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Summary: A Book to be Enjoyed ----------------> Again and Again!
Review:
Dense with powerful symbolism and dancing with artfully subtle language, Invisible Man stands as one of the greatest works of American literature ever. Moving and evocative, but with great dignity and candor, it reveals to the each reader the perpetual search that waits within each of us. While it's not a roadmap to inner truth, it's a damn good start towards self-awareness... Other recent great Amazon Purchases: The Basketball Diaries by Carroll, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
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Summary: FIFTY years later -and Invisible Man is still going strong
Review: A classic never tires the imagination, generation after generation. Invisible Man is cleary a classic. When I first read it, I was engrossed by the depth of psychological insight built into the writing style. It was as if the writer, through his 'narrator', delved into his own deepest hurts and fears, caused by an unjust society and a socially naive protagonist. The 'invisible' man only wanted justice and acceptance in a world that would not accept him and in his quest, he almost lost himself in his internal wonderings. Fyodor Doestoevsky wrote Crime and Punishment as if the whole plot took place inside the head of his agonized protagonist--there is a powerful resemblance between Ellison's and Doestoevsky's style. It takes a master author to narrate subjective thoughts into art, Ellison was indeed one of the great writers of our day.
Rating: 
Summary: A well told story lacking a knock out blow
Review: Ellison's landmark novel, Invisible Man was truly ahead of its time. It dared to exploit the issues of racism at a time when our country most needed it. It became a standard to which many future black authors would look to. By some, it is considered the best novel an African American has ever written. If not, it at least considered by a majority of its readers, an American masterpiece.
Invisible Man opens with the narrator telling us exactly what he is and how he came to be like that. It opens in almost a surrealistic fashion and we are drawn in and instantly captivated. Ellison sets the mood and we desperately want to learn more. He then begins with horrific opening scene of his life. The narrator is never named. We know from the beginning he is a college educated black man. He is also an eloquent orator. In the startling opening sequence to his story, he is manipulated into giving a speech at what he thinks is a dignified event. It is nothing more than a horrific display of racism in which white men use black anger and fighting as a form of mere entertainment. This scene sets the mood of the novel
After the opening we follow the nameless protagonist through his life. First, he gets kicked out of college by the black college president for not treating a rich white donor as he should. This black president promises him a job, but ironically the letters that he sends to all the "would-be" employer's of the nameless narrator are in actually warning to not hire him and not letters of recommendations as he promised. The narrator realizes this and has to take up a job at the local paint making factory. Here we learn some symbolism of the "white" world as Emerson brilliant uses metaphors comparing the paint to racial misunderstandings.
Eventually, a member of the "brotherhood" which is a black and white semi communist party hears a magnificent speech delivered by the narrator, which he gives to an angry black mob on the verge of an attack on white officers. The member of this organization is impressed with his speech and the nameless narrator becomes the spokesman in the city of Harlem for this organization.
The nameless narrator learns that the organization is merely using him and he is just a pawn for them The bulk of this story is the narrator coming to grips that he merely is just an invisible man to these people, most of whom are white, and they just use him to their own advantage. Sadly, the narrator doesn't realize this until it is too late and has been blinded all along by their deception.
In the end, the narrator breaks free of their grasp, but also comes to realize that his entire life to this point has been no more than being an invisible man to those around him. His own self-identity and worth has been lost. Finally, he gets his redemption and learns who he truly is.
It is hard to really name anything wrong with this novel. The language is beautiful, dark, and almost has a poetic ring to it in certain passages. It blends the issues of racism, bigotry, and individualism together in an interesting, well told story. I can't argue with the language or substance. You can feel that this story meant a lot to the author. I believe it is an important book on history in America. Ellison has so much talent and the story is as well told as any I have heard.
So, why not a perfect rating for Invisible Man? If anyone claims it to be a masterpiece I certainly wouldn't argue with them. For me, it came close, but I just kept waiting for something more to happen. What exactly? I'm not sure. It just seems like in order for a book to be a masterpiece something more has to happen. This book has no real climax. The ending was also a bit too preachy and wasn't as straight forward as it could have been. It is like you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the big explosion, the powerful moment that will take your breath away, but it never comes. Of course, not all novels would be appropriate for such a moment or climax, but it seemed a book about these important issues, this powerful statement on the way things are and the way things should be, seemed like it should have had such a moment. It seemed in order to take this book to the next level of genius it needed something more that never was delivered.
