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A review by kberry513
Invisible Man: Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison
1.0
So....it pains me to rate this so low because I know it's supposed to be an important piece of literature...but my ratings are for me and generally in terms of did I enjoy the story (or if it's not really the kind of story you enjoy, did I educate myself in some fashion by reading it). Neither of these books were enjoyable reading experiences for me, nor do I feel I got anything out of it. There were an uncomfortably high number of very off-putting sexual....encounters doesn't seem like a strong enough word...in both novels, more so in the first than the second, and while the author was undoubtedly a talented writer, the writing style isn't one I connected with.
I read Juneteenth first even though it was second in this copy because I decided to start reading it on Juneteenth and it felt appropriate. It was a slog. The introduction explained that the author worked on if for decades, lost a large portion in a fire, and died before finishing it. It definitely could have used much more editing. I don't enjoy the stream of consciousness style, and I hate when text doesn't use quotation marks during paragraphs of conversation back and forth; it makes it very difficult to follow. It didn't feel like it told a coherent story either. I thought maybe the reason I didn't connect with it was due to it's unfinished nature.
But after slogging my way through Invisible Man (which I had initially confused with the similarly titled HG Wells story), I can confidently say I'm just not a fan of the author. I expected the story to make me uncomfortable - it focuses on the plight of the Black man during a particularly shitty time to be one and society today still suffers from many of the issues people like to pretend have been resolved. But I wasn't made uncomfortable by the racial bits, but by the creepy sexual ones, which didn't feel necessary. The author tends towards heavy handed symbolism which is also not something I enjoy in books. And many of the small annoyances (and likely the sexual stuff I found very off-putting) were undoubtedly intentional, but I always struggle with connecting with books that have a main character I can't in some way identify with or at least understand better while I am "in their head" - and this one just doesn't do it for me.
Most other contemporary American novels from this particular era also bother me, so maybe that's why? However most of my complaints are just personal preferences and not an indication of how well written or important these novels are
I read Juneteenth first even though it was second in this copy because I decided to start reading it on Juneteenth and it felt appropriate. It was a slog. The introduction explained that the author worked on if for decades, lost a large portion in a fire, and died before finishing it. It definitely could have used much more editing. I don't enjoy the stream of consciousness style, and I hate when text doesn't use quotation marks during paragraphs of conversation back and forth; it makes it very difficult to follow. It didn't feel like it told a coherent story either. I thought maybe the reason I didn't connect with it was due to it's unfinished nature.
But after slogging my way through Invisible Man (which I had initially confused with the similarly titled HG Wells story), I can confidently say I'm just not a fan of the author. I expected the story to make me uncomfortable - it focuses on the plight of the Black man during a particularly shitty time to be one and society today still suffers from many of the issues people like to pretend have been resolved. But I wasn't made uncomfortable by the racial bits, but by the creepy sexual ones, which didn't feel necessary. The author tends towards heavy handed symbolism which is also not something I enjoy in books. And many of the small annoyances (and likely the sexual stuff I found very off-putting) were undoubtedly intentional, but I always struggle with connecting with books that have a main character I can't in some way identify with or at least understand better while I am "in their head" - and this one just doesn't do it for me.
Most other contemporary American novels from this particular era also bother me, so maybe that's why? However most of my complaints are just personal preferences and not an indication of how well written or important these novels are