Native Son by Richard Wright is 20th on The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels site, appears among the All-TIME 100 Novels, it is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and it is ranked 111th on The Greatest Books of All Time site

 

Native Son by Richard Wright is 20th on The Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels site, appears among the All-TIME 100 Novels, it is one of The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and it is ranked 111th on The Greatest Books of All Time site

 

 

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10 out of 10

 

Somehow, Native Son reminds me of The Son https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/11/the-son-by-philipp-meyer-was-finalist.html and since I am close to my rating of 10 out of 10, I must amend that, to some extent – why am I using commas, Duras, anyway, somebody quoted in The Cost of Living dismisses them –

 

It feels as if Native Son is more than just one novel, or at least, there are a few narratives, themes, major ideas there: first of all, it is a breathtaking mystery book, indeed, I have looked up the Top 100 Mystery novels lists, thinking it must be there as well, as it is, you find it on three major compilations, TIME, Modern Library, The GOAT…

Four actually, we have the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read too…The Underground Railroad https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-underground-railroad-by-colson.html is another masterpiece that came to mind: Bigger Thomas accidentally kills this white woman, beautiful, generous, innocent

 

I was thinking that it would have been just to sentence the man to a few years in prison, which is what the law may say for manslaughter, the circumstances forced this upon him, in some ways, she was drunk, he helped her to her room, they might have had sex, but then her blind mother walks into the bedroom, and this is dangerous

A spoiler alert might be needed here, though this happens quite early, in the first few chapters https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/little-big-man-by-thomas-berger.html terrified that the parent would ‘see’ he is there, he puts a pillow over the mouth of the drunken daughter, so that she does not expose his presence

 

The aspects I did not like are connected with communism, this is why I contemplated giving a lower rating, maybe 9 out of 10, to the whole thing, but it is rather monumental, the crime story is overwhelming, the details, crescendo, this is nec plus ultra, so why do we have to have those commies inside?

I am trying to use hyperbole and be funny, but we have lived through this system, and I took part in the revolution that http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html deposed Ceausescu, one about as bad as The Orange Plague, Hegseth, Trump and other such monsters, so no love is lost for the lover

 

Communists appear to be the kind, humanitarian personages, I hate to say it, but an ignorant reader might even think they are the heroes, and yes, they treat the African Americans, called negroes at the time when the narrative takes place, but come on, just for doing one right thing, you cannot embrace evil- just like Hitler liked dogs, but he was still a ‘real horror show’  

 

Here is the link to a post that asks for your input, if you have any:

 

https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/08/do-you-have-any-suggestions-how-to-make.html

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