A review by jkanz
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

5.0

Talk about the absurdity of the final section. Yet so beautifully composed and delivered. I couldn’t help but notice remnants of Dostoevksy’s Notes From Underground. Ellison did an illustrious job in showing us how we truly can’t escape our minds and realities despite how much “gin, jazz, and dreams” we indulge in. Humanity is destined in its diversity yet within that diversity we are conditioned towards conformity. Ellison saw visions of 2020 back in the 50s. Or maybe this is just all a cyclic occurrence of our own doing? As I read this, I also had the opportunity to do some solo traveling through Colorado, Texas, Montana, South Dakota and Washington state. I was able to incorporate the principles of Invisible Man in my observations and experiences of these places with their own realities of what America is. I saw the frequency in which they lived out their truths. Deeply thankful for Ellison in helping me capture that state of being.