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Summary: Native Son Review
Review: Native Son was a great book. I thought that Richard Wright has really out-done himself. It took you to get past maybe the first chapter before it really catches your interest. But once it gets your interest, you can't put it down. The book is great until the final chapter which takes place in a courtroom.
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Summary: Both Fascinating and Tedious
Review: The basis for the book Native Son is an excellent one, and that Bigger is not an immediately likable character makes the message of the book stronger. However, I quickly found myself bored with the overexplanatory and oversimplified style of Richard Wright. I kept accidentally rereading parts that I had already read because the events of the book just didn't stick in my mind. The pages-long argument of Max in the trial was tedious and tiresome. Although I love the idea behind this book, the way it was written kept me from being interested in it. I much prefer Ellison or Baldwin.
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Summary: a classic!
Review: Native Son is one of the best books of this century. Richard Wright is one of those rare authors who can dwell into the human psyche of the African-American and provide the reader with a clear understanding of that person's inner turmoil in white America. At first I hated Bigger for commiting those atrocious crimes. I wondered why a person would commit such heinous act when he was offered a chance to rehabilitate himself. But as I read further I came to understand that that Bigger would never become the true person he aspired to be because of those invisible chains that bounded his consciousness. One section depicted Bigger's true feelings:if all our skins were peeled off, blacks and whites would be the same. This book should be a required reading in all middle schools in America.
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Summary: One of the best black literature books you'll ever read
Review: I found this book to be very exiting, very real, and extremely authenic as to the feeling portrayed by Bigger in his unfortunate situation. I've read this book 3 times and it still doesn't bore me!
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Summary: The book "Native Son" is one of the best books ever written!
Review: The book will put you in a spell bound with the anticipation of wanting to know what is going to happen next! It also showed me and allowed me to feel (in a sense) the trials and tribulations that young black men endure. Though Bigger's case may be to the extreme, many young african american men can perhaps relate to his emotions if even in a mild manner. Over all, I am just thankful that I was issued this book to read in high school. If anything I encourage all men and women especially (young african americans), to read this book. We book readers need more fantastic authors like Richard Wright!
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Summary: Profound Ideas About Segragation
Review: While the first two-thirds of this book is rather dull and slow, it is worth it for the last third, which is the trial. Techniques used by the State to convict Bigger Thomas of the murder and rape of a younger, white woman, is as interesting as Bigger's lawyer's explanation of how Whites have caused these flaws in the Black society. Very informative and emotional.
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Summary: Bigger than life
Review: This was one novel that I couldn't put down--and it also made me cry. From the first scene--Bigger's violent morning spent in killing a rat--to the final one, this book takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotions ranging from fear to disgust to compassion. Bigger is the ultimate antihero--you love him and loathe what he does. Wright was a genius, and this should be a must-read.
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Summary: EMOTIONAL, GUT-WRENCHING, CHILLING.... BOTTOM LINE: TRUTHFUL
Review: Before I read this novel, I was burdened with a strong ambivalence. Certain people around me who have read NATIVE SON say that it's a horrible depiction of African Americans, structuring them as callous murderers and strictly unlikable. Yet others claimed it to be a masterpiece and when it ranked as one of the top 100 English language novels of the 20th century, I decided to give it a chance. WAKE UP. That's the feel when we start the novel and as it proceeds, nothing much happens for the first several pages. We familiarize with Bigger's violent temper and reputation for being the way he is. He gets a job working for a wealthy white family, a family very charitable to Negroes. Well, even though it seems they do it mainly to unhold the kindheartedness associated with their family name, the family takes in Bigger. There's the daughter, Mary, who introduces Bigger to her boyfriend, Jan, and they are sympathetic with the Negro race. Sympathetic to the point where Bigger hates them for it. While delivering Jan drunk to her room later that night, Bigger inadvertantly smothers her with a pillow while trying to cover up her unsobriety as her blind mother enters the room, killing her. Scared, Bigger cuts off her head and throws her remains into the furnace. Brutal, yeah. I won't say what else happens next but I will tell you my overall opinion on the novel. I think it's wonderful, excellent, and a masterpiece that simply has to be read. Even though if Bigger had been a real person and I was watching his trial on television, I would have said, "Yeah, execute the man", this novel does put something into perspective that some might find disturbing to ruminate over yet will have to agree with. HATE BREEDS HATE. The hate that the white people had administered to him created violent rifts into Bigger, transforming him cold-blooded man. It completely desensitized him and all he knew was how to return the hate rather than to ignore or overcome it. And once hate is constructed, the road to redemption, the road to extrication from that hate is filled with sharp glass and nails and you're a traveller walking barefoot miles and miles upon its path. For example, the scene where Jan and Mary take Bigger to the diner. They're kind, yes, but their sympathy makes Bigger feel like they are still treating him inferior, that he is an animal. It is one of the novels that made me cognizant of a society that cannot exist and that the only way we can survive is by coexisting. I don't know if others got that message but I sure did.Richard Wright, I believe, made a huge risk by writing this novel but it is ultimately grand and groundbreaking. His portrait of human emotions is realistic and unparalleled and though he does not drown the novel with a flood of description, we get the basic idea of Bigger's surroundings. We can see the raggedy conditions at his home, we can feel the hate as Bigger is apprehended, and we feel his isolation as he remains in his jail cell. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS NOVEL. Thanks for your time. - Timmy
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Summary: Fantastic! One of the best books that I have ever read!
Review: The descriptions and details of Bigger's life and social encounters, are wonderful. Richard Wright was in to character when he wrote this book. A wonderful mixture of emotions run through 'Native Son'. Absolutely wonderful!
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Summary: Bigger desrves all the stars he can get!
Review: I obsolutly love this book, it is so graphic and electrifying. I definitly do not think that this book in any way is about "black violence", it's about the corruption of American Dream. It puts you into the body of Bigger Thomas, so you can feel every single emotion he has. I loved Bigger's character and I forgave him all the killing and lying. the book is also very realistic and honest about communism not being the evil of the world, and Mary's "good" parents being ignorant, phonie and blind.
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