Invisible Man

“It was as though the very constellations knew our impending sorrow. For against that great – wide – sweep of sable there came the burst of a single jewel-like star, and I saw it shimmer, and break, and streak down the cheek of that one coal-black sky like a reluctant and solitary tear...”

Summary: An unnamed narrator begins his tale by telling readers that he has come to realize that, as a Black man in America, he is functionally invisible. He then tells readers the story of his experiences growing up and going to college in the South and then working in the North, facing revelations of the deceitfulness of others at every turn.

A challenging but rewarding literary achievement. I won’t pretend I tracked every idea as it veered from campus farce to Southern nightmare to urban political satire, stopping along the way to debate the value of protest, tease intra-party pettiness, even dance with the charged world of interracial sexuality. This book has so much to say that’s as relevant today as it was in the 1940s(!) — even if I could use a college seminar to help unpack it all.

A raw social commentary on the subtleties (and extremities) of racism and how it feels to be invisible as an individual of a marginalised group. Who is there to help us? Why can't anybody see our struggle?

The battle royal section (chapter one) is a masterpiece and maybe the greatest thing I've ever read. I honestly can't believe that this was published in the 50s. Everything about this book is so groundbreaking, from the ideas it presents to the style of writing and storytelling itself. Much of the story feels almost dreamlike, especially the battle royal section which is almost surreal in its telling. That section is just so powerful, disturbing, and visceral, I cannot give it justice. Can't say enough great things about this book, it is a new favorite for me.

3.5 stars

A masterpiece, a magnum opus, glad I read it. A bit too obscure for me but no less deep, meaningful, and timelessly relevant.

Save for a few times that actually date the book, this could apply to modern times. It always makes me sad that while it feels like so much as changed, at the same time so much has not.

The words flow together poetically at times, which makes some of the monologues a little too long, a little too wordy, but the almost 600 page book flew by for me. It reads very much like horror. I felt on edge, scared through most of the book, waiting for the next awful thing to happen.

“The world is a possibility if only you'll discover it.”

Reading this for school most definitely took the fun out of it, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Invisible Man follows an unnamed black narrator who speaks of his invisibility. His invisibility is due to him being a black man in the early 1900's United States.

Throughout the novel, we follow him on his journey to becoming someone, anyone with importance. His identity changes from time to time, from him learning new lessons or becoming involved in certain crowds. He chooses his actions based on what he feels but also based on how the white men around him want him to act.

This book has many lessons and morals to learn from and I truly feel that it is an important book to read.

The main thing I loved about this book was the writing. Ralph Ellison has a way with words and a way of making the book feel natural. The language/prose makes you feel like you are there with the narrator, experiencing what he is experiencing and learning the lessons he learns.

It was hard to get through, though, because of the philosophical take. Many pages were just filled with long paragraphs of the narrator talking about life, invisibility, equality, death, identity, etc. and I found myself bored very often. But in the end, those pages are the ones with the lessons and ideologies we need to be exposed to and learn from.

i suck at ending reviews so bye lol

斷斷續續看完ㄌ... hen好看

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.

So. After two weeks. I have finished “Invisible Man”. I have a lot of opinions and thoughts about this book, but one thing is clear. The message was profound and blaring and loud. The many characters all represented a facet of society that tells the black man what to do and what to feel. They are, essentially, an invisible creature. People who are pushed around by ideologies and different agendas by different groups proclaiming “equality” or “justice” or “fairness”. The Invisible Man tries to be who he is not. He tries to be everything and anything these people demand for him to be, but he realizes that it was all for naught. He is an outsider yet an insider, but a whole different thing altogether. He knows that although people may not know it yet, he is speaking for them too. I just hope the masses realize this and give him the proper acknowledgement.
Gooooood book.

God I hate this book. It's a beautiful, symbolic monstrosity and I despised every page even while congratulating Ellison on the layers of meaning that would make an onion feel inadequate.

Heavy with metaphor, and tragic. Middle third is weak but the end is incredible.

Ralph Ellison's only successful novel Invisible Man was an instant classic in its initial release in 1952. The nameless narrator gives us his story on how he came to be an “invisible man”. Living in an abandoned basement, this African-American recaps about his struggles in the south which expanded as he migrated north. And the search for self- identity was at stakes as he made bad choices of who to associate with. With all the social and political conflicts from the book and the time period in which it was written, Ellison did a great job of getting into this ambiguous characters mind and speak to the audience, which creates a two- way communication in literature. With all the African- American history incorporated in it,its better that we read it in class, in order to get the full concept of the novel. I give it 4 stars, and anyone who wants to read about individuals in search for their identity in a clashing society, then this is a great book for you.

The year is 1952. An aspiring author, encouraged by some of the most reputable artists of his day, comes from the Harlem Renaissance with a debut novel that leaves readers speechless. The story begins with one of the most vivid introductions and jumps into a first chapter that is enthralling. Critics heap praises on the work and compare it to the works of Doestoevsky. Within a year the novel has won the National Book Award. It is perhaps the most eye-opening account of the black experience in America ever written in novel form. It opens the door to a new era of respect for the black novelist.

Flash forward over fifty years and there are many conclusions one could make about what happened between 1952 and today for this novel, Invisible Man. Of course its author, Ralph Ellison, went on to write many more successful works, each becoming stronger until he was regarded on an equal literary stance with other greats such as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Twain. Someone in Hollywood has attempted to make at least one decent film adaptation of the novel. And of course it is heralded by the likes of Oprah who praise it for its insight and its five decades of influence for black youth.

None of this happened, though. It is as if Ellison's Invisible Man was invisible itself.

That's not to say that there is not still great respect for the book—it appears on nearly every list of greatest books of the 20th century. Personally, I expect more, though. Perhaps this is some fault of Ellison's. He did, after all, spend nearly forty years writing a second book that he couldn't finish. Had he completed three or four equally compelling works, would he be celebrated today as a great? Or perhaps the overarching themes of Invisible Man—multi-dimensional race relations and the pitfalls of ideology—are too much, even today, for some.

Whatever the case, I went into this book with some apprehension. I had read the first chapter a couple years back and had put it down to let it all marinate in my mind. I knew the rest of the novel couldn't live up to that beginning, but I was curious. Finally, I relented and proceeded to finish Ellison's masterpiece. Naturally the intensity unleashed at the beginning dies down–it would be cloying if it didn't. The same wonderful imagery and evocative story-telling continues throughout, however, and Invisible Man lives up the title “classic.”

The only disappointment I felt upon completing this book was the knowledge that there was never another. A debut novel this grand deserves another.