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jozefsyndicate's review against another edition
5.0
Yes, THE Ralph Ellison has a novel on freedom, published posthumously in 1999. A fascinating tale of the attempted assassination of Senator Bliss Sunraider who passes for white and reeks havoc on the Black constituents who reared him as a young man. On his death bed, he calls for the man who loved him most, his adopted father and biological uncle the Rev. AZ Hickman, an old Black preacher. Hidden within the story line is the celebration that freedom comes only when Whites recognize that their freedom is tied to the freedom of Blacks. Wonderfully written as only Ellison can. BuytheBook.
mrjess_bhs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I wonder if this final version lives up to Ellison’s hopes. Doubtful since he couldn’t put the finishing touches on it across his last 40 years. Even though you can see the cracks throughout, this is still a powerful novel. Ellison shines especially in his dialogue and that Juneteenth sermon from Daddy Hickman is astonishing. I do think there is maybe too much monologuing in this book to keep some readers turning pages though. I like how one reviewer summed up the premise as “what if Dr. King had raised Storm Thurmond?” All the questions that would bring up for you are the questions that drives this novel.
cangelos's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
elleye's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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
3.0
djrmelvin's review against another edition
3.0
How do you judge a book that was unfinished at the time it was taken over by the editor? A book that was 40 years in the making, likely to have been published as three books if the author had finished it before he passed away? Do you judge it as a work in progress, a sketch book piece from the creaters of one of Western Literatures masterpieces? After all, Elisson never handed this book to his publisher and said "It is done". It seems unfair to judge it as a finished work bearing Ellison's name, but on the other hand, he's dead and probably doesn't care. The book IS published, it is promoted as a completed novel by the people who are making money from it (Ellison's estate as well as the publisher), so it should be held up to whatever standards the reader uses to judge other, more traditionally published books. In that case, I say that Juneteenth: A Novel, while no where near the glory of [b:Invisible Man|385920|Ellison's Invisible Man (Bradley Lecture Series Publication)|John F. Callahan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266540143s/385920.jpg|375618], is not a bad book. As character driven stories go, it's got the makings of something truly fascinating. Sen. Adam Sundraider's orgin story as Bliss, a boy raised to be a white preacher in the southern Black tradition by the charismatic Reverend Hickman, is not only a lesson in a history that could have been, it's good reading. However, as Bliss/Sunraider grows older, his trauma induced memories grow weaker. It's not that he stop remembering, he just doesn't remember things is a form that makes for good reading. Hickman disappears from the narrative for two long to explain why he was so important in the beginning. You can definitely spot that there where two books plotted at the time Ellison died, and Callahan's editing can't fill the holes between them.
jennseeg's review against another edition
2.0
I was clear when I started reading this that it was not a finished novel, yet, even this considered I had a difficult time wading through it. Read Invisible Man instead.
relliem08's review against another edition
5.0
This was deep on a level I wasn't ready for. This was the past and the present and the future simultaneously in jarring, unrelenting prose. This was so much, and not enough and...wow.
grahamiam's review against another edition
2.0
Invisible Man is so much better. I guess it's not surprising, given the fraught history of Ellison's writing of this book.
floodfish's review against another edition
4.0
If you like Ralph Ellison’s writing and worldview as much as I do, you should definitely read this. It’s a fever dream of the USA in the first half of the 20th Century, reveling in explorations of sexuality, politics, race, religion, pop culture, childhood, identity, memory, and nature. It veers between extreme naturalism and allegorical farce. (I think it might be what they call "modernism" (DH Lawrence, James Joyce, WG Sebold) but I never studied literature that way so I dunno?)
Like some other work of Ellison’s it vividly demonstrates the ridiculousness of powerful institutions and traditions, but also their value and utility; that it's all bullshit but it's also all so important. And like Invisible Man, it’s as much the story of some messed-up individuals’ identity journeys as it is about “race” or “America”.
But be prepared for a very bumpy ride. It took me 8 months to read, and it’s not a very long book; nor am I a particularly slow reader. (Big thanks to the Brooklyn Public Library for their liberal renewal policy.)
Some of the slowness was fine and good. There’s some deeply polished writing here, with a lot to savor in each phrase. And quite a lot of the book is speech (whether inner or outer) and seems almost made to be read aloud. I often had to slow down my reading to speaking speed. I even read some of it aloud (at home, alone), and that really worked. If I “read” it again, I might try the audiobook.
