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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
at times is a fever dream and at times it's so brutally real it's almost unreal. my professor said about this book that if you boil down all the fantastical surrealism, you get something very real and i think that is a fantastic way to describe this book.
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
absolutely incredible book, i was supposed to read it 20 years ago, i read parts and knew it was great but it was too much for me. obvious why it should be required reading. masterfully written. at times it felt like a novel mixed with poetry. the writing and story are both perfect.
Ellison's writing is beautiful with rich imagery and astute observations. I think what I didn't like about the book is the protagonist's stupidity. I wanted him to figure out things faster. I felt he was pandering to the readers' stupidity--or ignorance--more than writing a worthy novel.
Still, one of the best books I've ever read.
Still, one of the best books I've ever read.
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
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:
No
great book! wrote my term paper on this. genuinely enjoyed it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
**New Review
Apparently it's been six years (SIX YALL I AM REALLY GETTING OLD) since I last tried to read Invisible Man? In my last review I said that I would try reading it again in about ten years and in retrospect I was not lying very much. I do admit that I tried reading this when I was far too young (at the tender age of what...14?) and even now, I am not sure how to feel about this. I actually feel a bit shaken up by it...
The narrator is clever, as is Ralph Ellison's writing. I read this as purely a novel, although I figure that the entirety of the book is a long extended metaphor...for something. It read as an allegory but again I read it as a novel, centered on the life of an unnamed protagonist. In the tradition of James Weldon Johnson and even Richard Wright's Native Son, I read this book and fell in love/hated the protagonist, knowing all the while that he was supposed to represent all of these things.
I am not sure but it seems that Ralph Ellison is severely underrated.
There is not much to say about this novel other than I'm shocked. The way that Ellison subsumed this mysticism with sociology was breathtaking. I really don't even know how to describe how strange it was to read this novel for so long and feel entirely within it and without it at the same time? I'm not sure that I understood 100% of it and I'm not sure that I should upon my second reading of it. There was so much happening that didn't even seem to fit within the length of 400+ pages. It didn't feel like enough and yet it was.
Anyways, I'm obviously rambling here quite a bit and that's mostly because I really am shaken up by this novel. It's something everyone should read if only because, Ellison is probably one of the best writers I've read from this era -yes, black or not- and one of the only things that I wish this novel did better is the inclusion of more women. If our unnamed narrator is the invisible man, where are the invisible women? Or even better, what is the inclusion of women other than mammy archetypes and white femme fatales? I hate that this is always the exception for a good book from this era and upon further analysis it may make me more upset but for now I'll leave this at an inappropriate 4 stars.
****
I am so ashamed of myself. You wanna know why? Because I didn't have the patience to finish this book :(. There were just too many long speeches. For instance the narrator in the book would be doing something and out of the blue start talking about something for a really long time. Or, there would be a character that would talk about something for a REALLY long time, like for at least 4 pages. And then out of nowhere there were these italicized parts that to me seemed to be totally unrelated to the situation at hand. All that plus the fact I felt Ellison put too much time in describing scenery made it almost impossible for me to finish this book. I am very disappointed in myself. I think maybe when I'm a little older I'll try to read this book again. And maybe I'll buy it myself because the fact that my book kept being due at the library didn't help me finish the book either. For now, however, I think I'll set this book aside for a later date. See you Invisible Man in about 10 years! :)
Apparently it's been six years (SIX YALL I AM REALLY GETTING OLD) since I last tried to read Invisible Man? In my last review I said that I would try reading it again in about ten years and in retrospect I was not lying very much. I do admit that I tried reading this when I was far too young (at the tender age of what...14?) and even now, I am not sure how to feel about this. I actually feel a bit shaken up by it...
The narrator is clever, as is Ralph Ellison's writing. I read this as purely a novel, although I figure that the entirety of the book is a long extended metaphor...for something. It read as an allegory but again I read it as a novel, centered on the life of an unnamed protagonist. In the tradition of James Weldon Johnson and even Richard Wright's Native Son, I read this book and fell in love/hated the protagonist, knowing all the while that he was supposed to represent all of these things.
I am not sure but it seems that Ralph Ellison is severely underrated.
There is not much to say about this novel other than I'm shocked. The way that Ellison subsumed this mysticism with sociology was breathtaking. I really don't even know how to describe how strange it was to read this novel for so long and feel entirely within it and without it at the same time? I'm not sure that I understood 100% of it and I'm not sure that I should upon my second reading of it. There was so much happening that didn't even seem to fit within the length of 400+ pages. It didn't feel like enough and yet it was.
Anyways, I'm obviously rambling here quite a bit and that's mostly because I really am shaken up by this novel. It's something everyone should read if only because, Ellison is probably one of the best writers I've read from this era -yes, black or not- and one of the only things that I wish this novel did better is the inclusion of more women. If our unnamed narrator is the invisible man, where are the invisible women? Or even better, what is the inclusion of women other than mammy archetypes and white femme fatales? I hate that this is always the exception for a good book from this era and upon further analysis it may make me more upset but for now I'll leave this at an inappropriate 4 stars.
****
I am so ashamed of myself. You wanna know why? Because I didn't have the patience to finish this book :(. There were just too many long speeches. For instance the narrator in the book would be doing something and out of the blue start talking about something for a really long time. Or, there would be a character that would talk about something for a REALLY long time, like for at least 4 pages. And then out of nowhere there were these italicized parts that to me seemed to be totally unrelated to the situation at hand. All that plus the fact I felt Ellison put too much time in describing scenery made it almost impossible for me to finish this book. I am very disappointed in myself. I think maybe when I'm a little older I'll try to read this book again. And maybe I'll buy it myself because the fact that my book kept being due at the library didn't help me finish the book either. For now, however, I think I'll set this book aside for a later date. See you Invisible Man in about 10 years! :)
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The audible book was the best way to really experience all the different voices of the characters the narrator comes across. A wonderful book covering several Black Stories by use of frame stories combined with gorgeous prose and symbolism. Gripping.