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Summary: exciting the black candide, prose that flowed like h20
Review: Anyone who does not think this is a book worth reading has better not even read at all. Because the way he writes it gives you the feeling you are there with him in each step he takes. He has a lot of ups and downs but mostly downs. But what i would like to say is that it tells you how the human society can be white or black he felt that he did not belong, to be a human. He did what people wanted he was put down he did the opposite the same thing. So that is life black or white.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't deserve the praise it received
Review: I hate to be so crude about my opinion of the book, but it was awful. First of all, I had to read this book for school, and though this may have biased my opinion slightly, I just plain found it dull. It had a wonderful beginning, which made me excited to continue, but after that it rambled to the point of dullness. He would go on and on for chapters describing meaningless things making it very difficult to pick up the novel to keep reading. The epilogue was one giant jumble to me. I couldn't understand the language at times, and the theme he was trying to drive home could have easily been described in a few short paragraphs. The central theme is essential, and it is a milestone in African-American literature, but it is a very boring milestone at that.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: Only great writers such as Ellison can write a novel to remain a dynamic piece of literature more than forty years after its initial publication. Each provocative scene written one after another brings a light shining over the problems of common man.
Rating:
Summary: English literature at its best.
Review: Ellison's novel is simply English literature at its best. The novel takes its reader into a journey of complex thinking, revealing the sad truth about the supressed African American figure. Some chapters will shed tears, others will spring joy. Ellison is a God of imagery and diction; his work is a MUST have classic.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent portrayal
Review: Ellison's greatest and most recognised work is a must-read for anyone interested in modern literature and American History. Ellison manages to capture in the pages of his book the wide range of emotions his nameless hero feels as well as the stark reality of the life of blacks in both the North and the South in the period between the World wars. He objectively shows the difference between the situations and the inescapable common themes inherent in both places through vignettes and series of happenings. Ellison's use of imagery brings to life the sounds, smells, and sights of the narrator's experiences. But by far, the greatest strength of the novel is its characters. From the intrepid Doctor Bledsoe to the ghostly Rinehart, each one is given a personal knowlage that is imparted to the reader, as if they were a person living in that reader's own town. The book is also rich in symbolism, and many characters are in a new series of modern archetypes, analagous many historical figures in the movements of the time period up through the 1960s. The cryptic figures that appear demand use of the reader's imagination. But through and through they retain the individualism and fictional autonomy of the author. I strongly recommend this book, even if read only for personal enjoyment, (of which it is certainly adequate); the reader emerges from following the narrator on his journey with a new understanding of racial factors and their role in the lives of those they affect.
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Summary: Certainly one of the ten best 20th-century American novels..
Review: INVISIBLE MAN is a Bildungsroman, hilariously recounting the missteps of a black boy trying to make his way in the black and white worlds, neither of which he understands. The novel conludes ambivalently with the expressed idea that "the world is possibility," but denies this dramatically when the hero is literally forced underground, in a subterranean hole illuminated by thousands of light bulbs, representing his disillusionment. Up to this point, this young black Candide has made every misjudgment possible, being used by everyone he comes in contact with, including the Communist Party (here called "The Brotherhood."} Both American history and American race relations are seen through a sophisticated prism through the microcosm of the novel.The work is beautifully structured and styled. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Summary: Why he is Invisible
Review: A reader posed the question, why is he invisible? Of course, this is a metaphor. The metaphor refers to how a white person would look at a black person. Not with hate or love. Kind of an averted glance, pretending he or she is not there. I think a contemporary example would be this. You are at the off-ramp to the freeway. A homeless man stands on the street corner. A sign is in his hands, that reads something like "Hungry, will work for food," something like that. Do you stare at the man? Of course not. Do you ignore him? yes, for the most part, even though you realize he is there. The man has become invisible. Much like an african-american man in 1930's america. This is an amazing book, with unbelievable depths of symbolism and meaning. One thing I will leave for the readers of this book: The name "Tod" (a character in the book), means "Death" in German...
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Summary: A TRULY HUMANISTIC EDUCATIONAL GREAT BOOK.
Review: THIS IS A REALISTIC REPRESENTATION OF THE DIFFERENT LIVES OF BLACK MEN AND WOMEN FACING THE MANY SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS WHICH CONTINUED AFTER THE EMANCIPATION AND INTO THE XX CENTURY. IT IS A DISPLAY OF ACCEPTANCE AND DISTASTE FOR WHAT THE BLACK COMMUNITY EXPERIENCED DURING THE EARLY 1900'S. IT IS AT THE SAME TIME AN ENCOURAGING CRY NOT TO FORGET HISTORY AND AN INSPIRING ADVICE TO LOOK BEYOND WHAT MAY BE DECEIVING, BEYOND WHAT MAY BE A LOST PRESENT OR EVEN AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF WHOLE COMMUNITIES DEPENDING ON THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUALS' ACTIONS.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor guy. . .
Review: First off, I had to read this book for school. Usually I don't like "Classics" and destest reading them, even though I love reading in general. This book was ok. The themes of race/class division and the duplicity of the human race were valid and sometimes interesting, but the book just annoyed me. At times it bored me, but mostly annoyed me. Why is this young nameless man so naive! He gets kicked down, abused and injured in so many t bizarre surreal ways it's amazing he hasn't died off due to natural selection! Ellison also adds so many interesting events that he just doesn't follow up on, we HAVE to read about this guy! I think he learns some things in the end, but as this is, I think, an optomistic book in general I predict he'll still get stomped on.
Rating: 
Summary: This book showed truth that no one wants to see-prejudice.
Review: Ellsion showed the cruelty of manknid. We can be so cruel. So cruel that sometimes, people may feel like the world just goes on a round them. They are confused why. They feel like the world ingores them, and they don't like being ingored. As the main character says, "I am not invisible that nobody can see me, I am invisible because they choose not to."
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