Richard Wright

[SemiCharmedQuark]

I read "Native Son" when I was about 16 years old. It was the first book that ever truly moved me. I remember sitting in the laundromat completely engrossed within its pages. I sat there and read until the laundromat closed and then finished it reading by the glovebox in the car.

I think about it now because before I left for work Saturday, I grabbed a book to read between sets. I picked "Black Boy". I only meant to read it temporarily for the day, but I just couldn't put it down. I forgot how absolutely wonderful it is. The hope Richard feels as he yearns to go North and the fear he feels when he gets there. The truth about North v. South and black v. white. The value of human dignity...

Please tell me you've read these masterpieces too!

[mitchum]

1. I raised hell in college when I discovered that he was only covered...

in African-American Lit. I got him added to Modern American Lit and Southern Lit. One of our finest writers.

[bobbieinok]

2. I was 16 or so when I read Native Son......it blew me away

I felt so sorry for the main character.

Later I read Black Boy.

Then I read Ellison's Invisible Man.

Reading these and other things really isolated me from my environment. I was a white girl in high school in OK in the 50s when I read Native Son, in college in TX when I read Black Boy.

[fortyfeetunder]

3. almost everything!

After reading Native Son and Black Boy, I also found some anthologies covering his short stories and other literature. Gripping to say the least.

[JohnKleeb]

4. I read black boy as a sophomore in HS

We were only required to read the part before Richard got involved with the Communist Party but I asked my teacher if I could go ahead and read the whole thing, and he was absolutely cool with it because I had read ahead of the class and thought hey this is a hell of a book. Black Boy was a great book, don't know why but none of my classmates seemed to like it as much. He was a great writer who died too young in my opinion, he was only 52 when he died. I would love to read it again.

[noiretextatique]

5. many moons ago

i probably should pick those up again.

[alarcojon]

6. We read Native Son in my racially mixed high school

in Chicago. I remember being quite moved by it. We also read Manchild in the Promised Land. I haven't gotten around to Black Boy yet, but it sounds fascinating.

[jeffrey_X]

7. Yes!

I read his books in this order:

The Outsider
Native Son
Black Boy


I recommend the Outsider as well. Not as prophetic as Native Son, but a great book nonetheless.