Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man is yet another classic that I managed to avoid for many years, but no longer.
I was not prepared for the ride I was taken on —no one warned of all the twists and turns, and the utter ridiculous events that would occur in the very first few chapters, including a battle royal, a tale of incest, a trip to psychiatric institution slash bar for Black veterans, and the list of experiences goes on.
I often struggle with satire —I find it painful to read, and difficult to suspend that hurt in the service of the punchline, which subtlely builds up over hundreds of pages and never seems worth it to me by the end. This, however, is different. And I suppose it means something to be reading this, a tale about a young Black man who has been abandoned and abused by the system and its racism in the South and in the North (Harlem), during the resurgence of BLM protests, this time taking place across the world.