Richard Wright was the first African American author to be listen in the best seller list. This work is also number twenty on the list. I think that's a little high, but the social implication may have dulled somewhat over time. The psychological ones certainly have not.
What I liked most about the work was the main character, Bigger Thomas', thoughts on how different he was from the white people. The story revolves around his murder of a white woman and how it is significant not because it is a murder, but because it was a black man murdering a white woman. Bigger knows this, but he also feels that he is less of a murderer because white and black are not the same kind of human.
I was slow in reading because there are few real cliff-hangers or events that make you eager to read on/again. The real wealth in the book is the insight into Bigger's mind and the significant social change that has, hopefully, occurred in the last seventy years.
I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks seriously about their leisure reading.
Rating:
Not the best