The Outsider

by Richard Wright

Book Overview

From Richard Wright, one of the most powerful, acclaimed, and essential American authors of the twentieth century, comes a compelling story of one man's attempt to escape his past and start anew in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060812486
• ISBN13: 9780060812485
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 629 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 4.2" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

The Best of Richard Wright

The character development in "Cross" as an intellectual, bemused by his past, but confronted by his present, presents many challenges to a young man fighting personal demons inorder to account for his actions as a productive vexed individual. Cross Damon is a product of any era where hopes fade away as obstacles seemingly come out of nowhere, at the same time when confusing them with oppurtunity. Excitingly sad tale of young man caught in the vice grips of lift without the personal attributes of an identifiable accountability thread in his make-up, where finding his way out of trouble gets him deeper into it.

A thoroughly engrossing journey

The Outsider is a thrilling novel that reads quickly, and memorably. Like "The Fugitive" our hero finds himself suddenly outside of both society and his own sense of identity. He is forced to recreate himself as he struggles to stay ahead of danger, only to find that his new persona liberates a charisma that thrusts him into the spotlight, threatening to betray him to his pursuers. As in the "The Grapes of Wrath", our hero is forced to confront his concept of who and how he had lived while becoming both politically and ideologically self-aware. This transformative process remains as compelling, current, and relevant today as when Wright penned the novel.This first-rate novel is given short shrift by those who enjoy genuflecting to the myth of an intellectual heritage, to which it owes no homage nor apology, above the thrilling strength of the prose itself.The Fugitive is a zesty hoot of novel full of suspenseful twists and thoughtful choices.

This book made me yawn through much of Crime and Punishment.

Socially less valuable than Native Son, but better literature. Long overlooked book. If you read no other Wright book, read this one. Like Blackboy, gives an indepth look into American Communism. Despite obvious symbolism of blacks as "outsiders," is much more intriguing when race issue is put into backseat in favor of more universal idea. Can we judge those that are not capable of accepting a society's morality and rules by that society's standards and castigate them with that society's penalties? Is it inevitable that your life will catch up with you if you run away from it? Go and get yourself a copy.

White man exposed, humanity explored.

As in Native Son, Wright portrays a black man who manages to fool "smarter" white men. This is a common theme in Wright's work, but here is explored to the extremes. Bigger in Native Son is not an educated or confident man, but Cross' circumstances give him a swagger that is irresistible. He dupes almost everyone he meets. After all, as a black man he is not smart or educated and disadvantaged, or so his acquaintances are inclined to believe. This work acts as a raging indictment of "white" society and the prejudices that lie there in (this should not be surprising) but it also acts as a mirror, giving one pause and a chance to reflect. While most people see Cross' color, he has managed to transcend race. And that may be the true beauty of this novel. While it deals with issues of race relations, it explores fundamental issues of humanity as well. The Outsider is not just about a black man in a white world, but also about one individual who dares to question the foundations of morality and civilization. A novel for everyone to read, to think about, and ultimately to enjoy!

Wright truely captures the black man's plight.

Wright has an inside view of how some black men feel in this world of enemies. Cross feels that not only is he trapped in a world of racism, but also in a dead end job and a life that seems unreal at times. He analyzes the most routine events in his life until he gets so bogged down in details that any action seems like a dead end (almost literally). I feel as though that because of this Cross sometimes is his own worst enemy and this is the cause of most of his problems. Sometimes Wright can overkill some of the themes by being so analytical that he loses the reader by going to indepth into the more obscure subjects like Communism and Facist's beliefs, that are needed for the reader to understand some of Cross's actions. But that could have been done more tersely. Overall, this is a excellent book that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good read