Unsichtbar (1952)

Invisible Man's nameless southern protagonist forces the reader to run the gamut of emotions: by turns we are frightened, touched, shocked, amused, even pitying and hopeful. When we first meet him, he lives on the hem of society in an unused part of the basement of a building for whites. He steals shelter and electricity like a boogeyman. He is truly invisible. There comes a point in time when he tries to reach the light by going to college only to be expelled after being accused of offending a white man. Invisible again. Through various trials and tribulations this nameless young man finally makes it to New York where he is confronted with the reality of his race. His lack of identity allows him to be mistaken for someone else. As he becomes more and more invisible, the more and more I wanted him to rage against it. The problem is, when you are a young black man trying to escape the white man's thumb in the 1940s, rage is the last emotion you are allowed to express. Every endeavor leads him closer to destruction. Like a horror movie, I wanted to read Invisible Man with one eye closed against all the gross misunderstandings prejudice and racism can bring. ( )

This book is way bigger than me in many ways. It deals with issues that are still happening until now. I guess it’s why it’s called a “timeless classic”. I honestly didn’t understand the book at first, and I have tried to put it down plenty of times but it’s a great thing I didn’t give up on it. It’s one of the books that will make you a good reader. The ideas presented in the narrative are very relatable even to this day. This is the kind of book which I would love to turn back to just in case I missed something on my first time reading it. ( )

The story is narrated by a young and idealistic Black man endeavoring to find his place and purpose. Although he tries to do everything "right" — go to college, find a decent job, advocate in and for his community — misfortune not of his own making seems to hound him at every turn. Especially depressing was the illusion that the Invisible Man (he is never formally named) so earnestly believed in, assured by his mentors that he was part of something important and momentous, only for it ultimately to become apparent that nearly everyone he encountered, from the beginning of the book to the end, was using him for their own gains. I was almost expecting a tone of dark humor à la The Good Lord Bird, but there was scant occasion for laughter. ( )

Unforgettable. ( )

El protagonista nos cuenta cómo ha llegado a ser "invisible", es decir, a ser ignorado por sus semejantes (no se refiere a que no se le vea físicamente, lo deja bien claro desde el principio). Desde el sur racista en el que nació, nuestro hombre pasará por una "universidad para negros" de la que es expulsado injustamente y por una brutal experiencia de electroshock, hasta ser reclutado por una "hermandad" política. Llega a ser un líder considerable por sus cualidades oratorias, perosu situación dentro del partido se hace bastante delicada. Nuestro hombre tiene que ir renunciando a todo lo que él es, hasta a su nombre (que nunca aparece en el libro), para complacer a los demás, pero solo consigue éxitos relativos y temporales. Finalmente, los disturbios de Harlem de 1943 le llevarán, de forma un tanto rocambolesca, a vivir en un sótano olvidado de todos, incluso de la compañía eléctrica.

La historia es interesante e ilustrativa. Me han gustado muchas reflexiones sobre el racismo, sobre las luchas raciales y de clases (mezcladas o por separado), sobre el equilibrio entre nuestra propia personalidad y lo que los demás esperan de nosotros en cada momento, sobre el funcionamiento interno de los partidos políticos y sobre algunas cosas más. algunas escenas se quedan en mi memoria, como la sesión de lucha-humillación de negros para hombres diversión de hombres blancos a la que tiene que asistir, seguida de un discurso sobre el buen rollo interracial, o las reuniones del "comité" de su "hermandad" neoyorquina, muy reveladoras de las tripas de un partido político. Pero precisamente la abundancia de largas reflexiones es lo que me ha aburrido un poco. Y es que el autor trata de que estas parrafadas se parezcan al pensamiento del protagonista, y las presenta al lector de forma bastante errática. Muchas veces he tenido la tentación de saltármelas, aunque no he llegado a hacerlo, creo. Pero sí he deseado que fuesen más cortas o más claras. ( )