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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I finished this book on the plane to JFK from Madrid and went back to start to read it again almost immediately because the ending reminded me of the beginning. That was an excellent exercise. I would strongly recommend you finish the book if you start it--I think there was a point where I didn't get where it was going, but damn am I glad I read til the end. I am so grateful. The story feels like a loop, of sorts.
I think it was especially helpful to read as I took on roles of greater power and prestige, and this book taught me that they can be taken away as quickly as they are given to you, and knowing what to do about that felt essential. The book discussed ideas of the futility of social movements and social groups, and the difficulties of trying to change history based on the faction you're in. The events in the book signaled a lot of contemporary struggles--two groups with different approaches yet similar goals ultimately destroying each other, when they both could have collaborated for the same outcome.
I also really admire the book's discussion on self-identity, and being MADE invisible as a Black person by society. What does one do when one is invisible, both in history and to the person in front of you who disappears you through their gaze? What does this say in relation to the current moment where people look through each other for the sake of another absurd goal? What does the darkness have to teach us about ourselves? What does it mean to follow what you think other people expect of you, only to be led to darkness (often, literally)? What does it mean to reach acceptance about oneself and the effect one has on the world?
I also appreciated that the main character, much like many Black intellectuals I've met at Yale, are dispassionate, disinterested, go-with-the-flow, and interested in approval. This is maybe one of the options of what may happen to said person/people if they do not chase what it is they need from this world.
Often, this book put me at the margins, at the edge of the world of my ideas. I learned from Ralph Ellison that in order to make something extraordinary, you must be at the margins of something--at the edge, in the darkness, you find something new. More and more, do I find that to be the case. Of course, you must have a way out of those conditions in order to make these findings clear and accessible to people through collaboration and dissemination (books, etc.), but overall, it is these fringe spaces that make the thoughts a possibility to begin with.
Overall, extremely in awe of Ralph Ellison, and I am coming to understand where him and his influences were in community--isolation does not make a genius, but collaboration with people alike to your values + aspirations does. It starts there.... and lots of life experience.
I think it was especially helpful to read as I took on roles of greater power and prestige, and this book taught me that they can be taken away as quickly as they are given to you, and knowing what to do about that felt essential. The book discussed ideas of the futility of social movements and social groups, and the difficulties of trying to change history based on the faction you're in. The events in the book signaled a lot of contemporary struggles--two groups with different approaches yet similar goals ultimately destroying each other, when they both could have collaborated for the same outcome.
I also really admire the book's discussion on self-identity, and being MADE invisible as a Black person by society. What does one do when one is invisible, both in history and to the person in front of you who disappears you through their gaze? What does this say in relation to the current moment where people look through each other for the sake of another absurd goal? What does the darkness have to teach us about ourselves? What does it mean to follow what you think other people expect of you, only to be led to darkness (often, literally)? What does it mean to reach acceptance about oneself and the effect one has on the world?
I also appreciated that the main character, much like many Black intellectuals I've met at Yale, are dispassionate, disinterested, go-with-the-flow, and interested in approval. This is maybe one of the options of what may happen to said person/people if they do not chase what it is they need from this world.
Often, this book put me at the margins, at the edge of the world of my ideas. I learned from Ralph Ellison that in order to make something extraordinary, you must be at the margins of something--at the edge, in the darkness, you find something new. More and more, do I find that to be the case. Of course, you must have a way out of those conditions in order to make these findings clear and accessible to people through collaboration and dissemination (books, etc.), but overall, it is these fringe spaces that make the thoughts a possibility to begin with.
Overall, extremely in awe of Ralph Ellison, and I am coming to understand where him and his influences were in community--isolation does not make a genius, but collaboration with people alike to your values + aspirations does. It starts there.... and lots of life experience.
informative
inspiring
reflective
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I went into this fairly blind.. perhaps there is an irony to that..
…What I didn’t expect was a well crafted socio political narrative that was likely super charged when it came out
…I’m left wondering how the world or even individuals got influenced by this book
…What I didn’t expect was a well crafted socio political narrative that was likely super charged when it came out
…I’m left wondering how the world or even individuals got influenced by this book
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes