Invisible Man
By Ralph Ellison
Why this book?
Invisible Man is a tour-de-force exploration of what it is to be Black in America, but it is also much more. While I love it for the lush, jazz-inspired originality of its prose and the endless inventiveness of the plot, Invisible Man, despite its specificity and the terrifying view it offers into the cruelty (sometimes thoughtless, most often intentional) begat by America’s obsession with race, is also a book that helps us understand what it means to be the “other” in any place, at any time, in any culture. Ellison’s only novel is a monument to his compassion, a triumph of both art and human solidarity.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.