While it’s often unclear exactly what's happening in the narrative, the telling is beautiful and powerful. At a certain point, I stopped trying to make all the pieces add up and just let it wash over me. Clarity may be possible here, but it’s perhaps not worth the labor. It doesn’t feel quite right to call it stream of consciousness though, because each sentence seems so carefully constructed.
The big problem is that, as a novel, it’s a disaster. The whole is significantly less than the sum of the parts. I have trouble believing that this is the best book that could be decocted from the raw materials. (Though I haven't tried to read Three Days Before the Shooting yet.) Nearly all the parts are good, and many are jaw-droppingly amazing. But the assemblage is a mess. Disjointed, uneven, poorly sectioned and distributed, and just a burden to wade through. I really wish it wasn’t half in italics, that quote marks were deployed more often, that chapter and section breaks were more frequent. Maybe even invasively signpost it bit (e.g. “at this point, we assume the author intended a lengthy story about X, which takes us from what you just read to the next part”). Basically the editing is abysmal, and makes this book a burden and a chore.
Like some other work of Ellison’s it vividly demonstrates the ridiculousness of powerful institutions and traditions, but also their value and utility; that it's all bullshit but it's also all so important. And like Invisible Man, it’s as much the story of some messed-up individuals’ identity journeys as it is about “race” or “America”.
But be prepared for a very bumpy ride. It took me 8 months to read, and it’s not a very long book; nor am I a particularly slow reader. (Big thanks to the Brooklyn Public Library for their liberal renewal policy.)
Some of the slowness was fine and good. There’s some deeply polished writing here, with a lot to savor in each phrase. And quite a lot of the book is speech (whether inner or outer) and seems almost made to be read aloud. I often had to slow down my reading to speaking speed. I even read some of it aloud (at home, alone), and that really worked. If I “read” it again, I might try the audiobook.
While it’s often unclear exactly what's happening in the narrative, the telling is beautiful and powerful. At a certain point, I stopped trying to make all the pieces add up and just let it wash over me. Clarity may be possible here, but it’s perhaps not worth the labor. It doesn’t feel quite right to call it stream of consciousness though, because each sentence seems so carefully constructed.
The big problem is that, as a novel, it’s a disaster. The whole is significantly less than the sum of the parts. I have trouble believing that this is the best book that could be decocted from the raw materials. (Though I haven't tried to read Three Days Before the Shooting yet.) Nearly all the parts are good, and many are jaw-droppingly amazing. But the assemblage is a mess. Disjointed, uneven, poorly sectioned and distributed, and just a burden to wade through. I really wish it wasn’t half in italics, that quote marks were deployed more often, that chapter and section breaks were more frequent. Maybe even invasively signpost it bit (e.g. “at this point, we assume the author intended a lengthy story about X, which takes us from what you just read to the next part”). Basically the editing is abysmal, and makes this book a burden and a chore.
annagroovy's review against another edition
5.0
In the notes at the end of Juneteenth, Ralph Ellison's editor includes this musing from Ellison: "Was it perversity, or was it that the structure of power demanded that anyone acting out the role would do so in essentially the same way?"
I think this is a great framing of the question at the heart of Juneteenth, a novel about a white boy raised by a black preacher to become a preacher as well who runs away from that life and becomes a race-baiting senator in the pre-Civil Rights Era period. Ellison asks hard questions of us about identity, race, America, and parenthood in searing ways. Infused with the rhythms, cadence, and imagery of black oral tradition, Ellison's prose is absolutely beautiful.
Although I'm not a huge fan of the way women are portrayed in this novel, I still felt that it necessitated five stars because of the beautifully tangled and complex relationship between Hickman and Bliss and the stunning prose.
I think this is a great framing of the question at the heart of Juneteenth, a novel about a white boy raised by a black preacher to become a preacher as well who runs away from that life and becomes a race-baiting senator in the pre-Civil Rights Era period. Ellison asks hard questions of us about identity, race, America, and parenthood in searing ways. Infused with the rhythms, cadence, and imagery of black oral tradition, Ellison's prose is absolutely beautiful.
Although I'm not a huge fan of the way women are portrayed in this novel, I still felt that it necessitated five stars because of the beautifully tangled and complex relationship between Hickman and Bliss and the stunning prose.