Autobiography of an ex colored man review

  • And, as Arna Bontemps pointed out decades ago, "the problems of the artist [as presented here] seem as contemporary as if the book had been written this year.".
  • It's a very straight forward story about a black man who can pass for white making his way through life and concluding with the death of his wife and birth of.
  • A review of "The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" by James Weldon Johnson, the fictional account of a biracial man looking back over his life.

    • •

    The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson

    I had to keep reminding myself that The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson was actually a novel. It was realistic, and it was engaging and entertaining at the same time. Even more, it has a place in history alongside true-life narratives as an account of what some African-Americans may have felt in the early decades of the 1900s: enslaved in a world that catered to whites.

    The first thing I loved about Johnson’s novel was his writing. I want to reiterate that it is a short, easy-to-read classic: some people may be intimidated by classics, but this is not one. It was about 140 pages, and it is so realistic that I was drawn right in to it. I finished it in one sitting.

    Take this very superficial example:

    I can see in this little half-vision a little house – I am quite sure it was not a large one – I can remember that flowers grew in the front yard, and that around each bed of flowers was a

    •

    Eight to Ten Days Ago

    For the last few days I thought that I was feeling okay, if a bit fatigued. However, as today dawned, I knew it was impossible to deny what should have been obvious. Both myself and my lovely spouse have some kind of weird head-cold. Headaches, a lack of concentration, and some general malaise are making it hard to work and even harder to find the motivation to do anything other than sit on the sofa and sigh audibly. The cats have been little help, as they are content to sit on our laps and keep us even more solidly pinned down.

    Whenever we get a cold at the same time, my lovely spouse and I like to go to the calendar and count back roughly a week to see where we could have caught it. It doesn’t really matter, but it’s something to laugh about at least — especially if we can trace the cold back to an event we didn’t want to go to or a trip to a distant mall or a film screening. This time? All that can be blamed is the weekly outing to the bookstore. So some

    •

    blackhermione's review

    Go to review page

    4.0

    I am very interested in the history of passing in America and inom think this books delve into what it meant to be Black in this country, to pass, to be torn between what you should be doing and what you're actually doing, was all really interesting. It's a classic but it's readable, the narrator is understandable and the book as a whole has a grasp on race politics and intricacies. I'd säga this an important book for anyone looking to study the history of Black identity.

    yamoksauce's review against another edition

    Go to review page

    emotionalinformativereflectivefast-paced

    • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
    • Strong character development? It's complicated
    • Loveable characters? It's complicated
    • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
    • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

    3.5

    amerigo_vespucci's review against another edition

    Go to review page

    adventurouschallengingreflectivefast-paced

    • Plot- or character-dri
    • autobiography of an ex colored man review