![]() ![]() I feel like I could write an essay on everything Native Son took me through. It's not often that I have so many ups and downs with a read- generally, if I like or dislike a book for the first, say, 25%, that is not likely to change in the remaining 75%. I went on quite the journey with this book. How can law contradict the lives of millions of people and hope to be administered successfully? I think Native Son is one of the most powerful and important American books ever written. You can't read this story from a distance. That makes the way the man is treated thereafter so incredibly present and real. This book dares to tell the story of a young black man who, in a moment of panic, commits a horrible act. ![]() There have been many profound and moving stories, both true and fictionalized, of young black men wrongfully accused of crimes. ![]() Those who have studied the Harlem Renaissance know that Richard Wright was a passionate, angry man, the writer about whom other African American writers of his era would say, "Well, I'd never write THAT, but I'm glad someone did." Native Son is a brutally frank look at the racial divide of the America of the 1930s, and the relevance to today is positively painful. Well, here is Larry's two-word review of the book: He explained that he had actually never read it before, which he confessed was really odd, given that the book is an undisputed classic. ![]() My older brother Larry, who is extremely well-read, recently came to town for a visit. ![]()
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