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The Third Generation
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 has three sons, a comfortable house, and a well-liked husband who teaches at a local college. But her contempt for her family’s dark complexion infects this bright world until it begins to come undone. As one troubling incident leads to another, her husband is pushed to an ever more precarious existence and her best-loved son, Charles, sinks into a life of vice in the perilous borderland between black and white society. With piercing insight and emotional depth, The Third Generation chronicles the unraveling of a black family plagued by the pernicious psychological effects of racism.
Lillian Taylor has three sons, a comfortable house, and a well-liked husband who teaches at a local college. But her contempt for her family’s dark complexion infects this bright world until it begins to come undone. As one troubling incident leads to another, her husband is pushed to an ever more precarious existence and her best-loved son, Charles, sinks into a life of vice in the perilous borderland between black and white society. With piercing insight and emotional depth, The Third Generation chronicles the unraveling of a black family plagued by the pernicious psychological effects of racism.
- GenresFictionContemporary
472 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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136 people want to read
About the author
Chester Himes
129 books491 followersChester 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 8, 2026
Lillian Taylor is a woman of almost-white skin, iron will, and catastrophically bad judgment in husbands. Born of mixed blood in the post-slavery South, she constructs the elaborate fiction that she is one thirty-second part Negro and several parts English aristocracy.
She marries Professor William Taylor, a compact, black, brilliantly capable man whose dark skin she finds indistinguishable from evil. Their life across various Southern college towns becomes a slow war in which she whips him with her color and he whips back with contempt, while the children, Thomas, William, and Charles, grow up inside the crossfire.
Charles is the youngest and lightest, the one his mother loves with fury. She has transferred all her ambitions into this vessel of flesh and bone. She massages his scalp with olive oil, pinches his nose to keep it straight, and plans to pass her white heritage to him like a trust fund from ancestors who may or may have existed.
He grows up sensitive, magnetic, and wholly unable to survive his mother's dreams.
The family moves from Mississippi to Cleveland, the parents split, and absolutely awful things happen to each and every one of them.
Chester Himes lived a life that served as a rehearsal for his fiction. Born in Missouri in 1909, he attended Ohio State, got expelled, committed armed robbery, and served seven years in Ohio State Penitentiary, where he began writing. He published crime fiction, semi-autobiographical novels, and, in exile in Paris, the Harlem detective series that made him famous in France long before America caught up. He died in Spain in 1984, stubbornly unreconciled with his homeland.
The Third Generation is his most ferocious act of self-exposure, drawn so tightly from his own family that calling it fiction is calling a confession a press release. Lillian Taylor is his mother. Charles Taylor is Himes. The book asks, with grim persistence, what a mother's love does to a child when that love is also a species of racial self-hatred with ambition stapled on top. The answer is considerable damage, delivered with great tenderness and terrible timing.
The psychic violence of colorism, the way inherited shame travels down through families, the collision between a mother's dreams and a son's actual self, these are eternal themes. Himes was writing about what W.E.B. Du Bois called double consciousness, except Himes gave it a kitchen, a marriage bed, a bottle of olive oil for the boy's hair, and his own autobiography.
The book's real pun is in its title. The third generation bears the iniquity of its fathers, per Exodus. But Himes saw that mothers carry their own plagues too, and pass them along with equal efficiency.
What an incredible, underrated author!
❤️ 🇮🇱
She marries Professor William Taylor, a compact, black, brilliantly capable man whose dark skin she finds indistinguishable from evil. Their life across various Southern college towns becomes a slow war in which she whips him with her color and he whips back with contempt, while the children, Thomas, William, and Charles, grow up inside the crossfire.
Charles is the youngest and lightest, the one his mother loves with fury. She has transferred all her ambitions into this vessel of flesh and bone. She massages his scalp with olive oil, pinches his nose to keep it straight, and plans to pass her white heritage to him like a trust fund from ancestors who may or may have existed.
He grows up sensitive, magnetic, and wholly unable to survive his mother's dreams.
The family moves from Mississippi to Cleveland, the parents split, and absolutely awful things happen to each and every one of them.
Chester Himes lived a life that served as a rehearsal for his fiction. Born in Missouri in 1909, he attended Ohio State, got expelled, committed armed robbery, and served seven years in Ohio State Penitentiary, where he began writing. He published crime fiction, semi-autobiographical novels, and, in exile in Paris, the Harlem detective series that made him famous in France long before America caught up. He died in Spain in 1984, stubbornly unreconciled with his homeland.
The Third Generation is his most ferocious act of self-exposure, drawn so tightly from his own family that calling it fiction is calling a confession a press release. Lillian Taylor is his mother. Charles Taylor is Himes. The book asks, with grim persistence, what a mother's love does to a child when that love is also a species of racial self-hatred with ambition stapled on top. The answer is considerable damage, delivered with great tenderness and terrible timing.
The psychic violence of colorism, the way inherited shame travels down through families, the collision between a mother's dreams and a son's actual self, these are eternal themes. Himes was writing about what W.E.B. Du Bois called double consciousness, except Himes gave it a kitchen, a marriage bed, a bottle of olive oil for the boy's hair, and his own autobiography.
