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thechanelmuse's review against another edition
5.0
In his first memoir, The Big Sea, Langston Hughes unveils his self-portrait as a depressed, vulnerable young world traveler in his 20s in the 1920s, aiming to understand his family and sense of self against the barriers of society. His gift of words and will to finally be leads to his self-discovery, awakening, and budding friendships in the midst of examining the racial construct and class structures around him in various countries.
I Wonder As I Wonder is a continuation of his wanderlust spirit around the world into the 1930s. Langston paints a portrait of societal structures and cultures around the world (even witnessing dictatorships and the Spanish Civil War) and in the US, while making his imprint as a gifted wordsmith during the The Great Depression and meeting new/familiar faces along the way.
Just as The Big Sea, I Wonder As I Wonder is a layered sensory book. You feel like you’re right there in the past as a curious world traveler, seeing through his eyes, taking field notes, witnessing the shaping of various countries and the way it translates to the daily lives of the people, and how it all compares/contrasts to today.
It's funny that upon concluding this memoir, Langston still writes about wanting to be a writer: “But that is what I want to be, a writer, recording what I see commenting upon it, and distilling from my own emotions a personal interpretation.” The thought of doing while actually doing. Journeying through the preceding pages with him, you understand it's really his longing to make his passion a successful earning career in spite of barriers. He did indeed.
I Wonder As I Wonder is a continuation of his wanderlust spirit around the world into the 1930s. Langston paints a portrait of societal structures and cultures around the world (even witnessing dictatorships and the Spanish Civil War) and in the US, while making his imprint as a gifted wordsmith during the The Great Depression and meeting new/familiar faces along the way.
Just as The Big Sea, I Wonder As I Wonder is a layered sensory book. You feel like you’re right there in the past as a curious world traveler, seeing through his eyes, taking field notes, witnessing the shaping of various countries and the way it translates to the daily lives of the people, and how it all compares/contrasts to today.
It's funny that upon concluding this memoir, Langston still writes about wanting to be a writer: “But that is what I want to be, a writer, recording what I see commenting upon it, and distilling from my own emotions a personal interpretation.” The thought of doing while actually doing. Journeying through the preceding pages with him, you understand it's really his longing to make his passion a successful earning career in spite of barriers. He did indeed.
blackcrow17's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Fascinating account of Langston’s journey through the U.S, Russia, China, Japan, Paris and Italy during the 30’s. His comparisons and observations of Jim Crow America to how blacks were treated in other countries was interesting. His travels, people he met, cuisine descriptions and political issues touched upon were so interesting. Really enjoyed this book.
amalas_bookstop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed getting a peak behind the curtain that Langston Hughes left for us. He so beautifully wrote this travel blog in the 30s.
I really enjoyed reading out loud to my mom what was then called Hampton Institute (her Alma Mater) and his time there as he traveled through the South reading his poems. Really living the dream, he stated multiple times his poems are by a black man for black people.
The reader is able to wonder with him as he moved through Japan, Mexico, USSR, Spain (during the Spanish civil war), etc. He met so many poets, writers, artists, a famous boxer, to many to count. While also explaining how in some countries during that time race did/or did not matter. Not to mention the way he was able to pick up different languages.
He traveled the way I would love to by getting in a country and totally immersing yourself in the culture. This was such a treat to read and an amazing insight in who was an amazing man.
I really enjoyed reading out loud to my mom what was then called Hampton Institute (her Alma Mater) and his time there as he traveled through the South reading his poems. Really living the dream, he stated multiple times his poems are by a black man for black people.
The reader is able to wonder with him as he moved through Japan, Mexico, USSR, Spain (during the Spanish civil war), etc. He met so many poets, writers, artists, a famous boxer, to many to count. While also explaining how in some countries during that time race did/or did not matter. Not to mention the way he was able to pick up different languages.
He traveled the way I would love to by getting in a country and totally immersing yourself in the culture. This was such a treat to read and an amazing insight in who was an amazing man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
Moderate: Police brutality and War
Minor: Cancer
crestun's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Just spectacular. An expertly written and engaging record of Hughes’ travels through major historically significant countries, providing a unique historical black voice in a whitewashed history of Cold War fanaticism. Hughes’ world is filled with art, culture, and people, to a degree that this almost begins to feel like fiction. The ground this covers and the ideas it brings up are so disparate yet unified in their humanity that putting it down is just about impossible. I would venture to say this is a must-read
crystal_reading's review against another edition
4.0
It was truly interesting to see other parts of the world through Langston Hughes's eyes. He noted the similarities and differences in how he was treated in the various countries he visited. In some places there seemed to be very little discrimination based on skin color, but in others, Jim Crowe types of written and unwritten rules were solidly in place.
Langston Hughes was a person with a curious mind. He watched and questioned and explored. It was wonderful to go along with him on his journey.
Langston Hughes was a person with a curious mind. He watched and questioned and explored. It was wonderful to go along with him on his journey.
squirrelfish's review against another edition
5.0
I want a tv show starring Langston Hughes. I want biopics. I want everyone to read this book.
