Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

It's preposterous that this is rated higher than Invisible Man. Do better, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.

This reads as a much less artful, much more obnoxious impression of Richard Wright or Ralph Ellison. There are only a few sympathetic characters and the protagonist is definitely not one of them. Yet the ending suggests this odiousness is unintentional by Himes, because he really seems to want us to swallow that the three sympathetic characters see something worth loving in our main guy. Frankly it reads as unintentionally autobiographical, and some of the protagonist's inner musings throughout the book -- e.g. his violent misogyny, his anti-semitism, and his general entitlement -- make me feel very uncomfortable toward Himes himself.

The 3rd person omniscient perspective did not work for me at all. Spending 80% of the book in the mind of our protagonist only to occasionally flit into the heads of the side characters was clumsy and distracting. Also, the armchair psychologizing of each of these characters was both dubious and overexplanatory, never more so when he proceeded to explain to the reader how one of the Jewish characters was actually incredibly anti-semitic. Sorry Mr. Himes, I'm just not convinced you know the inner workings of the Jewish mind as well as you think you do, and definitely not well enough to explain it to me without yourself coming across as anti-semitic.

The plot and pacing is off too. You don't ever really understand where it's going, apart from knowing it can't really end well. But then something insane abruptly occurs with about 50 pages left, something that seems like it's from another genre of story, but the rest of the novel doesn't actually resolve it. It kind of goes back to being the same aimless story it was before the event. It's really weird.

Anyway, I've read three Himes novels at this point, the best being If He Hollers Let Him Go, and I don't feel a desire to read any more. I appreciate what he was going for, and I think there's a lot of value in his perspective, I just think he was a distinctly lower tier of writer than others who were going for the same thing. If you're considering reading this I would just recommend reading (or re-reading) Invisible Man instead.