Native Son by Richard Wright no stars (see inside for why)

[Karin]

I can't give this book stars because I am so very torn about this novel. One the one hand, there are some extremely insightful passages in this book, especially in the third part, and I'd rate some of those 5 stars because they were brilliantly done as was the hypocrisy of a slumlord who then gave millions from his megamillions to help those he let rent horrible housing in ghettos (I'm not that keen on Wright's writing although it is good.) However, in addition to disliking Bigger (1 star--I understood his anger and his right to be angry, but not his meanness to his family, friends and girlfriend--he was horrible to his girlfriend and there is nothing that makes his treatment of her excusable, IMO) and also, this book was a plug for communism. I've read Marx, known people who were persecuted and had to escape communism from more than one communist country, so that didn't help.

It's not accident that the one white man who truly tried to help Bigger was a Jewish communist. Wright not only was a communist for many years, including when he wrote this book, but both of his wives were Jewish. Jews have also faced global persecution and during the Holocaust the only western country that openly accepted many refugees was the Dominican Republic.

This is an important book and even though I didn't enjoy reading it from the very start--the first part of the book made me feel like I was reading a play even though it's not written like a script--since Bigger was just so nasty to his family.