The Modern Library 100 Best Novels Challenge discussion

January 2011

Invisible Man

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I love the way in which there is such a dream-like quality to how he describes his life before he became the "invisible" man. The first chapter has an almost surreal feeling to it, and you can really feel the absolute madness of what is happening. In a way it almost reminded me of the last chapters of Steppenwolf, with the senseless brutality of violence, and you can visualize in your head the swirl of faces of the jeering and taunting audience.

And than in contrast the second chapter begins to unravel such an idyllic scenes. I loved his opening paragraphs in the way in which he describes the college, and I particularly enjoyed the moon imagery and references.

One thing which tends to annoy me in authors is when they become too verbose in describing the scenery and the landscape, to the point where it just seems to drone on and on. What I really enjoy in Ellison's writing is the way in which he can paint such a vivid picture in the readers mind without having to spend 20 pages talking about hills, grass, fields. To me, he is able to use less words, more effectively to give the reader that visual image without bringing the whole story to a screeching halt.

I am really enjoying now the car ride in which the narrator is driving the founder of the college.

Just for the record, I despised this book LOL.

However, Flannery O' Connor is better because she can get right to the bones of the piece with out much hyperbole.

The book needs to be read in part as an opera placed in modern wardrobe. The book is Le Boheme for the city of Harlem instead of Paris. A critique of my previous idea, is that the hyperbole is partially his orchestration of the piece. It is the sound of the trumpet it hears when he writes. He also love the symphonic orchestration of Strauss, Wagner, and Beethoven. So the words are also notes in a musical scale.

I just finished chapter 4. Very vivid imagery and very clear writing. Chapter 1 was appalling (in subject) and I was glad to get on to the chapters about the college. Like Silver, I am enjoying the narration of the drive around the area with one of the college founders.

I'm up to chapter 15 now. Some parts of the book so far have been very disturbing and shocking. It is, however, believable in terms of what things were happening in that time period. The author has written in a clear way, easy to follow and interesting (though sometimes gut-wrenching). I'm finding this to be a good read.

Just to be clear, I don't dislike it because the prose isn't elegant-- it is. My problem with this book is that the protagonist has absolutely no common sense. He fumbles into one bad situation after another through an idiot savant-like ability to find problems. It strains the reality to its greatest thinking about how implausible these events are. Even if he could get himself into these situations, then a common proverb comes to mind that should be shared with the protagonist: How often can you blame others until you look at yourself? We're supposed to sit back and laud for his ineptitude and pat him on the back saying, "You poor guy." Sorry, one or two situations okay; but to the extent portrayed here, it was simply too much.

I did not expect to like this book, but I ended up giving it 4 stars.

"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." (p. 3) In this coming-of-age story, the unnamed main character, the invisible man, moves from the southern U.S. to the north (Harlem). The book is a strong statement on racism and rage, but also definitely on manipulation of humans and their thoughts and emotions. Our unnamed and invisible protagonist changes from a cocksure teenage college-student to become like a refugee, hiding out in Harlem. Some parts are graphic and difficult to read about the treatment of blacks in the U.S. at the time, but this is an important thing to read and understand what indignities humans are capable of inflicting on other humans.

I started it two nights ago. I've owned my copy for way too long. Thanks for giving me the incentive to finally read it!

I'm on page 70 and so far I am finding it compelling. I can't say I like it, exactly, because the subject matter is really uncomfortable. Ellison's writing is brilliant, though, and the narrator has such a compelling voice.

Gaijinmama wrote: "I'm on page 70 and so far I am finding it compelling. I can't say I like it, exactly, because the subject matter is really uncomfortable. Ellison's writing is brilliant, though, and the narrator ha..."

I felt the same way...very interesting and compelling, but very uncomfortable to read. This is one that I can see why it made the list!

I am an English teacher and really enjoy this kind of thing so I wanted to share:
On the cover of my copy, this book is described as "Candide-like", which I agree it is..has anyone read Candide?
The cover also describes the book as "picaresque".
this page describes the style in detail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picaresq...
Basically, it means that a hero, usually of humble birth, survives a series of random misadventures. It has roots dating back to ancient Rome.
Pretty cool,if you're a literary geek like me!