Reviews with content warning for Incest - Invisible Man

Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

26 reviews

vickymcckey's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This is the kind of book that needs a separate book to explain all the references you missed the first time. My advice to anyone reading it who wants to derive as much meaning as possible is to annotate like a nerdy high schooler. Color code references and keep wikipedia by your side to look up any word that seems even a little bit intentional. Because I promise you, it’s all intentional. Parts of this book are disturbing, parts dryly humorous, parts hopeful or sad, but every word has thought behind it.

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littleclerk's review against another edition

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Man describing how impregnates his daughter with his wife in the same bed

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gogglor's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

I know the content warnings are long but you have to read this book. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it’ a deeply moving, infuriating, enlightening narrative. The only reason it’s not 5 stars is that the thread of misogyny that runs through it runs deep and it’s so deeply frustrating that such an insightful book totally lacks any of that insight when turned on it’s own sexism. But honestly, read it anyway.

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haileyeh's review against another edition

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challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

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eyesofcrows's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

The journey and realizations was certainly a ride. I loved the slow progression of the protagonist’s thoughts and opinions as he’s pushed into the wringer on several occasions. It’s certainly a drag sometimes, it’s a long a book, but gosh darn is it something to witness. It’s explicit in its message, the struggles and all. There’s something so exposing with everything they do.

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nunchikoi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

An incredible work by Ellison who manages to balance a magical reality that is also prescriptive to quantum physics; thoroughly examining Black experiences in North America, Ellison uniquely incorporates specific 'Negro-American' culturalisations like folkloric motifs in his story-telling. This results in a magnetic kind of writing which swings between being poetic and clinical, a fictional story which testifies to real historical experiences and events, and a narrator who keeps the reader at arms length but also confides in and almost prays to you.

Through this, Ellison constructs a compelling portrait that his contemporaries otherwise neglected: he demonstrates how Black characters in a novel can be complex and nuanced, with fully-realised moral, philosophical, and intellectual capacities.

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