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steel_city_peach's review against another edition
4.0
Nostalgic
I decided to buddy read this with a group of fellow book lovers. What a pleasure it was to revisit this iconic book after so many years. I was reminded of how special Mr. E Lynn Harris was. He was brave. He was creative. He was the voice for so many beautiful, Black men. Harris and his talents are sorely missed. Thankfully, he left us this book and so many others. I’m so glad that I took the time to be reintroduced to Raymond and his supporting characters.
I decided to buddy read this with a group of fellow book lovers. What a pleasure it was to revisit this iconic book after so many years. I was reminded of how special Mr. E Lynn Harris was. He was brave. He was creative. He was the voice for so many beautiful, Black men. Harris and his talents are sorely missed. Thankfully, he left us this book and so many others. I’m so glad that I took the time to be reintroduced to Raymond and his supporting characters.
bcjenkins995's review against another edition
I loved the book and the many perspectives it gives by the characters.
linguine_reads's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Homophobia and Biphobia tend to be internalised.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug abuse, Grief, Body shaming, Death, and Homophobia
naturalnyla's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I am happy to be going back to read books from Harris. Some fellow book lovers and I are planning to read all of Harris’ work. We’re making a point to read more books written by Black men. This book stretched my empathy muscles. I was immersed in life experiences different from mine. I felt deeply for Raymond and his battles with life and love. I believe his story will stick with me for a while.
tamykamorant's review against another edition
5.0
I first read this book when I was young, under 19 years old. Revisiting I’m the book almost 20 years later after living 20 years of life I have a much better appreciation for this book and the deceased author, Mr. E. Lynn Harris. I’ve read every book of his and revisited this book for the Read Harder Challenge. At one point he was my favorite author and I legitimately devoured his books and went when they were turned into stage plays. I’m seriously surprised none have been made into movies. I think it’s because America is as homophobic as it was 20 years ago. Anyways I highly recommend this book and any of the others by Mr. Harris. Anyways, I probably won’t reread every book of his, but I may revisit a view more of the books.
cainwaogu's review against another edition
3.0
This is a groundbreaking book. Yet as a millennial overly pruned by today's ever- evolving discourse on sex and sexuality so many portions of the book were almost painful to read. The fault may lie with my lack of exposure to the interiority of living a closeted life but some of passages that may have been intended as deprecation or quips at one's sexuality, to me, read as self hatred. The women were all one dimensional and didn't have any real significance unless they working to safeguard the institutions of hetero- normality. The gender assumptions, respectability, the use of female instead of woman (personal pet peeve), the stereotypes, etc. Sometimes the book read as a journal entry instead of narrative. But I did enjoy How "of it's time it was" ie, the music, banter, professional woes, black bourgeois college life. But to those who are reading it or are thinking of reading this book, be kind. Many of the works that we enjoy today were published because of brave books like this one.
billydoubledown's review against another edition
4.0
A lot of people that I've talk to about this story don't like it because they feel it romanticizes the downlow stereotype. After reading it I do see their point but I did enjoy reading it. If you can put the negative stigmas associated with it aside and just enjoy the story as fiction, You may like it as well.
gabsalott13's review against another edition
2.0
I think this is a 2.5-star review. This book is really sweet in many ways, and really dated in others.
Invisible Life would function well in a time capsule of 90s to early aughts pop culture. It’s the “other side of the story” to match the DL hysteria you see on that Oprah/Terry McMillan interview, or in many sitcoms of the time. I imagine this book meant a lot to Black bisexual men who, during this time period, were frequently represented without any compassion or concern by mainstream Black media.
I should note that this is not entirely resolved today, by any means. However, by the time I was growing up (late aughts and early 2010s), my family members were frequently upset about how “I see that gay mess every time I change the channel.” With this increase in screen time, there has been at least some modicum of empathy for the DL phenomenon, and I did find this to be helpful growing up. While I did not find many (any?) affirming messages about queerness from people around me, I think I internalized many of the sympathetic media messages that were transmitted via Glee, Project Runway, Scandal, and my other middle school staples. I think this contributed to my (relatively) lower levels of shame and internalized homophobia, compared to Black queer church kids of earlier generations.
