Sharon D. reviewed on 1/8/2006 + 224 more book reviews

First published in 1952 and immeditately hailed as a masterpiece, "Invisible Man" is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.
As he journeys from the Deep South to the streets and basements of Harlem, from a horrifying 'battle royal' where black men are reduced to flighting animals, to a Communist rally where they are elevated to the status of trophies, Ralph Ellison's nameless protagonist ushers reader into a parallel universe that throws our own into harsh and even hiularious relief. Suspenseful and sardonic, narrated in a voice that takes in the symphonic range of the American language, black and white, "Invisible Man" is one of the most audacious and dazzling novels of our century.

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