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If He Hollers Let Him Go

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( 2,548 ratings, 267 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes explores the experiences of a black man, Bob Jones, navigating the complexities of racism in 1940s America. Set over four days in Los Angeles, the novel delves into the psychological impact of racial prejudice on Jones as he faces discrimination and hostility at his job and in society. Tension and a sense of impending danger permeate the narrative, reflecting the protagonist's struggle for dignity and identity amidst systemic oppression.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're interested in hard-hitting narratives that explore race and identity through the lens of mid-20th century America. The story, with its intense depiction of a man's struggle against systemic oppression, offers a powerful and thought-provoking experience.

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Acclaimed expose of racism in mid-twentieth century USA, now a Serpent's Tail Classic.

Acclaimed expose of racism in mid-twentieth century USA, now a Serpent's Tail Classic

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Robert Jones is a crew leader in a naval shipyard in Los Angeles in the 1940s. He should have a lot going for him, being educated, with a steady job and a steady relationship. But in the four days covered in this novel, the impossibility of life as a black man in a white world is made devastatingly clear.

Jones is surrounded by prejudice, suspicion, and paranoia, and his daily experiences influence his thoughts, dreams, and behaviour. Immediately recognised as a masterful expose of racism in everyday life, If He Hollers Let Him Go is Chester Himes' first book, originally published in 1945.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Chester Himes's If He Hollers Let Him Go is often described as revolutionary and a brutally powerful work within general fiction. Reviewers highlight its relentless and gripping nature, portraying the harsh realities of being black in mid-20th century America. Recognised as both a masterpiece and an enraged existentialist narrative, it challenges readers with its unflinching honesty and is celebrated for its lasting impact and urgent message.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781781255667

Publisher: Profile Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 14 January 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Serpent's Tail

Edition: Main - Classic edition

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Jake Arnott

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 18.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 194.0mm

Weight: 190g

Pages: 272

About the Author

Chester Himes was born in Missouri in 1909 and grew up in Cleveland. As a child, he was deeply traumatised when his brother, badly injured in an accident, was refused hospital treatment due to the Jim Crow laws. At nineteen years old he was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for committing an armed robbery. During that time he began writing short stories, and after his release published several acclaimed Harlem thrillers and novels, including The Crazy Kill, The Real Cool Killers, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Lovely Crusade and an autobiography, The Quality of Hurt. In the 1950s he moved to Paris, and he died in Spain in 1984.

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