The book's real pun is in its title. The third generation bears the iniquity of its fathers, per Exodus. But Himes saw that mothers carry their own plagues too, and pass them along with equal efficiency.
What an incredible, underrated author!
❤️ 🇮🇱
April 6, 2026
WOW! Writing this review as I'm feeling the thrill of finishing this book.
To start this is such an awesome concept like the fictionalized memoir (?) certainly existed before this but by taking his life in third person and starting with the POV of his mother. WOAH! It expanded my view of what a memoir is and can be. Like maybe bro is the best to ever do it.
I've found myself asking why I love this book and can't stand works of fiction with equally if not less annoying/pathetic/evil main characters. The answer I've come to is that this book simply does it better! Yes, Charles/Chester sucks so bad. As soon as he is beyond the innocence of childhood he is a menace. The way the mom is written is suspect, but for all intents and purposes she sucks too. But the narrative doesn't waste my time trying to redeem him. Nor does it beat you over the head with characters telling you how bad the MCs are. The Third Generation is an honest to goodness descent into madness and you as a spectator just have to deal. And yet, there is an inherent humility in describing oneself as so deeply flawed which makes Charles/Chester way more likeable in a meta sense. This aspect makes the book readable than if this were pure fiction. It's not at all like Himes is trying to write to atone instead he's being extremly real in a way you have to respect especially in this age of absolute curation of the self. Like why would you describe yourself like this? It's refreshing.
Beyond this the writing style (I've recently learned the term "hard-boiled") is endlessly engaging, you will be on the edge of your seat afraid to read the next paragraph all throughout the book. This book is filled to the brim with bonafide realistic if not entirely real drama! You aren't here because Charles is going to fix his life and learn his lesson you're here for the mess!
And you know that from the brief synopsis of the authors life shits going to get dark. I hope that every recent edition of this book has that intro "Chester Himes was born in Missouri in 1909. He began writing while serving a prison sentence for jewel theft. He published over sixty stories and just short of twenty novels before his death in 1984". That intro/background MAKES this book for me it gives you a picture of what to expect from an autobiography and then the book completely turns what you expected on its head. I enjoyed this book in the same way that I enjoy that video of the rabbit that is actually winnie the pooh.
AND THE ENDING! UGH! Deprives you of satisfaction in the most satisfying way. You realize so late in the process of reading you've come to the book with a totally different intention than it was written with. Himes describes this book as his "most dishonest novel" and I think that's especially true in its framing. I actually can't say more than it left me wanting more for fear of spoilers.
Go read this book! I know it's long but lock tf in!
To start this is such an awesome concept like the fictionalized memoir (?) certainly existed before this but by taking his life in third person and starting with the POV of his mother. WOAH! It expanded my view of what a memoir is and can be. Like maybe bro is the best to ever do it.
I've found myself asking why I love this book and can't stand works of fiction with equally if not less annoying/pathetic/evil main characters. The answer I've come to is that this book simply does it better! Yes, Charles/Chester sucks so bad. As soon as he is beyond the innocence of childhood he is a menace. The way the mom is written is suspect, but for all intents and purposes she sucks too. But the narrative doesn't waste my time trying to redeem him. Nor does it beat you over the head with characters telling you how bad the MCs are. The Third Generation is an honest to goodness descent into madness and you as a spectator just have to deal. And yet, there is an inherent humility in describing oneself as so deeply flawed which makes Charles/Chester way more likeable in a meta sense. This aspect makes the book readable than if this were pure fiction. It's not at all like Himes is trying to write to atone instead he's being extremly real in a way you have to respect especially in this age of absolute curation of the self. Like why would you describe yourself like this? It's refreshing.
Beyond this the writing style (I've recently learned the term "hard-boiled") is endlessly engaging, you will be on the edge of your seat afraid to read the next paragraph all throughout the book. This book is filled to the brim with bonafide realistic if not entirely real drama! You aren't here because Charles is going to fix his life and learn his lesson you're here for the mess!
And you know that from the brief synopsis of the authors life shits going to get dark. I hope that every recent edition of this book has that intro "Chester Himes was born in Missouri in 1909. He began writing while serving a prison sentence for jewel theft. He published over sixty stories and just short of twenty novels before his death in 1984". That intro/background MAKES this book for me it gives you a picture of what to expect from an autobiography and then the book completely turns what you expected on its head. I enjoyed this book in the same way that I enjoy that video of the rabbit that is actually winnie the pooh.
AND THE ENDING! UGH! Deprives you of satisfaction in the most satisfying way. You realize so late in the process of reading you've come to the book with a totally different intention than it was written with. Himes describes this book as his "most dishonest novel" and I think that's especially true in its framing. I actually can't say more than it left me wanting more for fear of spoilers.
Go read this book! I know it's long but lock tf in!
September 28, 2008
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.
March 5, 2015
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.
July 30, 2019
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.
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.
April 12, 2020
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.
April 29, 2025
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.
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.
March 27, 2016
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.
February 8, 2012
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.
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May 13, 2008Third Generation is actually a fictionalized autobiographical account of the author's life. It discusses skin color distinctions and racisim. The family was very dysfunctional.
May 26, 2011
Another great Himes novel, this one is thinly disguised autobiography.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews