The Third Generation: A Novel

by Chester Himes

From the acclaimed author of the Harlem Detectives series, a powerful autobiographical novel about a black family tortured by colorism as it strives to live up to the myth of the Black middle class in white, post-war America

Lillian Taylor is obsessed with middle-class respectability. Despite the fact that her parents were enslaved, she is possessed by the delusion that her ancestors were white. But she's married to a dark-skinned man and ridicules him mercilessly for his complexion. After one bitter incident sullies Mr. Taylor’s reputation, he is forced to resign his job at a small Black college in Missouri and move his family elsewhere—the first of several relocations that strain things further.

Caught in the middle of this dysfunction is Charles, the youngest of three boys, who is left alone with their scornful mother after his brothers manage to escape. As their situation becomes ever more precarious, Charles becomes the focus of his mother’s domineering attention, resulting in an inability to fit into either black or white society. When Charles succumbs to a self-ruin borne of this struggle, it embodies the tragic failures of his fractured family.

Drawn from Himes’s own childhood and adolescence, The Third Generation is a devastating look into the ghastly effects of internalized racism and the rage that erupts from America’s failed promises.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Chester Bomar Himes began writing in the early 1930s while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. From there, he produced short stories for periodicals such as Esquire and Abbott's Monthly. When released, he focussed on semi-autobiographical protest novels.

In 1953, Himes emigrated to France, where he was approached by Marcel Duhamel of Gallimard to write a detective series for Série Noire, which had published works from the likes of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson. Himes would be the first black author included in the series. The resulting Harlem Cycle gained him celebrity when he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for La Reine des Pommes (now known in English as A Rage in Harlem) in 1958. Three of these novels have been adapted into movies: Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis in 1970; Come Back, Charleston Blue (based on The Heat's On) in 1972; and A Rage in Harlem, starring Gregory Hines and Danny Glover in 1991.

In 1968, Himes moved to Spain where he made his home until his death.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one of those books I re-read every few years. Chester Himes was an incredible writer, who still doesn't receive the attention he deserves.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conceptually, this novel would have garnered more stars had it been written by a more masterful hand. The concept of a woman passing and her intra-racial hatred for her husband, culture, and son's inability to live up to her perceived expectations of his blood is a tremendous idea and criticism. Sadly, Himes is quite the inept writer. There is so much superfluity, confounding plot holes, and redundant contradictions that the book took me far too long to read. I'd like to have seen it attempted by a writer with more skill because the idea is striking. Alas, Himes's roman a clef thumps with a autobiographical thud.

[shelemm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a mammoth, highly charged story that, once you peel away all the layers, is a core story of the parent-child relationship. I wish I had read this book earlier. It is essential reading, and I count it as one of the dozen most formidable books I've read. I feel like I'm a better person for having read it.

Any great book needs to have many ideas flowing through it all at once, and if you have an innate desire for those kinds of stories, I think you'll be rewarded for picking this one up.

[Jim Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically Third Generation (after slavery) is an autobiography. It is not one of Himes better books. While written with a lot of emotion (mainly pain), the need to portray ever detail of his young life and circular nature of it (mother's anger, father's helplessness, constant family moves) quickly gets tedious. The book, if half it's length, could have been an excellent look at middle class black life in the early 20th century.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something I’ve been meaning to do but had not gotten around to is read a Chester Himes book. Thanks to @ireadvintage for gifting me with a copy of The Third Generation so that I was able to finally do so!
      I’ve sat with this for a while, trying to figure out how to do this book justice with a write-up. Basically, what we have here is wife and mother, Lillian Taylor, 3 kids, husband teaches at a local black college in the 1920s in Missouri, he’s well liked…things sound good, right? Lillian, however, is passing. The rest of her family is not. The disdain Lillian has for her own people and community is where the trouble begins. Her dislike for darker skin becomes the undoing of their world. Causing her husband to leave his job, incident after terrible incident, looking for work, and that eventually brings them to Cleveland.
    I’ve read that some of this is based on Himes childhood, and that might make for a great explanation of how he was able to convey exactly what was going through Charles (Lillians favorite child) head, as his mother’s seeds of self hate were planted and bloomed like a bad weed throughout this family. He isn’t overly wordy with his descriptions of this, but he still managed to put you right inside this teen boys head.
   I want to be mad at Lillian. At first, I was, but there is also that part of you that realizes she was acting out of a place of wanting more for her family. She thought she was doing the right thing. At least, I believe she did. Not wanting the limitations of racist society to hold them back and telling them where their place is in this world. Generational trauma is what they got instead.
   I loved this book, even though it felt like a gut punch many times. I think that is the power of a good book, though, to put you through it.  As usual, I am not going to spoil any endings for you. This family is on a roller-coaster for sure.
        Look up Chester Himes and read about his life if you aren’t familiar. Strong ties to the area for all of the local Northeast Ohio readers. People often like to make Ohio a joke, but I think we have a pretty rich background when it comes to ties to the literary world.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel tells the story of the protagonist's struggle of adjusting to the divisions of society, and a family life that leads him into a violent no-man's land of vicious debauchery, self destruction and ruin. Filled with psychological issues, the author takes the reader into a pathos experienced by the oppressed, and the damage it brings.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

American reality....South and Cleveland 1900s-20s....struggles of an unhappy family, from the point of view of a troubled son that drives his life into the ground. Pretty bleak and depressing - a ramble of desperation.

[Constantine]

Third Generation is actually a fictionalized autobiographical account of the author's life. It discusses skin color distinctions and racisim. The family was very dysfunctional.

[Eric Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Himes novel, this one is thinly disguised autobiography.