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What are readers saying about Invisible Man?
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-20 03:15:36.
(Language: English)
  
What does it take to live in a world where you don't make the rules? To simply say yes yes to everyone who makes you jump? Or to turn your head the other way, deciding to go against the system, only to find that in doing so you cannot live in it by consequence. In chapter 1, the narrator tells us he has found a way to become invisible and by the end of the book we find out how. For whatever reason I've read that To Kill a Mockingbird is the most important 20th century American novel that deals with racism but after reading this, the book just seems so tame, so good vs evilish. In books like that, which are more black and white so that the acts of racism are hitting you in the face, there is something unsettling. Here, Ellison goes for the real truth, the black vs white, black vs black, black and white vs white, black and white vs black, reality in which racism belongs to those with not just power in society, but those with influence.Read this book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-19 03:17:13.
(Language: English)
This is a classic work of fiction that I have never read, and I figure it’s about time. I was reminded of it as I was reading the New York Times article called, “Summer and Smoke, An American Cauldron” (5/29/08), about American literature vis-à-vis the unresolved frictions and fervors we have in this country. The main first-person character in this book is an unnamed African American who is an outstanding scholar and speaker, but who considers himself socially invisible. From the back of the book: “Ralph Ellison’s nightmare journey across the racial divide tell[s] unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators.”
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Scott'n'Shana posted a review at 2009-04-02 04:06:30.
(Language: English)
I had this book in the "To Read" box for twelve years and finally read it on a road trip from Kansas to Monterey; it wore me out. Wow! The rich symbolism and themes of a man trying to establish an identity in a society that keeps trying to put him in different cubby holes (and he doesn't fit well in any of them) is riveting. Trying to put a label on the book itself is problematic. Is it African American Lit? Is it simply American Lit? Is it Protest Lit? Technically, all these labels apply, but Invisible Man, to me, moves outside the bounds of all these categories. Wholeheartedly reccommend.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-03-28 02:00:43.
(Language: English)
Didn't like this book at all. Unfortunately for me, I remember discussing the Liberty paint company and how even a bucket of white paint had a tiny amount of black added to it. Socially I'm sure it has its place, but I didn't like it and wanted to just say, "So what."
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-20 08:15:49.
(Language: English)
Although this isn't usually described in casual blurbs as a novel about far left-wing politics, that's actually what it is, as our African-American protagonist is sent away from a black college in America's rural South in the 1950s after an inconvenient blunder which embarrasses the school's clean-cut, pious image, and finds himself involved in the internal struggles of NYC's organized socialist leaders, finding the extent to which racism exists even among the educated white Champions of the Working Masses in 1950s Manhattan. Considered a classic of United States literature for several decades, by now, this is probably essential reading in these current and immediately pressing times. It's also quite the stylistic triumph.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-22 06:09:29.
(Language: English)
Timeless truths and universal themes. Lyrical writing that points to Ellison's musical background. Some parts were over the top and reminded me of Catch 22. But, Invisible Man is profound and what I liked best is the detached unemotional way I Man recounts his harrowing experiences, letting the reader be the judge. Justifiably a classic.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-20 02:47:27.
(Language: English)
I didn't really understand this book until after the election of Barack Obama. When he was elected president, I started noticing that my wants, needs, and genreal well-being were being considered in stores, restaurants and the general public. I started hearing< "Is everything alright? Is there any thing I can get for you?", and wondering what had changed. I guess as I spent my whole life invisible, I would know a change until I became visible. Mr. Ellison was brilliant in the way he painted this issue. This book is a classic, that speaks to anyone who has felt less than or anyone who treat another as less than.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-03 07:32:55.
(Language: English)
I didn't get a lot of this book until I started getting into my Minor in college. I love the part where the protagonist gets a job making white paint, always getting it wrong. I liked the portrayal of a general feeling of precarious consequences lurking around every corner full of double-meaning and contexts that I never really understood in the direct way that must necessarily come from direct experience. I read this one summer along with Baldwin, and Faulkner's "Light in August" not realizing that I was working on a prototype book list for a course in the African American Experience. I just wish I had the literary experience to appreciate this book as much as I did later as when I was actually reading it.
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Grace posted a review at 2011-10-11 11:44:36.
(Language: English)
Very challenging read but a great book. Classic!
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-24 08:59:10.
(Language: English)
Sooooo abstract. I read this book in college, and then it was sooooo abstract that I really didn't get it. I attempted to read it again years later, and I don't think I finished. This third time, being older and knowing a little more about life, I understand the abstract concepts better. I can't say I'm enjoying the book. Ralph Ellison is not my favorite author. His language is too philosophical. I'm not into philosophy. Not sure why I'm reading the book again...
