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ggrillion's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
slow-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? It's complicated
4.5
bexlrose's review against another edition
4.0
Politics in 1950s America. A precocious, gifted black boy with a knack for writing grows into an intelligent, driven young man with a talent for public speaking. But along the way and throughout he has to battle with an incredibly unlucky set of circumstances. Used and abused by almost everyone he meets, it's a story of race relations, societal injustice and disillusionment. I'll give it 4 stars, though not an 'enjoyable' read, it feels important and relevant and certainly very well written.
clameron's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
courtbcook's review against another edition
5.0
I had to put it down because of school. I did get really pumped (after only the intro!) and blogged about it. So, here is what I had to say before grad school bullied me into required reading (which is really pretty interesting required reading)...I intend to read this in its entirety as it has been pretty moving thus far.
From my blog:
In the silent speed of summer disappearing, I can hear graduate school approaching like a caboose to the train of freedom and reading for pleasure. In this time I struggle continuously to balance my stress with excitement and my feelings of accomplishment with those of inadequacy and the whole time I find myself wondering, "Is anybody out there?" Are these feelings that stir me from my sleep "normal" for a change of this kind?
This struggle has pushed me to read as much as I can in order to prepare for school and today I have taken time to begin Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I was asked to read this novel in a class on Jazz and Popular Culture as an undergraduate, but as undergraduates often do, I neglected all chapters past the second one. So I have spent my morning slowly and deliberately moving through the introduction to this masterpiece (and after reading only the introduction I can't help but believe that I am about to delve into what will soon be one of my favorite novels...a true masterpiece) and am intently considering the whispers of fledgling thoughts that say that Ralph Ellison is one of America's greatest novelists, and all of this after only the introduction.
In his introduction he discusses the processes that led him to beginning this novel, the awakening of consciousness he experienced in the conceptual phases of this piece in a barn in Vermont. While I was lost wading through remarkable intentions that Ellison describes in the making of this novel I was struck most was his intention of using this work as a response to violence in relationship to the war and, more loosely, in relationship to the "moral blindness" plaguing his global communities.
I will not go on much more, but I will provide some of the most moving passages from this introduction:
“Perhaps it was also to remind me that war could, with art, be transformed into something deeper and more meaningful than its surface violence…”
“And while fiction is but a form of symbolic action, a mere game of “as if,” therein lies its true function and its potential for effecting change. For at its most serious, just as is true of politics at its best, it is a thrust toward a human ideal.”
“...a novel could be fashioned as a raft of hope, perception and entertainment that might help keep us afloat as we tried to negotiate the snags and whirlpools that mark our nation’s vacillating course toward and away from the democratic ideal.”
So, if you read it, and finish it, tell me what you think.
From my blog:
In the silent speed of summer disappearing, I can hear graduate school approaching like a caboose to the train of freedom and reading for pleasure. In this time I struggle continuously to balance my stress with excitement and my feelings of accomplishment with those of inadequacy and the whole time I find myself wondering, "Is anybody out there?" Are these feelings that stir me from my sleep "normal" for a change of this kind?
This struggle has pushed me to read as much as I can in order to prepare for school and today I have taken time to begin Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I was asked to read this novel in a class on Jazz and Popular Culture as an undergraduate, but as undergraduates often do, I neglected all chapters past the second one. So I have spent my morning slowly and deliberately moving through the introduction to this masterpiece (and after reading only the introduction I can't help but believe that I am about to delve into what will soon be one of my favorite novels...a true masterpiece) and am intently considering the whispers of fledgling thoughts that say that Ralph Ellison is one of America's greatest novelists, and all of this after only the introduction.
In his introduction he discusses the processes that led him to beginning this novel, the awakening of consciousness he experienced in the conceptual phases of this piece in a barn in Vermont. While I was lost wading through remarkable intentions that Ellison describes in the making of this novel I was struck most was his intention of using this work as a response to violence in relationship to the war and, more loosely, in relationship to the "moral blindness" plaguing his global communities.
I will not go on much more, but I will provide some of the most moving passages from this introduction:
“Perhaps it was also to remind me that war could, with art, be transformed into something deeper and more meaningful than its surface violence…”
“And while fiction is but a form of symbolic action, a mere game of “as if,” therein lies its true function and its potential for effecting change. For at its most serious, just as is true of politics at its best, it is a thrust toward a human ideal.”
“...a novel could be fashioned as a raft of hope, perception and entertainment that might help keep us afloat as we tried to negotiate the snags and whirlpools that mark our nation’s vacillating course toward and away from the democratic ideal.”
So, if you read it, and finish it, tell me what you think.
ashction's review against another edition
4.0
Truthfully, I didn't fully finish this, but overall found it an excellent American novel and mediation on race and identity.
milesszwarc's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
hannahflora's review against another edition
2.0
While I understand that the point of this novel was to not have a clear identity formed in your mind for the narrator, I feel like his lack of identity made him really hard to connect with and read about. I liked the concept of this book but didn't love so much how it was portrayed. However, the symbolism used by Ellison was a very unique way of writing. It was like the more I learned about the novel in class, and researched it on my own time, the more it made sense and the greater my appreciation for it grew.
I would probs not recommend though outside of for literature educational purposes.
I would probs not recommend though outside of for literature educational purposes.