I'm really struggling with how to rate or review this one. Written 80 years ago, it feels both timeless and outdated. As a novel, it feels both truthful and contrived.

Mr. Wright's goal was to expose systemic racism, primarily to a white audience, and that's where I think he's most successful. (Mr. Dalton, a rich slumlord, keeps rent high in the "Black Belt," while easing his conscience by donating money to the NAACP and supplying ping pong tables to community centers.) While Mr. Wright explains how the character of Bigger Thomas came about (in an essay included in the edition I read), Bigger's psychopathic behavior is hard to accept as purely a product of his environment. All the philosophical discussion of the causes of Bigger's criminal actions come from the mouth of a Communist, Jewish lawyer (in court scenes that go on far too long).

The next author on my "classic of the month" list is James Baldwin, who was famously critical of this novel in his essay "Everybody's Protest Novel." ( )

Couldn't finish it. Excellent writer, but I couldn't handle the self-destruction of Bigger. Maybe too good a writer forcing me to get too involved with the character ( )

I *loved* this book, and gave it 4 stars only because the final portion of the story fell flat for me (otherwise, it would have gotten a definite 5 stars). Most of the book was riveting. I also loved his memoir "Black Boy." ( )

Native Son by Richard Wright pulled me in and refused to let go. I started reading thinking this would be just another novel, just another story, but I soon found myself questioning my reactions, my attitude, and my beliefs. I found it oddly relevant to today's world in a way that made me sad. I had to remind myself multiple times that the book was originally published in 1940. Wright dropped me into Bigger Thomas's heart and mind even when I didn't want to be. Bigger's fear permeated the pages and wafted up from the words. His rage ran as an undercurrent throughout the book. The intensity with with Wright tells the story is at times uncomfortable but still engaging and intriguing. Native Son does little to elicit sympathy or even compassion from the reader though it does push the reader to examine the norms of society and the justice system when the book was written as well as those of the present. ( )

This was a difficult but important book to read. The essay at the end, entitled “How Bigger was Born,” is equal parts an exploration of Wright’s creative process and a klaxon sounding against white ignorance of the black experience. When Wright began this essay talking about the overused trumped-up charge of r*pe levied against black men in the Jim Crow era, I couldn’t help but think of the reaction of many conservative whites to #MeToo, to the effect that they were worried that their sons’ or their own lives would be ruined by false accusations of sexual misconduct. Wright would surely say something to the effect of “Now, you understand something of what we’ve been going through.” I don’t recall if there were any black commentators who made this point, but it wouldn’t surprise me. A key difference, of course, is that the vast majority of mostly powerful whites who were accused were likely guilty, whereas the vast majority of kostly powerless blacks were likely innocent.

I also recognized some parallels to Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984: a strong desire to rebel against an oppressive system, couched even in terms of violence, but ultimately the same fate and failure. ( )