Nevertheless, this is a very, very good novel. It is told with brilliant language, the characters are very realistic and the setting was dead on target. The power and emotion I thought it would exhume just didn't come to me. I just wish it could have affected me more somehow. How it could have done that exactly? I'm not sure, but I kept getting this feeling that something was missing. The answer might be as invisible as the character himself.
Grade: A-
Rating:
Summary: Keep Reading!!!
Review: Everything that you've read so far will eventually fill a deeper meaning!It was assigned by my English Teacher who seemed to tell us each day what was coming next. At times, it was the most discouraging thing that he could have done, yet in the beginning, it kept the class interested. I sat up many nights reading the book, chapter after chapter. The novel connects people. As a white Montana girl from the heart of the Rockies, I don't have the culture of Harlem around me. I recommend this literary work of art to any teacher wanting to educate their students. Ellison's book gives insight on the difficulties and betrayal life can hand you. His title adds to the personal side of it. As an Invisible Man the reader never learns the main characters name, simply because it isn't important. A name would not add to the significance of the novel, but the invisibility does. By not having a specific label, the author pulls you into the story line, as if you were the Invisible Man. Ellison has also incorporated marvelous imagery and breath-taking facts that make this novel a classic. Facts that are told in such a manner that our children will be reading this masterpiece, growing and learning as humans. "As long as there is humanity there will be novel's like this." "Answer them with yeses." -Grandfather The Invisible Man lives with a haunting rememberance of his Grandfather, and his answer to the indifferences placed on the superiority of the races. Our main character fights with this throughout his life, stuggling to become a man of his own though and disposition. This novel takes you on that journey, revealling one man's ups and downs that eventually leads him into his invisibility.
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Summary: I choose to see him
Review: He is an invisible man, not that he is physically invisible, but because people refuse to see him as he is, or so the story starts. The story is about a youthful, unnamed black man, who starts off naive and full of idealism. Throughout the book, he faces different ordeals, transforms himself several times, and makes many discoveries about the society in which he lives, each time growing as an individual and trying to find his identity. The reason I liked this book so much because the way in which it was written makes you care about something you otherwise might not, let alone know about, how blacks weren't even paid attention to in the United States in the period before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. They weren't so much oppressed or hated, but rather ignored altogether, which, when you think about it, is much worse. It shows just a taste of how much blacks have been wronged, by whites as well as blacks. It also helped my on my path to finding who I was, even though I am not black myself. The only thing I really disliked about this book was the slow pacing. In my opinion, the story could have been told in less detail and in less time, while still having the same effectiveness. This is a book that deals with racism and blacks in society, so know what you're getting into when you read it. Ellison uses a lot of Southern or uneducated diction, which can be confusing at times if you've never heard it spoken before. He also uses a lot of symbols, which I thought were well used and added greatly to the book. This great American novel, though quite lengthy at 500+ pages, is worth the read, even if you're like me and not really into that sort of stuff. I read this novel for an English class, so it was a close reading and I had to go back a lot, reread, and identify many things, things I wouldn't have noticed with just a casual reading. Everytime I went back and read something over, the book made more sense and I liked it more. Even though Ellison addresses many of the racial problems in America, and possibly inspired things to be done about them, many problems still exist today. Perhaps more people need to read it and be opened to another view of things.
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Summary: A different perspective
Review: I don't know which was morer captivating to me: Ellison's writing style or Ellison's message. Obviously a must read for today's generation to understand not only the struggles, but the resulting feelings and perceptions of race at that time. Ellison presents it with such a powerful demonstration of words that you can experience his trials and tribulations. Great read!
Rating:
Summary: Overly captivating
Review: I don't know which was morer captivating to me: Ellison's writing style or Ellison's message. Obviously a must read for today's generation to understand not only the struggles, but the resulting feelings and perceptions of race at that time. Ellison presents it with such a powerful demonstration of words that you can experience his trials and tribulations. Great read!
