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Title: Native Son by Richard Wright, Jones James Earl ISBN: 0-89845-916-8 Publisher: HarperAudio Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.27 (137 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: a classic!
Comment: Native Son is one of the best books of this century. Richard Wright is one of those rare authors who can dwell into the human psyche of the African-American and provide the reader with a clear understanding of that person's inner turmoil in white America. At first I hated Bigger for commiting those atrocious crimes. I wondered why a person would commit such heinous act when he was offered a chance to rehabilitate himself. But as I read further I came to understand that that Bigger would never become the true person he aspired to be because of those invisible chains that bounded his consciousness. One section depicted Bigger's true feelings:if all our skins were peeled off, blacks and whites would be the same. This book should be a required reading in all middle schools in America.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Book, Not Classic Literature
Comment: Richard Wright created a daring, insigtful book when he wrote Native Son in 1940. As a black Communist sympathizer, Wright was a member of two of the most oppressed and hated groups in America, but he wrote a moving novel explaining his liberal ideas and explaining the plight of African-Americans. Using the crimes and trial of a tragic black murderer, Wright persuasively lays out his ideas about race and politics, and how society would be better off if they gave blacks a chance at the same education, jobs and housing that whites had available to them. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, but one that is slowly, but surely, gaining acceptance to this day.
Aside from the subject matter, which makes this book an excellent historical (seeing as the setting is now 70 years ago and hardly recognizable anymore) look at race and class relations, politics, and urban America, this is a very well written story. The main characters are diverse and interesting, the action is rapid, and the dialogue, both external and internal, is gritty and realistic. It flows well and is a quick read. It is at some points hard to read, because the action is so intense and graphic, but certainly worth the brief gruesome scenes.
The only reason I wouldn't give this book a five star rating and consider it a classic as many people do, is that it becomes bogged down in rhetoric in the end. The murder trial of Bigger Thomas is too long, political, and heavy handed. Of course this was the time when Wright wanted to sum everything up and present his views, but the book slowed to a crawl, he became far to abstract, and really ended the book on a down note. Fortunately this doesn't ruin the book, just makes it not as great as it could have been.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, from the casual reader, to a 20th century historian, to someone who wants to learn more about race, politics, or class relations. It would be an excellent book report book for high school students--not too difficult but a very important and meaningful book--but also good for adult reading groups or academics. Every reader would stand to gain from reading Native Son.
Rating: 5
Summary: Revisited
Comment: I read this in high school, more years ago than I care to admit. Now, after having picked it up again, I find it still as fresh and exciting as it was back then. Wright and Baldwin are two of my favorite authors and they should be given more credit for their remarkable accomplishments.
Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
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Title: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison ISBN: 0679732764 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ISBN: 0060931418 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Native Son (Cliffs Notes) by Lola Amis ISBN: 0822008742 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 25 May, 1971 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin ISBN: 0440330076 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 10 November, 1985 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ISBN: 0684801523 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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