A nightmarish dream odyssey sandwiched between philosophical bookends of a prologue and epilogue, an extended metaphor for the complexity of race relations in the United States that can best be summed up in Ellison's own words from the text and from his 1981 introduction to the paperback, a "wild mixture of elements...." which "reveal the human universals hidden within the plight of one man who was both black and American, and not only as a means of conveying my personal vision of possibility, but as a way of dealing with the sheer rhetorical challenge involved in communicating across our barriers of race and religion, class, color, and region -- barriers which consist of the many strategies of division that were designed, and still function [in 1947, when the book was copyrighted, and in 1981, when the introduction was written, and today in 2002, as I write this for Book Crossing], to prevent what would otherwise have been a more or less natural recognition of the reality of black and white fraternity. And to defeat this national tendency to deny the common humanity shared by my character and those who might happen to read of his experience, I would have to provide him with something of a world-view, give him a consciousness in which serious philosophical questions could be raised, provide him with a range of diction that could play upon the richness of our readily shared vernacular speech and construct a plot that would bring him in contact with a variety of American types as they operated on various levels of American society." and it is this in which both the character and the reader get caught up -- breathless from beginning to end. It's tempting to use the old saw, "a roller-coaster of a novel," but it is a roller coaster ride that, after the initial calm and the dreadful climb and the first downhill rush, is unmitigated by lessening uphill rolls that coast to an end off of which we neatly step.

Once through the literary introduction and philosophical preface -- the chain cranking us along to that first dreadful hill, I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.

It has elements of fairy tale, a hero's quest, in which he collects protective items -- a briefcase and a scholarship, some letters, an iron stereotype bank, a leg iron link, and a dancing golliwog paper doll -- which he carries with him until and endless night....

and in that endless night, the book has a torn page detailing the items and their disposition, so I will insert a photocopy of the page from another book before releasing this one into the wild where I hope it will have an odyssey of its own, but before that, it goes to my mother, Bernice (in the hopes that her book club will read it), and my mother-in-law, Selma, for both of them to read and, I hope, review here.

Well, as I said, I gave this to my mother-in-law to read (and to practice internet skills on) and to pass on to my mom (they go to a movie with each other once a month).
When she visited here, she read my shelf copy of Invisible Man -- about a year and a half ago. The copy registered here is still in her possession, so I am sending my shelf copy to my mom to read -- and report on. I'll post her response here when I hear from her on it, as she doesn't do Internet.
Perhaps they will discuss the book after that at one of their get-togethers and my mother in law will be reminded that she still has this copy and it will be on its way for someone else to enjoy. It's terrific!