This autobiography follows Langston Hughes travels in the 30s - he visits the American South, Cuba, San Francisco, Russia, the Soviet republics, China, Japan, Paris and the Spanish Civil War. He talks frankly about issues of race across all those areas and compares lifestyles and bureaucracy and the color line. He brings along a type writer, a phonograph and a case full of jazz records and meets interesting people around the world. I've only known him for his poetry and role in American history but this brings a lively and entertaining side and just makes the guy seem so cool. I've already checked out another book by him to follow this one.
Listened to on audiobook from Libby and the SF Public Library.
This autobiography follows Langston Hughes travels in the 30s - he visits the American South, Cuba, San Francisco, Russia, the Soviet republics, China, Japan, Paris and the Spanish Civil War. He talks frankly about issues of race across all those areas and compares lifestyles and bureaucracy and the color line. He brings along a type writer, a phonograph and a case full of jazz records and meets interesting people around the world. I've only known him for his poetry and role in American history but this brings a lively and entertaining side and just makes the guy seem so cool. I've already checked out another book by him to follow this one.
Listened to on audiobook from Libby and the SF Public Library.
psalmcat's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I even realized Hughes wrote anything besides poetry. I had no idea how itinerant he was, either. This was a revelation to me on many levels.
The main reason I picked it up was Ian mentioning that Hughes traveled around Tashkent/Samarkand in the 1930s (what was then, and when I was there in the 1980s, Soviet Central Asia). He didn't only travel around there: he lived in Moscow for awhile, also Mexico--he spoke fluent Spanish!--France, Carmel-by-the-Sea (California), and visited Spain for several months during the war there.
Staying with Central Asia for a moment, I really had to stop and think about all the changes that came about in the 50 years between his visit and mine. Those years forcibly brought a very 'backward' area of the world up to the 20th century in a very quick manner. I suspect the last 15 has perhaps meant quite a lot of backward movement, but the descriptions of the people, the mores, the practical problems of the area struck home.
His time in Spain was similarly poignant. Even at the time, he seemed to see that the war in Spain was just a tryout for the Big War coming up next. The machinery of war, that financed by Germany anyway, changed regularly, where the defense had to make do with the same options. It's no surprise that Franco won, really. One incisive comment I remember clearly is how people fighting against Franco were primarily NOT communists. In fact, he says, he saw almost no Russians during the entire time he was there.
There is a longish bit about traveling in the South reciting poetry to black audiences, bringing them face-to-face with the possibility of change. This was during the Scottsboro Trial, where everyone in the South--blacks and whites--knew the men on trial were innocent. Most people elsewhere knew so too. And yet... Yes, and yet. Hughes' observations on racial issues are primarily dry asides in the face of outrageous unfairness. Perhaps this is why he travelled so much; he had fewer problems and was treated more like a human everywhere he went outside the United States.
This is also, of course, a first-rate travelogue complete with fleas, starvation, fine food, political tightrope-walking, weird sexual practices, and lots of long, boring train trips. Some things haven't changed at all.
The main reason I picked it up was Ian mentioning that Hughes traveled around Tashkent/Samarkand in the 1930s (what was then, and when I was there in the 1980s, Soviet Central Asia). He didn't only travel around there: he lived in Moscow for awhile, also Mexico--he spoke fluent Spanish!--France, Carmel-by-the-Sea (California), and visited Spain for several months during the war there.
Staying with Central Asia for a moment, I really had to stop and think about all the changes that came about in the 50 years between his visit and mine. Those years forcibly brought a very 'backward' area of the world up to the 20th century in a very quick manner. I suspect the last 15 has perhaps meant quite a lot of backward movement, but the descriptions of the people, the mores, the practical problems of the area struck home.
His time in Spain was similarly poignant. Even at the time, he seemed to see that the war in Spain was just a tryout for the Big War coming up next. The machinery of war, that financed by Germany anyway, changed regularly, where the defense had to make do with the same options. It's no surprise that Franco won, really. One incisive comment I remember clearly is how people fighting against Franco were primarily NOT communists. In fact, he says, he saw almost no Russians during the entire time he was there.
There is a longish bit about traveling in the South reciting poetry to black audiences, bringing them face-to-face with the possibility of change. This was during the Scottsboro Trial, where everyone in the South--blacks and whites--knew the men on trial were innocent. Most people elsewhere knew so too. And yet... Yes, and yet. Hughes' observations on racial issues are primarily dry asides in the face of outrageous unfairness. Perhaps this is why he travelled so much; he had fewer problems and was treated more like a human everywhere he went outside the United States.
This is also, of course, a first-rate travelogue complete with fleas, starvation, fine food, political tightrope-walking, weird sexual practices, and lots of long, boring train trips. Some things haven't changed at all.
I, too, sing America.Many things haven't changed. Hughes' writing stands the test of time. The man simply knew how to put a picture on paper with words, whether poetic or prose.
I am the darker brother.
They send me
To eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
and eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow
I'll sit at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see
How beautiful I am
And be ashamed.
I, too, am America.