Reviews

If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes

ralowe's review

5.0

another crazy-making cover. self-conscious people think i'm desperate for a white lover. well, it's too late. and the cover is provocative to those familiar with the novel already or are currently exposing themselves to the main character's obsessive thoughts about murdering white people. i would laugh outloud a lot. and then feel ashamed that murder is continually a part of my psyche. is desensitization a myth? is there no other way to sensitive to intimations of justice in the ongoing historical present? why do so few works of art seem to gratify this sense? am i reading the wrong shit? knowing that fanon was, i seem to remember, influenced by this. someone asked and i describe the author as being contemporaries with fanon. ah, the comfort of the articulation of the neurotic imaginary. himes is perhaps one of the best storytellers i've read, even if there feels like there's something missing in the story. this is a classic but it doesn't feel like a great book to me, and it is the albatross of the black artist under white supremacy. waiting for something other than unending life-death struggle dialectics and so-on. but he captures it well. this book delivers what i expected from the title of sharon patricia holland's 'the erotic life of racism.' i'm concerned with what people do with the questions himes invites-- you know, how it is that we're still living with these same problems. i find myself similar to with the h. rap brown book wanting to take defensive postures around the author's indefensible homophobia/misogyny. one incident in the book has a backfire effect where the homophobia, much like william friedkin's 'cruising,' becomes oddly charming without historical context-- the character vomits when he realizes his fiance is bisexual and passes out. the novel is a satisfyingly told story that handles the complexity of racialized desire the way charles burnett handles intramural intergenerational ambivalence in 'to sleep with anger.'

annika's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

gareth_beniston's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

An astonishing book - an existential, pulp noir. An angry, bitter, fascinating book. I think that once upon a time the misogyny would have been too much. I would have felt too judgemental. Somehow I've been able to read it as an (awful) intrinsic part of the whole. 

kingarooski's review

3.0

3.5...blistering account of endemic racism in the US during the 40s.

myriam7's review

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

deranged_pegasus's review

4.0

It is interesting to note how the emotions of the narrator tend to repeat, in short periods of time, in three stages.

haleyature's review

challenging dark medium-paced

3.0

megatsunami's review

I've rarely been so grateful to arrive at the end of a book - not for lack of literary merit, but because the portrayal of one man's struggle to maintain his sense of dignity and self-worth in the face of constant racism is so painful. So it wasn't enjoyable, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. From a historical point of view, this book reminded me of "The Warmth of Other Suns" (highly recommended, btw) which gives the context of black folks migrating out of the South and into the North and West (Los Angeles in this case), leaving behind overt and violent racism only to find covert and differently violent racism.

I had a difficult time with the narrator's attitude and behavior toward women - in one way it felt like the book was showing how he turned his hostility about racism into aggression toward women - but it was also just really unpleasant to read.

queenmegzz's review

challenging dark reflective tense 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

1.0

quartofgoats's review

3.0

Rascism is so alive; it's frustrating and disappointing how recognizable this novel still is.