Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This book is absolutely wonderful. I didn't want to read it because it looked so long but once I began to read it, I couldn't put it down. I was able to read on what it feels/felt to be African American in America! I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Quieting
Review: When I finished reading this book I felt quieted and stilled. This book reached inside of me and showed me so many ugly things that I try not to think about. It reawoke in me the sense of anger that makes me want to yell out in the streets "Are you people all blind?!" The issuses disscussed in this book are as relevent today as they were in the 1940's, when the book was written. These problems will never go away on their own. My hope is that people will read this book and stop congradulating themselves on never making racist slurs. The racial tension in this country goes so much deeper than a just few jokes or stereotypes. This edition of the book includes several key passages that were removed from the 1940s edition. This novel, along with The Grapes of Wrath, stands out in my mind as one of the most important novels to be found in American literature. I cannot recomend this enough.
Rating:
Summary: A book about oppression and it's consequences
Review:
This is probably one of the best books I ever read. Many people will call this book anti-racist and envoking pity. This book surely is both, but it's more. It clearly reasons the oppression of certain people in society and how society shapes them with expectation, etc. Society expects Bigger, the main charecter, to be a murderer, so Bigger can be nothing other. He doesn't need pity. He doesn't need special treatment. He just need open-minds and people to accept him. He is African American, but the novel clearly proves that his situation is not just limited to different races. The Communists in the book (it takes place in the 30s) are the only other group that understands Bigger's message. The are oppressed by society in the same way. It is well worth reading and clearly shows Wright's ability to prove his point.
Perhaps it also shows why we shouldn't be giving handouts or placing titles and even shows why affirmative action can be wrong because it places distinctions between groups. Special treatment is always wrong and, as Wright has shown, leads to wrongdoings. It's not as Baldwin says, "everybody's protest novel." It's not even close. This novel actually makes you think.
Rating:
Summary: A REAL SUMMARY OF WHAT OPPRESSION IS ALL ABOUT.
Review: This is history. A novel like "Native Son" is what really shows us what brought us to where we are today. Wright combines incredible insights into a man who was the epitome of troubled black America. This along with his wonderful storytelling ability make for one of the most enriching experiences I have had. This is the kind of book that actually does impact your life, well after all of the pages have been turned.
Rating:
Summary: A harsh jolt of reality
Review: You cannot love him, you cannot hate him. You see the forces that shaped him, yet there's nothing you can do to redeem him. Above all you cannot feel sorry for him, thereby purging your guilt for making him what he is. Bigger Thomas is wrong and, if you are white, it is your fault. Written at a time when it was denied by society in general that there was even any blame to be placed, Native Son makes the reader step back and realise where responsibility for the monster really falls. This can be a bitter pill in this age of self-coddling victimhood, but that makes the message just as appropriate today as it was when it was written.
Rating:
Summary: excellent book to read on black struggles
Review: I liked this book because it was about a character who face many struggles. He had conflicts between family, friends, girl friend, and his own behavior on life. I could understand where the character was coming from especially on his situations, money wise. The story gave me a sense of feeling on living a poverty life and what occurs in our mind. Loved this novel will get you to read, lots of exiting events in characters life
Rating:
Summary: Max's "defense" of Bigger is Native Son's only flaw.
Review: Unlike many reviewers, I will not focus on the graphically violent scenes in the novel. Instead, I suggest that understanding the drawn-out courtroom scene is the key to understanding this masterwork.
The plot rolls along until Max opens his mouth. He makes a valid point, "Bigger had no choice but to act the way he did" but by saying the same thing over and over, readers forget the importance of his words. The courtroom is a microcosm of American society (even today) as Whites know of the problems facing most of the African American population but chose not to do anything about these problems because we are sick of hearing cases like Bigger's.
It would be easy to dismiss this book as being Black vs. White. Remember, Bigger kills a white girl and a black girl, signifying just how hopeless his situation truly is.
Rating:
Summary: The Native Son is an exceptional novel.
Review: The Native Son written by Richard Wright is a novel with the most detailed chronologies and authoritative notes. It feels like you are in the novel with Bigger. This novel lets you feel as if you were the main character. You struggle and triumph along side Bigger. If you pick the book up you'll be finished when you set it down
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Appeal
Review: Author Richard Wright (1908-60) was a master of description, and he captures the feel of Chicago and our often cold-shouldered society in this bitter 1940 classic. It's the story of Bigger Thomas, a self-loathing young black man that accidentally kills a white coed, and then kills again in an effort to evade detection. Bigger is hardly sympathetic, but his tragic hand is forced in part by racism. It's as if the author is saying, "Your injustices helped create Bigger Thomas!" Wright's gripping (if contrived) treatment of Bigger's trial indicts such peripheral characters as Mr. Dalton, a supposedly decent man that funds Negro charities - but only after fleecing blacks in the rental market. Readers come away understanding the cruelties of racial injustice, and comprehending why Wright might have named his character Bigger. Some say this classic was loosely based on a 1938 killing on the city's South Side. NATIVE SON is rather wordy in its last chapters, and many dislike the author's pro-communism - naïve sentiments Wright later dropped after learning more about Stalinist Russia. Despite these minor flaws, this classic is gripping, persuasive, and probably Wright's best work.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Native Son
Review: Native Son
by
Richard Wright I read the Native Son By Richard Wright. I liked the beginning of the story because it gives you an insight to Bigger Thomas's pre-story life. It explains that Bigger had been involved in criminal activites and attended a reform school. Also in the beginning of the story, it shows his demeanor when he kills a rat in a very disgusting way. This re-enforced the fact that he was troubled. I also like that the typical stereo type of white people hating blacks is cleared up showing that even before the equal opportunity laws existed, some whites gave African Americans chances to better themselves. An example from this story would be how Mr. Dalton, aka the Rich white man, takes the risk of hiring a young black man, who has had a criminal history, to be his family's chauffer. Another instance is when Mrs. Dalton asks Bigger if he wishes to attend night school to better his education, since he was only educated to the 8th grade. Another interesting part is where the plot starts to add up. On the first night on the job, Bigger is faced with some excitement and some peculiar happenings. For instance, he is driving Mary Dalton, the Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dalton, and picks up one of Mary's friends, Jan. He is a boy with a weird name, kind of like a "Boy named Sue." Jan insists on driving. Jan happens to be a Communist and try's to push some communist pamphlets on to Bigger to show that the Communist party wants to help the African American community. This surprised Bigger and made him feel uncomfortable. The one thing that I didn't like about this book was the graphic description of a later incident with Mary Dalton, when he tries to conceal an event that happens between them. I also looked to find some information on Richard Wright. I found that in real life he was connected to the communist party and had actually married a white woman. He later divorced and then married another white women. I believe that he put some of his real life experiences and feelings into this book. Maybe he was thinking of his first wife when he came up with the character Mary Dalton because in the story there are bitter feelings toward Mary and since he divorced his first wife there may have been bitter feelings.
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