On that note about shame—many of the conclusions Ray makes about the “best path forward in his life” fall strikingly short of the standards many Black queer people have set for ourselves in 2020. But, it would be false to assume that many of the issues Ray encounters (lack of acceptance of bisexuality in the queer community, staunch homophobia of cishet Black women, etc.) aren’t still major factors that motivate many people in this decade to be DL.
In summary, I am surprised but not necessarily disappointed that this book was recommended to me. It is a helpful reminder of the changes since 1994 in a year that often feels like there is no progress that will last.
Invisible Life would function well in a time capsule of 90s to early aughts pop culture. It’s the “other side of the story” to match the DL hysteria you see on that Oprah/Terry McMillan interview, or in many sitcoms of the time. I imagine this book meant a lot to Black bisexual men who, during this time period, were frequently represented without any compassion or concern by mainstream Black media.
I should note that this is not entirely resolved today, by any means. However, by the time I was growing up (late aughts and early 2010s), my family members were frequently upset about how “I see that gay mess every time I change the channel.” With this increase in screen time, there has been at least some modicum of empathy for the DL phenomenon, and I did find this to be helpful growing up. While I did not find many (any?) affirming messages about queerness from people around me, I think I internalized many of the sympathetic media messages that were transmitted via Glee, Project Runway, Scandal, and my other middle school staples. I think this contributed to my (relatively) lower levels of shame and internalized homophobia, compared to Black queer church kids of earlier generations.
On that note about shame—many of the conclusions Ray makes about the “best path forward in his life” fall strikingly short of the standards many Black queer people have set for ourselves in 2020. But, it would be false to assume that many of the issues Ray encounters (lack of acceptance of bisexuality in the queer community, staunch homophobia of cishet Black women, etc.) aren’t still major factors that motivate many people in this decade to be DL.
In summary, I am surprised but not necessarily disappointed that this book was recommended to me. It is a helpful reminder of the changes since 1994 in a year that often feels like there is no progress that will last.
minareadss's review against another edition
Dnf @ 169
Okay I’ve had enough, this writing is not good at all.
“Her erected breast” “her vanilla wafer colored skin”
It’s just not good, so bad. And the characters??? I hate everyone they’re so boring and insubstantial. The main character has the worst view on his own sexuality as a bi man and it makes me so uncomfortable as a bi woman to read some of the terrible shit he’s saying that goes completely uncontested by the narrative. All his relationships and friendships are so boring. Everything about this was just not good for me. Which is so incredibly disappointing because it’s a book by a black man about a black bisexual character and his life. I had hoped to love this but it’s so....icky.
Okay I’ve had enough, this writing is not good at all.
“Her erected breast” “her vanilla wafer colored skin”
It’s just not good, so bad. And the characters??? I hate everyone they’re so boring and insubstantial. The main character has the worst view on his own sexuality as a bi man and it makes me so uncomfortable as a bi woman to read some of the terrible shit he’s saying that goes completely uncontested by the narrative. All his relationships and friendships are so boring. Everything about this was just not good for me. Which is so incredibly disappointing because it’s a book by a black man about a black bisexual character and his life. I had hoped to love this but it’s so....icky.
raintaxi's review against another edition
3.0
- not sure if i like this book?
- tw // internalized homophobia, deep deep misogyny, toxic masculinity
- really honest in some ways, extremely un-self-aware in others; someone told me abt this book : "you can only only give that honesty to other people that you can afford for yourself"
- women are not real people
- insight on intersection of blackness, bisexuality and christianity
- light, easy to read
- i think kyle adds a complex layer of loneliness vs community to the whole situation that i woulld have loved to read about
- tw // internalized homophobia, deep deep misogyny, toxic masculinity
- really honest in some ways, extremely un-self-aware in others; someone told me abt this book : "you can only only give that honesty to other people that you can afford for yourself"
- women are not real people
- insight on intersection of blackness, bisexuality and christianity
- light, easy to read
- i think kyle adds a complex layer of loneliness vs community to the whole situation that i woulld have loved to read about