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-21 11:53:02.
(Language: English)
The main character of this book is an unnamed black man who, at the start of the book, considers himself to be nothing but a stereotype and therefore socially invisible. He hides himself away from society. The narrator goes on to describe and try to make some sense from the events in his life which lead to his self-inflicted imprisonment. This is an intelligent novel and the author makes great use of metaphor and imagery to bring to life social issues facing African Americans in the early 20th century, reformist ideologies of the time and most importantly, personal identity. My favorite section of the book is where the narrator dresses in a disguise and is over and over again mistaken for a man named Rinehart. But just who is Rinehart? The lover, the gambler, the reverend? Rinehart seems to be a man of many identities, at the cost of losing his own. The narrator becomes disillusioned with his life and realizes that he has lost his own identity.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-22 10:28:14.
(Language: English)
The critical piece of fiction of the 20th century. Ellison created one of, if not, the best novel ever written. "IM" questions race, status, college, and America itself throughout this mult-contextual piece of literature. "IM" is as fresh today as it was when written in the 1950's; the material being timeless and never truly getting all meaning of the book after numerous readings. The unknown protagonist takes a journey that is filled with different characters that want something from him and also details his frustrations and actions in an attempt to make sense of where his life is going and the complex issues he faces as a black man in America. The story expands from a huge "battle royal" for a scholarship to his treatment at a plush college in the South, to a shack with an "interesting" family, to life in the big city, to a political party that seeks to use him for their agenda, to a showdown with a radical leader over the future of black people in America. The ZENITH novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-17 10:02:56.
(Language: English)
I did like Ellison's intense use of symbolism, and I liked the heavy meanings inherent in many specific scenes and plot points. The bizarre plot elements and situations the narrator finds himself in are both highly entertaining and rather disturbing; it's almost as though the character MUST experience an aspect of every social class. What I disliked was how much it dragged in between the key parts of the novel. I read this for a class, and while I enjoy the class and most of this book, I still don't know what the hell was meant by "invisibility". Obviously the speaker did not mean in a supernatural way; but an individual invisible man, namely the narrator, would not make sense either. I see the narrator as the embodiment of all blacks during this time period, despite their discrepancies and disagreements among the different communities - and I suppose in that sense he may become invisible in the sense of his personal self, but very vivid in terms of that go-betweener... but I still think that analogy is pretty dumb.
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Julia posted a review at 2009-06-26 08:42:07.
(Language: English)
The narrator is a young black man raised in the south who wants to bring about social change. He ends up in NYC working for a political organization as a spokesman. Eventually he learns that he is being used as an object, not an intelligent human. Every time he thinks he’s heading in the right direction he finds that he was only a puppet in someone else’s show with no true identity of his own. “Invisible Man” is rich with symbolism and metaphor. It’s a disturbing book, but I’m glad I read it, and I feel like I could read it several times over, getting something new from it each time.
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Sean posted a review at 2011-07-23 08:28:03.
(Language: English)
actually thought there would be a bit more to it than turned out, but still very entertaining.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-08-08 10:28:07.
(Language: English)
Amazing book! It too me a while to finish but was worth the peserverance. It's a cross between 1984 and Native son. However the disillusionment and isolation expressed by our nameless protagonist in this poignant work of fiction was all too real during the civil rights era, which this book is set. For a Afro-American writer, his style is extremely English ( atleast to me!) but the story very much american and damingly insightful. Highly recommend reading this book-Ralph Ellison is truely one of the great 20th century writers.
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Mark posted a review at 2009-12-17 07:51:29.
(Language: English)
Man, that's one hell of a novel-- I've read it twice now, and it keeps getting better. Though many of its details sound quite dated in late 2009, none of its truths do. Sure, there are plenty of improbable plot turns, but they read as epic/mythic aspects of the protagonist's odyssey. The nuanced, compelling psychological portrait of the narrator is Ellison's true triumph, and the character leaves an indelible mark on your memory (though of course, you'll never recall his name). A secondary detail: the opening scene in the room full of light bulbs is one of my favorite set-ups in literature-- and was nicely staged in a terrific photograph by artist Jeff Wall, an image worth looking up.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-05 05:35:46.
(Language: English)
Beyond abolitionist literature, this novel takes a look at the inherent difference between the colors of black and white and their inextricable ties to American culture. The theme is that blacks cannot cut out whiteness from themselves and whites cannot cut out blackness without loosing a part of themselves and a part of their American identity. The unnamed narrator of the novel puts the whole of his life into the work while opening up questions that deeply plaque any thinking man or woman.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-27 11:19:56.
