My brain is mush today, but I have time to try and catch up on reviews, so I’m going to attempt to review a masterpiece of literature while coasting on an ebb tide of intelligence.
This is, I believe, the book I have owned the longest without reading. I’ve moved ten times since I bought it in college for a class that didn’t even end up reading it. I have kept it all this time, through lo so many book purges, because I always meant to read it. This year I looked at it on the shelf and I said, this is the year. You do it now or you do it never. So I did it. And it was good. It was a lot, but it was good.
If you are like me until a month ago and haven’t read this, Native Son tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man living in the 1930s. The main goal of the novel explores what racism does to both Black people and white psychologically and socially, and it does this through following Bigger as he becomes a murderer, and is eventually tried and convicted for it. I feel entirely incapable of conveying to you the power of this novel and the nuances of its themes and characters. I can tell you that Wright was a heck of a writer. I found myself compelled to read this even while it was making me uncomfortable and upset. The story pulls you along and then has its way with you.
Very much recommended.
