Customer Reviews

Savage Holiday

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I guess I get to inagurate the review of Savage Holiday. I saw this book purely accidentally in a used-books store in Ithaca, NY. Seeing Wright's name on it I didn't hesitate to purchase it, since he was and still is, one of the most influential writers to me. Wright treads on familiar territory in this book, but with a different setting. For the first time, Wright creates white characters in his work. The attempt of an author to step inside the skin of any human being is admirable, and the ability to do so is praiseworthy. Psychologically it is as powerful as The Outsider or Native Son. Here is a man whose desires have gone unfulfilled, who stifles his insticts until they lead him into trouble. Quintessential existential dread from Wright.

When I first bought this book i didn't know who richard Wright was or what he had accomplished. I just say it and thought it was interesting sounding so i bought it. I can honestly say it was one of the best books I have ever read (along with Native Son) and it is the reason I purchased Wright's other books. A must have for Richard wright fans, literature fans, and good book fans!!!

It was great to find this rather obscure book so quickly. It was in perfect shape. It arrived in time for me to use for an upcoming conference.

I too bought this book because it had Richard Wright as the author. I read with great appreciation his Native Son a long time ago, and just recently read Black Boy and found it very attetion-holding. Savage Holiday is ridiculously plotted and the central character is extremely annoying. The long account of his running around naked in his apartment house was irritating and frustrating to me. All he had to do was hold his newspaper in front of himself and go to an apartment and tell what happened and the manager could have been summoned so he could get in his apartment. I know, the guy was nuts, as we see as the story moves along, but I was very unenthused by this book. I can see why it was ignored by critics when it came out in 1954.