The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to the Native Son Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on April 21st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:


Week of 04/21
April 21: introduction + book 1 (63 pages)
April 22: Book 1 (126 pages)
April 23: Book 2 (185 pages)
April 24: Book 2 (244 pages)

Week of 04/25
April 25: Book 2 (303 pages)
April 26: Book 3 (379 pages)
April 27: Book 3 (455 pages)


PARTICIPANTS
~ Brianna
~ Leslie

Day 1

introduction
My copy only has one introduction by Arnold Rampersad. I'm torn about introductions in general and I feel like this one gave a few key moments away which is kind of frustrating. Normally I don't mind spoilers and I'm hopefully what events were discussed are better understood now, but I almost wish it was more of an afterward.

book one: fear
Book One in my copy is also 93 pages so we should be pretty close at the end of each segment.
Why are the boys and the mother described as black but the daughter/sister is described as brown?

Only made it to page 20 of book 1. Family emergency so may fall behind a little bit.

Day 2

book one: fear
"Every time I get to thinking about me being black and they being white, me being here and they being there, I feel like something awful's going to happen to me..."
I kind of like Gus for calling Bigger out about the fact that Bigger is truly scared and that's why he's lashing out.
I was worried from the introduction that this would be a difficult classic to get through but surprisingly it's been easy so far!
I'm sure it's partially the point but I'm kind of uncomfortable with how Jan and Mary talk around Bigger - trying to fit in and being so oblivious to what he may be dealing with kind of being stuck in the middle there.
Well that is NOT what I was expecting to happen! The first book being titled "Fear" makes 100% sense and I can't imagine any other word would do it justice.

Day 3

book two: flight (approx 59 pages)
Bigger has *such* a short temper.
Why is Mrs. Dalton always in white?
He's gotten away with it so far - why bring in someone else and make it even more elaborate? It's how most people get caught!
All the references to blindness is interesting. Will this be a thread throughout the novel or just this portion?

Day 4

book two: flight (approx 56 pages)
Bigger is all over the place. Confident he'll get away with and then the fear will kick in and then he'll get rude and violent and pushy. And then he'll start worrying again and then confident - just all over the place.
"They white folks. They done killed plenty of us." The good ol' eye for an eye argument. *eye roll*
I find it interesting that all because Jan is a communist they aren't taking him at his word when you would think they would immediately believe a white male over a black male any day.

Sorry I've been quiet on the buddy read. I had a real hard time with this book for the first 2 thirds of the book and so I slogged along very slowly. I was not enjoying the book. I found the first two sections a bit tedious with the level of repetition of the internalized feelings of Bigger. As you said, @Brianna, he was all over the place and it did get confusing at times because of it. And of course the era when this is taking place made it hard to relate to some of what was going on.
And then yesterday, I finally hit the third part and finally started getting into the book and was able to finally finish it. I enjoyed Max's closing speech - I think it summarized what the whole point of the book was. And it is a timeless message about what we now call generational trauma and I think better explained what Bigger was grappling with in his actions. So the final third of the book made the book worthwhile for me.

Day 5

book two: flight (though end of book two)
I am surprised by how fast the newspaper stuff went. Within a few hours there were already new articles and the pictures and everything. I would have thought it was a slower process back then.
I am still in shock that not only did he kill Mary (albeit not on purpose) but he also killed Bessie (this time on purpose)! He just keeps digging himself a deeper and deeper hole. I am still curious about any kind of redemption that could happen considering already 2/3rds of the way through the book and he is in big big trouble with no real signs of remorse.

Leslie wrote: "Sorry I've been quiet on the buddy read. I had a real hard time with this book for the first 2 thirds of the book and so I slogged along very slowly. I was not enjoying the book. I found the first ..."

No worries! I've been enjoying it so far so I'm curious to see if this last part changes my perspective as it did for you. I'm glad you enjoyed it by the end!