(Language: English)
Simply the best English-language novel written in the 20th century, point-blank. Sadly, it's ghettoized into the "African-American" literature section today, but its message is universally applicable, which is why I find the work so entrancing. The constant yearning to break free of others' fetters-the need to reject the boxes you're confined to by the rest of society-is something that Ralph Ellison expresses eloquently in this wonderful book. Savagely sardonic, bitter humor that scalds even as it evokes waves of laughter and recognition within the reader, Invisible Man is one of the truly historic works in the American literary canon. Ralph Ellison's magnam opus is a testament to his genius as a writer, and no sequel is necessary.
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Paul posted a review at 2009-01-13 11:14:31.
(Language: English)
The book for anyone who's ever felt alone in a crowd, alienated by people one thinks one knows, taken advantage of, or frustrated by the unwillingness of the vast majority to acknowledge the truth about life. Ellison not only looks at race, but goes deeper to uncover the anonymity of American life in general. The question, "Who am I?" rings through loud and clear as the nameless protagonist struggles against white lies, black lies and the general futility to be recognized for who he is - problem everyone, regardless of skin color, faces in America. A must read that is hardly outdated, even after 50+ years of publication.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-08-06 09:10:21.
(Language: English)
I'm re-reading this book. Stephen and I recently had a rigorous discussion about the role of Communism in the novel as both a socio-political statement and as a literary device. I have always been of the opinion that the book is a stunning triumph until the Invisible Man paints himself Red. At that point the prose falls apart and the momentum that the plot has gained is tossed overboard and lost in the baggage that Americans associate with Communism. Admittedly, I read this book when I was younger and much more militant (I know, I know, how could I possibly have been MORE militant?) so I have decided to give it a fresh read with adult eyes. I'll let y'all know how it goes.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-30 07:47:43.
(Language: English)
Simultaneously surreal and familiar, this book is probably the most vivid, engaging, and insightful book on status and racial tension in the 20th century. Ellison is definitely one of writers I've tried to emulate in my own writing, but I can only pray that I can one day come up with images as unforgettable as the room flooded with lightbulbs or the blindfolded free-for-all. On a side note, a lot of the other reviewers here seem to have completely missed the point. Or maybe they just read the Spark Notes and still felt qualified to review it. I'm not sure why some of you are even bothering to write something if you're just going to say "I read it for school, whatever."
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-25 12:20:10.
(Language: English)
I officially have a love-hate relationship with this book. While I find short stories and snippets a little more suited to my tastes (look up "And Hickman Arrives") Invisible Man makes me think about who I am as a person, and how I love to hear stories of my own brutality and racism. Ellison wrests my jaw from its academic jabber and thrusts the signification of this masterpiece down my throat; it goes down smooth but leaves a fiery trail in my belly.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-27 10:48:05.
(Language: English)
I curled up with this book one night for a nice relaxing read. I probably should have read the back Heehee. I burrowed it from the library because it was on a reading list. Anyway, it was like getting dunked into an arctic lake. The first chapter sent me through a myriad of emotions. Very well written. I kept reading until the the third or fourth chapter when all of the sudden a random guy goes into a long winded tale about having sex with his daughter (It must have gone on for ten pages). By that time I was profoundly disturbed already and decided , since there was little likelyhood I would get anyhting out of this book anyway, to put it down and go to sleep. Well, the next day I returned it to the library and I haven't picked it up since. Someday when I'm in the mood for some heavier material, I'll most certainly read it. But in the meantime- be warry readers! This book is not for the light of heart.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-26 01:36:39.
(Language: English)
I really don't understand why this book is deemed useful by literary critics. Yes, Ellison knows how to use symbolism-- but he does so by repeating the same idea and scenario and naïvety throughout the entire book. I have a feeling Ellison could have gotten his point across through about 150 pages. The plot is so static, and the cleverly-named 'narrator' is just an idiot. I think the smartest thing he did throughout the entire book was steal electricity-- and that was discovered in the first five pages. We were told that this book is one of the most versatile books we, as students, would ever read, presenting the topics of identity, racism, and idealism, just to name a few. But I feel I have learned nothing useful from this book except that when the plot starts to drag, be sure to add something derogatory or obscene or morally unsound to make the reader a tiny bit interested. I really liked the prologue, but ended up hating the book. Too bad Ellison couldn't be that creative with his writing throughout the entire novel. I read this book for AP English, and although my teacher was raving about how useful and amazing this book was, about three weeks into it she was just as finished with the book as the students. She has concluded not to teach it next year because she found it so long and dreary and frustrating that she cannot handle teaching it seven years in a row. In short, I would have much rather been reading Harlan Ellison. At least his plots progress.
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