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Summary: Suggestions for the first and not so first reader
Review: I read this book several times in undergraduate and graduate school and it never failed to promote new concepts and a feeling of intellectual and emotional euphoria--a connection with something beyond description, so full of what it is to be a human being that it even transcends the critical racial issues that are the mainstay of the book. Ellison's book could well be the greatest book to come out of the United States and perhaps the world. The true genius of the book and its author are there for the thoughtful reader to enjoy again and again. One suggestion for a beginning reader, however: consider Reaping the Whirlwind by R.J. Norell as a historical companion piece to this book. The two should be studied together in any literature or history class. As a long-ago resident of Alabama, I can guarantee the non-southern reader (especially) a new and improved connection with the beginning of Ellison's novel. Studying historical Tuskegee, AL in combination with Ellison's college with its confoundingly servile leader and puzzling statue (etc) will give even an experienced professor of literature (as one of mine was) a new root and perspective in comprehending Ellison.
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Summary: Out of sight, out of mind
Review: In his only novel, Ralph Ellison gives the reader an interesting but harsh look into the racial issues faced by African-Americans during times of segregation.
The nameless protagonist begins adulthood full of hope, but he soon faces many setbacks. After an accident involving a prominent white man, he is expelled from his southern college, losing both his scholarship and the respect he once felt for the school's black president. He moves to New York, hoping to find work, but he is less than successful. The Brotherhood, an organization dedicated to preaching equality, hires him, and he becomes a spokesperson for their Harlem section, putting his gift of public speaking to use. He eventually discovers that this association has ulterior motives, and he plans to sabotage it. His efforts are interrupted, however, when an enemy of the Brotherhood launches a fierce attack on the group.
Using a sometimes satirical viewpoint, this novel offers a clear and attention-grabbing perspective of this issue, giving the reader a better understanding than one gets from textbook accounts. It goes beyond the facts and shows how the effects of oppression and segregation are dealt with-in this case, by recognizing the ignorant blindness of society and becoming "invisible," for all intensive purposes.
The vivid symbols and fast-paced plot keep the reader engaged, although it becomes confusing at times with so much happening. Overall, this is a wonderful novel, both in entertainment and educational value, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to open his or her mind and enjoy a well-written book.
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Summary: One of the 10 best from the 20th century
Review: Oh my gosh. If you haven't read this book, you are in for an unforgettable experience. What do we have here? The title "Invisible Man" suggests that we have a book about how African Americans are invisible and deserve greater visibility. So its content would chronical a variety of instances where blacks are invisible. This novel does this. Ellison said himself that he wanted to create a war novel, but the "voice of invisibility" prevented him from doing so. Not so fast, though. The first 300 pages deviate from this concept. I think it might be arguing that blacks are OVER-visible with situations of incest, prostitution, and a riot. Then again, this over-visibility might be due to the invisibility mentioned above. Nevermind. :) The prologue seems to universalize suffering as it despecifies the oppression of blacks. It contains elements of instability and indeterminacy. Ellison conveys his blackness in as white a way as possible. He strays from his African roots as he makes references to oppression in Spain and Germany. Even when he has the opportunity to say something expected - the naked black woman being abused by white slave owners - Ellison makes the girl "the color of ivory." What in the world is going on here??? Ellison is trying to get us to pay attention to his composition, not the suffering of a black man trumatized by contemporary experience. Why? Because the only thing that matters is what the Invisible Man learns throughout the novel. Ellison does not give us a poor black boy who grows up without anything being given to him and is humiliated in white society. No. He gives us a black boy who is at college during the period of Jim Crow. This is one of the highest positions a black person could be in during this time! The Invisible Man is as brilliant, ambitious, and conforming as could be possibly imagined. Given all this information - NOW he fails. And boy, does he ever fail... At the beginning of the novel, the Invisible Man's grandfather gives him a speech before he passes away, telling him not to succeed. And that is precisely what the Invisible Man learns at the end of the novel: success is a trap. He begins to learn this lesson around page 400. Yes, Bledsoe succeeds, but only by being willing to hold onto what he has earned, even if he has to see "every negro hanging from a tree." I truly love this book. The book itself is a hymn to ambivalence - ambivalence to the whites who have oppressed the blacks. It is this that the uniqueness of the African American experience has given to Ellison.
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