Native Son

Bigger than life, this was just an insane read.

It's hard to sympathize with the main character for much of the book until you realize that's not what's asked of you. Just be willing to receive and understand.

Only read book one

Well this one was certainly bleak and thought provoking. I was initially tempted to say it was rambling or too long but I think this drawn out, heavy aspect of the book was an intentional part of the experience the author wanted to create.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
A fantastic look into the multiple layers of race relations, oppression, and violence. I felt like a central question of this book was: In what ways do the realities of this world affect the actions of a person?
Wright delivers a great look into the experience of black people in America and doesn't shy away from the fact that there are many sides of the issues at hand–white and black people alike are guilty and are harmed from the systems that are in place.

This book is entertaining and well written. Even though the author tells you point blank that Bigger has always been heading toward jail, you still wonder how things are going to work out. This book is a great fictional piece for people who want to know more and analyze patterns of society. A great read!

Bigger is black, twenty, living with his family in a one-room rat-infested apartment in Chicago, going with a girl he doesn't care about, hanging out with friends he doesn't like, unemployed.

He is forced to take a job to keep his mother and siblings in their apartment. The job is acting as a chauffeur for a rich white family. On his very first night as chauffeur, everything goes wrong and he kills the daughter.

Native Son is a starkly realistic picture of life as a young black man in a big city in mid-20th century America.

Well, I definitely do not recall reading this in high school but it was assigned

Man, this was hard to read but so important. So many important themes and I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface on what Wright was trying to convey. I almost put it to 4 stars because of some disturbing scenes but overall, I'm glad I read this book and it was exceptionally well written.

First of all, I am shocked–shocked this book was published in 1940. Not only was it published by an American publisher, but it was read, well received, and even chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection (although some changes were made to the BotM edition to tone down some of the more objectionable material). Someone explain to me how this happened? This book is four times the controversy of The Grapes of Wrath and yet both were published in the same year.

Now the disclaimer: Most (if not all) books are filled with propaganda of some sort. Sometimes it's sprinkled in there, other times it's dipped in propaganda and it drips out into your lap as you flip through the pages. A reader of Native Son may wish to know beforehand that it is closer to the latter. Readers who have their minds made up about Communism and refuse to find any merit in anything that supports Communism will not like this book. If this is you, don't read this book as you'll only drag down the rating.

Overall, I really enjoyed Native Son. It reminded me considerably of Ellison's [b:Invisible Man|16981|Invisible Man|Ralph Ellison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352854247s/16981.jpg|170957] in regards to style and tone. Considering that Ellison and Wright were not only contemporaries but also well acquainted makes this similarity not surprising at all. Wright did a fabulous job creating a story that garners conflicting emotions from his reader. Though some readers undoubtedly hate Bigger Thomas, and some root for him, most will be both appalled and sympathetic toward him. This is the result of Wright's mastery of the subject and his handling of it. The points Wright makes about race relations through his characters are eloquent and spot on.

I only had two small complaints about the book. First of all, it could've dropped a third of the material and been okay. Throughout the book, Wright is fairly repetitive. Bigger's thoughts often repeat themselves. The book's later scenes drag. And the courtroom scenes, while integral to the book's message, seem ridiculous to me. Were lawyers really allowed to go on for so long? Secondly, Wright seemed to need to explain things a little too much to the reader. Perhaps he believed the audience he was writing to wouldn't get it—and perhaps they wouldn't have—but the dumbing-down exasperates the reader who does “get it.”

Native Son is a unique take on race relations in the early half of the twentieth century. I recommend it for anyone with an interest in the subject.

Powerful!

Richard Wright wrote a very good novel about racial discrimination and the hardships for colored people during segregation times etc. Written in 1940, Wright (a black author)decided to express his feelings towards the world whether they would accept it or not, and became very controversial because a black man actually wrote whats happening in real life, and making the white people aware of their faults. Bigger Thomas is the protagonist of the story and is sentenced to the death penalty because he was accused of raping and killing a white woman. When you are reading the book, you will have new perspectives about this cruel situation and with Wright's great writing, you will feel as if you are right there with Bigger the entire journey until his death.

This is a book that I just couldn't stop thinking about once I'd finished. I alternately abhorred Bigger and felt sorry for him and his circumstances. Could get a little tedious, but worth it.