If He Hollers Let Him Go

This is a great novel of this country and its life, and of African American literature. What it does is take its hero and make him the center of so much evil and so much force, that a fault line is exposed through the rotten heart of American society, particularly as it was during the Second World War when the story is written. Jones starts out as a fairly "OK" figure, a Black worker who has succeeded in a war time shipyard playing the game square with possessions and an upwardly mobile future and deferment from the War as an essential war worker. Then every force gets set after him, a trashy white woman coworker who flirts and cries rape, the union bureaucrats who are supposed to be defending his rights as a worker but will do anything to keep peace for the war (a depiction in this and other novels that got Himes's the blackball by Communist party supporters in the literary world), of course, the police, the Black middle class represented by his girl friend, and his own fear and self doubt. He seems to be colliding with the whole world unified around "the war effort" and peace at home. As such, the novel can grip the reader, not just due to its social or historical impact, but because it does the real ideal work of a novel, one character, seeming an average person, set against big forces, struggling for life. It does that well. I will not say any more lest I spoil the experience of this novel for those who need to read it. Himes has good grit and good realism. Much is said about his association with crime fiction, although when this book was written he had no idea that years latter, he would be so disgusted with the lack of respect he got as an artist and with political black balling he got for writing honestly about the corruption and political sellout of the Black struggle by the Communist party, that Himes would flee the country, end up in Europe and then live by writing mysteries. I have always thought that this novel and in some of his other literary work as well as the detective novels, Himes showed a superior sense of fundamental accuracy of details and an ability to convey a real world with real details without flooding the reader with description. I am not a big fan of any kind of dectective novels, by Himes work always brings me back to what it was like to be in New York, especially Harlem, in the 1950s. They are remarkable in that they were written by a writer who had not visited the US, let alone Harlem in years. This is a great novel, a great read, a page turner, and a mind satisfyer. It is sad that it is not more known and appreciated. You appreciate by getting it and reading it!

It's 1942 and the country is pulling together in a bid to aid the war effort. Bob Jones is a well-educated black man who has left university to work as a leaderman in a shipbuilding factory. He has a steady girlfriend who comes from an upper middleclass family, a brand new car and good prospects. But he is fighting a daily rage that is being stoked by the constant racism and segregation that was common for the day.When Bob is demoted after a run-in with a white woman at work he is barely able to control his emotions, imagining all sorts of reprisals. The shame and humiliation mixed with outrage are strong but they are tempered with the fear of consequences should he try to do anything about it.Chester Himes' first novel is an extremely compelling tale of injustice as Bob's world inevitably falls apart. The helplessness is vividly portrayed as Bob's dreams are continually beaten down for no other reason than the colour of his skin and the urge to fight back is so strong it's palpable.

The rage is justified and the story needed to be told. Like a volcano, Himes had to let it out or go nuts. He was as good as Hemingway (or any of those white cats at the time) and simply was not given the respect because of his skin color.It's a damn shame. And I'm saying this as a white guy who happens to be color-blind, as they say. Himes did end up moving to Europe where he was better treated. Lastly, all I can say is once I started reading If He Hollers...I could not put it down and finished it in two days--my eyes aching and all. If you're looking for the real thing, this is it.Tough writing is not easy to find these days, writing that's from the gut and is about something... This book has it. Long live Chester Himes.

This book, along with others that for some reason fall into obscurity after a dazzling popularity, really should not be allowed to be forgotten. Himes writing is crisp, clean. His characters are interesting and compelling. We want to see what happens, even when we don't like it. When people ask me what books they ought to read to become well-read, this one is on the list, both for it's literary merit and for the good story it tells.

Himes writes in the style of Charles Bukowsky, but in 1946, telling the story of a black man living in South Central LA and working in the WWII shipyard industry, confronting racist bosses and a white southern borderline-personality seductress/accuser. I had to put this book down a couple times because I was emotionally drained: the rage is sustained and precariously balanced. Walter Mosley must have read this one for background for his Easy Rawlins mysteries, but Himes is far from easy. Himes does not deserve his obscurity