Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

1 review

nikkiacat's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Wow. Before I started this book, I didn't even know if I would like it. I was interested in the subject matter, it's in like with other things I've read and enjoyed (for example I've read almost everything Richard Wright has written, and  he encouraged Ralph Ellison to write), but I was put off by what I'd heard about the narrative voice. And the things I had heard were true, the narration is metaphor-laden and almost dreamy at times. But wow. After it sitting on the shelf for probably a couple of years, I picked it up on a whim and was almost immediately glued to it. I couldn't put it down, the book had me in a chokehold until I completed it. This is a classic that's worthy of being called that. I've got a quote that I'll let speak for itself (warning, it is lengthy, but I just had to include the whole thing):

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 had 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 and saw Jack and Norton and Emerson merge into one single white figure. They were very much the same, each attempting to force his picture of reality upon me and neither giving a hoot in hell for how things looked to me. I was simply a material, a natural resource to be used. I had switched from the arrogant absurdity of Norton and Emerson to that of Jack and the Brotherhood, and it all came out the same- except I now recognized my invisiblity.


And as striking as that is, it's not even in the climax to the book. 

There's a lot in Invisible Man that is, unfortunately, still extremely relevant today, 72 years after its initial publishing. And I mean specific events, not just the general concept of racism in America. I wouldn't necessarily call this a pleasant read, because given the subject matter, it's not lighthearted and fun. But it feels necessary. And I would call it gripping.

Fantastic.
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