Parents Gather on Zoom to Discuss "The Invisible Man"

Members of the MBS Parent Fiction Book Club gathered on Zoom on Wednesday night, January 13, to discuss the themes of Ralph Ellison’s epic novel The Invisible Man.

The group enjoyed discussing this milestone of American literature in which a nameless narrator grows up in a Black community in the South, attends an HBCU (historically Black college and university) from which he is expelled, moves to New York and becomes the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood," before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. 

Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for 16 weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.

All are welcome to the Zoom meetings to discuss ideas, insights, and questions about books chosen. Be on the lookout for the next reading selection and finalized club discussion date later this spring.