hide under a false appearance : dissemble
spat- a gaiter covering instep and ankle
• The invisible young man's naivite was frustrating but necessary. I too believed in people's good intent, took what they "told me as the honest-to-God truth." Rose-colored glasses distort white, black and all the grey areas in between.
• Ras the Exhorter, "Blood calls for blood!"
Stephen King referenced Invisible Man in Carrie.
• Micah Reads,:mistake leaving Harlem without saying he was reassigned, clarifying not leaving of his own volition, abandoning his brothers, sisters and cause, instead leaving Brother Wrestrom room to spin his own narrative.
• 'Black-face," a manipulated, misinformed mouthpiece for the 'Brotherhood.' BrotherJack (symbolic glass eye doesn't see the Invisible Man).
• Like with Tod Clifton, people will betray their own to 'better' themselves. Unfortunately, my family is filled with perfidious, aggressive anger and not so well-hidden hate.
• "What on earth was hiding behind the face of things?"
Rank strangers, even self?
• "And now all past humiliations became precious parts of my experience, and for the first time, leaning against that stone wall in the sweltering night, I began to accept my past and, as I accepted it, I felt memories welling up within me. It was as though I'd learned suddenly to look around corners; images of past humiliations flickered through my head and I saw that they were more than separate experiences. They were me; they defined me. I was my experiences and my experiences were me, and no blind men, no matter how powerful they became, even if they conquered the world, could take that, or change one single itch, taunt, laugh, cry, scar, ache, rage or pain of it. They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their own voices. And because they were blind they would destroy themselves and I'd help them. I laughed. Here I had thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn't see either color or men . . . For all they were concerned, we were so many names scribbled on fake ballots, to be used at their convenience and when not needed to be filed away. It was a joke, an absurd joke. And now I looked around a corner of my mind..."
• Youthful illusion into independence in invisibility.
• "If only we had some true friends, some who saw us as more than convenient tools for shaping their own desires!"
• serge- twilled woolen cloth
• "". . . What do they plan for me, Sybil?" "Who, boo'ful?""
Boo, a spook reference? Casper the Friendly (Invisible) Ghost. So much symbolism. El Toro Black Bull, beautiful black buck brute. To be seen (not heard) and not seen. Seeing eye service dogs. The invisible guiding the blind. This novel demands and deserves rereading.
racheltanza's review against another edition
5.0
"'Ah,' I can hear you say, 'so it was all a build-up to bore us with his buggy jiving. He only wanted us to listen to him rave!' But only partially true: Being invisible and without substance, a disembodied voice, as it were, what else could I do? What else but try to tell you what was really happening when your eyes were looking through? And it is this which frightens me: Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"
Man, what a good book.
Man, what a good book.
gravedavis's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I've never read Ellison and had no context to this novel or its themes before picking it up ages ago. There were some things that really worked for me here, and some that really didn't. The nameless main character felt authentic in his motivations and voice - there was an intimate connection between him and the reader as we walked through his life together. The exploration of race & its role in American society was poignant all too relevant in today's social climate.
However, the pacing and prose were such a struggle for me to get through. I typically read a book of this length in a week or so, but this book was read on and off again over the course of several months. I'd pick it up, read 50-100 pages, then put it down to read something else. Rinse and repeat every few weeks. The language is dense - I will give credit and say that the world building and character development were stunning! But when surrounded by so much dense exposition, it made it a lot harder for me to stay invested or engaged in our protagonist's plight.
This novel tells an important story and I understand why it is revered as such a classic. It unpacks a lot of deep woven issues within our society and how everyone functions in the systematic dismantling of power for people of color. That being said, reading pages and pages of monologuing and brooding in a gloomy setting just wasn't engaging for me. I felt disconnected from the text and at points just crawling to the end. Would consider revisiting as an audiobook to see if that changes my mind, but as of now, this book was just far too slow to leave any lasting impression.
However, the pacing and prose were such a struggle for me to get through. I typically read a book of this length in a week or so, but this book was read on and off again over the course of several months. I'd pick it up, read 50-100 pages, then put it down to read something else. Rinse and repeat every few weeks. The language is dense - I will give credit and say that the world building and character development were stunning! But when surrounded by so much dense exposition, it made it a lot harder for me to stay invested or engaged in our protagonist's plight.
This novel tells an important story and I understand why it is revered as such a classic. It unpacks a lot of deep woven issues within our society and how everyone functions in the systematic dismantling of power for people of color. That being said, reading pages and pages of monologuing and brooding in a gloomy setting just wasn't engaging for me. I felt disconnected from the text and at points just crawling to the end. Would consider revisiting as an audiobook to see if that changes my mind, but as of now, this book was just far too slow to leave any lasting impression.
appleboycat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
So so incredibly well written and immersive. It was a little hard to read for me at first, and there were some points where I had to go over once again to understand, but once I got used to the style of writing I was completely sucked in. Looking forward to re-reading this at some point so that I can properly digest it.
So so incredibly well written and immersive. It was a little hard to read for me at first, and there were some points where I had to go over once again to understand, but once I got used to the style of writing I was completely sucked in. Looking forward to re-reading this at some point so that I can properly digest it.
busco's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
yaniabereading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I had three different experiences reading this book. The first part was great, I was engaged with the story of this young black boy just trying to find a place in the world through the means he knew best. The second part was so dense and long. I struggled to keep going, the story was just long and wasn’t developing toward anything. The plot lagging the narrator uninteresting. The third part was misty and grey. And to be fair, I speed read the last part of the book because by this point I’d been reading it for a month and just wanted to be done. Just long monologues, super descriptive— a lot. And now im done, and I understand its importance, and why this is a classic text. But im just so over being in his dreary world.
elsieols's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I originally added this book to my TBR and bought it because a then-friend wrote his thesis on it. I stopped reading it after falling out majorly with him, and I picked it up again just recently. I feel relieved at the fact that I can separate someone I so deeply dislike from this book too because it was wonderful. It took me a strangely long time to read this for some reason, but it was still enjoyable and full of good lessons and perspective.
emily_mad's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
hellified's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Lots of things happen, but nothing really happens.