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Summary: Incredible Saga
Review: E. Lynn Harris is the best writer I have ever encountered. His written works of art are descripted, tasteful, intriguing and wonderfully exciting. For every page you read, you become more excited and eager to have more. E. Lynn Harris covers the lives of 5 to 6 friends and associates and their relationships and trials with marriage, homosexuality, heterosexuality, career, children and life. This is a must read. If you love this book you'll love the sequils "Just As I Am", "And This Too Shall Pass", "If This World Were Mine", "Abide With Me", and "Not A Day Goes By".
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Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: I READ THIS BOOK AND THOUGHT THAT IT WAS YES EVERY INTERSTING TO READ BECAUSE OF WHAT IT DEALS WITH. I THINK THAT THIS BOOK WOULD HELP OUT THE PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT BEING GAY OR BI OR LESBIEN IS WRONG FOR OR COMMUNITY!!
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Summary: Invisible Life
Review: Yes, this was an invisible life for Raymond Taylor. I could not believe what I was reading, but I did enjoy this book. After I read this book I was very observant about the men that I met. This book was good and I hope that he keeps on writing.
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Summary: Thank You E. Lynn Harris!
Review: I was hesistant about reading "Invisible Life" because of the gay characters, but now I'm glad I did. Harris is an awsome story teller. The characters were so real and genuine. I could feel Raymond's struggle with his sexuality. And I could feel Nicole's pain about Raymond's betrayal. I finished this book in one afternoon, and cried through the last sixty pages. This book left me with a better understanding of homosexuality. Before I just viewed it as a life style choice that some people made. But now with the help of Mr. Harris I see that homosexuality is much more complex and deeper than a simple choice.
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Summary: A complete waste of money . . .
Review: Although I am usually an avid reader of books about politics and religion, I thought that a brief foray into the world of gay literature would give my critical thinking skills a welcome rest. What I discovered when I read this book, however, was that my brain had shut down entirely. One of the reasons why I bought "Invisible Life" was because it is listed as PlanetOut's number one book for gay fiction. After reading it, I see no qualities in the writing that even deem it suitable for publication; how it became a bestseller is beyond my comprehension. The writing style, as many other reviewers have pointed out, is extremely trite and childish. I am fully confident that given the same story, I, as well as many others, could've written a better book than E. Lynn Harris did. The characters seem very superficial, and their actions are often things that you would never see happen in real life. Usually, when reading fiction, I pick out a character that I identify with and I "become" that character when reading the book. I could not do that in this book, partly because, as some of the other reviewers have pointed out, there is hardly any character development whatsoever. Furthermore, the plot is almost as ridiculous as the characters are. The entire plot seems to be focused around getting the main character into his next sex scene, which is also poorly written, I might add. Overall, I would say that "Invisible Life" was a huge disappointment. I forced myself to finish the book to see if there were some redemptive qualities in the end. Finding none, I literally threw the book away. A landfill is probably the most appropriate place for such a terrible piece of writing.
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Summary: A Page-turner as it's Finest
Review: Harris, allows us to venture the seasons of Raymond Winston Tyler Jr's, life from, his first love with high school girlfriend Sela, his first intimate relationship with a man (Kelvin), his struggle to distinguish between the love he has for Nicole and Quinn, his friends Kyle, J.J. and Kelvin's fiancee' Candance, as well as his parents and little brother Kirby. Tyler's character shows that the capacity of love and to be loved has no boundaries, irregardless of his sexual preference. This novel is so beautifully written, I completed it in 2 days. I look forward to reading all of E. Lynn Harris work of art.
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Summary: A mind-opener for the passive reader
Review: A friend gave me Invisible Life to read on a road trip. I am the type of person where as if something doesn't grab my attention right away, it's a problem. After picking up the book at several different times, I almost decided not to continue it. While bored out of my mind, I picked it up and just read and read and read, until the book was finished. What took several weeks to start, only took what seemed like moments to finish. I can appreciate a new author. It's not easy putting all the thoughts that linger in your mind for so long into a masterpiece on the first try. Raymond Tyler's college years vividly reminded me of my own. I stopped for a moment to think of how many black male athletes at my school were possibly gay. This opened up a new frame of thought for me. I have known several women athletes who were bi-sexual, but never had I phantomed the notion of black male athletes being gay. For a moment, I wondered how Harris would describe two men making love tastefully, and without intimidating passive minds. At any rate, he gave the book a dramatic twist that kept me constantly reading trying to figure out what would happen next. I couldn't wait to get the the next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Story That Needed to Be Told But Was Poorly Written
Review: I read this book when it first came out. I met and spoke with Mr. Harris briefly when he gave a lecture at my university in 1997. I am glad he wrote this book because he is telling the world what they should know about the invisible lives of black men and the women that they hurt. I think the author's writing style is extremely simplistic but I felt it was decent for a first novel. This book really made an impression on me because it was really my first look at how difficult life can be for a gay black man. One thing that I did not like about it was how Mr. Harris gave the impression through his depiction of Ray that most black men have these feelings and struggle with them. He seemed to give the impression that any man could be turned on to homosexuality if he found a man who was persistent enough which I don't believe at all. I never read anymore of Mr. Harris's books for that reason. However I do applaud his efforts to expose the lies carried on by men in our community.
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Summary: so very sad
Review: After seeing this book on several bibliographies (re: bisexuality), I decided to take a look at it. What I most deeply regret is that I bought this thing...I actually PAID for it. My mistake. Don't follow my bad example! Harris' writing is just plain bad, there's no way around it. When he mentions "Martini and Rossi Asti Spumante" like it's a fine champagne, you know something's wrong. The characters are thinly drawn and the plot fails to be compelling (largely due to the Junior High-grade writing level). How Harris has gotten to be so well-known is perplexing. Maybe his writing has improved since this poorly written novel. Maybe not. "Invisible Life" may be easy to swallow, but if you have even a single critical bone in your body you should stay well away from it (or suffer the frustration that I went through). While the perspective of the bisexual African-American may be under represented (if at all), this book will in no way enlighten or inspire you. Read James Baldwin's "Another Country," please, even if the only "bisexual" content can be found in the inclusion of equally well-written gay and straight characters. At least you will be treated to a well-written novel. "Brother to Brother," published by Alyson, is an excellent collection of poetry and prose by black gay authors. I do wish I could suggest an explicitly bisexual African-American oriented book but as yet I am unaware of such a novel. You won't find anything worth your time here, though. I encourage Mr. Harris to learn his craft if he is going to continue filling the shelves with his words. I encourage book-buyers to seek out better things to spend their money on in order to prevent substandard authors from dominating the market.
Rating:
Summary: Oh My
Review: This book was recommended to me by a friend. I was very leary at first but I thought I'd take a chance. I enjoyed the book, although I found it to be very graphic. I like the fact that it was somewhat open-ended. It left reader wanting more. I have continued to read all of Mr. Harris' novels and I enjoyed all of them. Some are better than others. But one thing that is a sure bet-Basil Henderson is the central figure with many issues that leave this reader, at least, wanting to know more. My hats off to Mr. Harris because I was truly reluctant.
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