Yesterday Will Make You Cry (Old School Books) [Hardcover]

Chester B. Himes (Author), Melvin Van Peebles (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998 | Series: Old School Books

A classic restored--the complete and unexpurgated text of the first, most powerful, and most autobiographical novel of this great African-American writer. In 1937 Chester Himes, newly released from a seven-year stretch in the Ohio State Penitentiary for grand larceny, finished his first novel, Yesterday Will Make You Cry. By turns brutal and lyrical and never less than totally honest, it tells the autobiographical story of young Jimmy Monroe's passage through the prison system, which tests the limits of his sanity, his capacity for suffering, and his definition of love. Stunningly candid about racism, homosexuality, and prison corruption, the book would take sixteen years and four subsequent revisions before being published in much altered form as Cast the First Stone in 1952. Even bowdlerized, it was recognized as a sardonic masterpiece of debasement and transfiguration. This edition presents for the first time the book precisely as Himes intended it to be read, with its raw honesty and startling compassion entirely intact. It now stands definitively as one of the great novels of prison life and one of Himes's most enduring literary achievements.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Yesterday Will Make You Cry, the story of a young man's brutal sojourn in prison, was first published in 1952 as Cast the First Stone. Author Chester Himes had intended to write a book based on his own prison experiences, but when publisher after publisher turned it down, Himes rewrote the text. He turned his third-person narrative into a first-person narrative, eliminated flashbacks, and toned down the sometimes poetic language. The revision became, so the new editors tell us, "a hard-boiled prison novel." Finally restored in the form of the original novel, Yesterday Will Make You Cry is the heartfelt book Himes would have had us read: it is occasionally brutal, always uncompromising, and sometimes harrowingly moving.

From Library Journal

Himes's inclusion in Norton's "Old School Books" line marks the first hardcover entry in the series. Himes launched his career with this 1937 autobiographical novel, which he wrote after being released from prison. The story follows protagonist Jimmy Monroe as he does time in the pen, and it deals honestly with racism, prison corruption, and homosexuality. This edition restores the text to its original form, reinserting material considered too risque for the 1930s. Probably the most accurate edition of this novel ever released, this would make a good addition for Black History Month.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393045773
• ISBN-13: 978-0393045772
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vivid narrative on human relations and self-discovery, November 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Yesterday Will Make You Cry (Old School Books) (Hardcover)

A book that goes beyond the usual cliches. It is not about racism, not about homosexuality, not about violence and only incidently about prison life. It is about what makes us human even in the most dehumanizing environment; it is about human relationships in a huis clos; it is about yearning for love, for a better life, for being a better person, but somehow always falling short. (don't we all?). And it is of course about self discovery and the ever eluding meaning of manhood. It is hard to believe thjat such a powerful book could be ignored for so long. However, this book continues to fly in the face of today's and yesterday's conventions: A black person writing about a white person; could this possibly mean that our humanity is not only defined by the color of our skin?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Yesterday Will Make You Cry (Old School Books) (Hardcover)

Far more than a prison story, Yesterday Will Make You Cry is a story of self awakening, discovery of manhood and what it takes to keep it and solidify it. Simply remarkable.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yesterday Will Make You Cry. Why?, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Yesterday Will Make You Cry [a Novel] (Paperback)

Tommy Mason, Jr.
English 11, 7th Period
Mrs. Fason
October 10, 2003

Yesterday Will Make You Cry: Why?
***

"It was the first night..., convict no. 57232 had been in the dormitory." This starts the whole thing. The author's purpose is clear, to put you in the zone of this book, but does it? Chester Himes' Yesterday Will Make You Cry is a novel that brings to life the way of life in jail.
Himes presents Jimmy Monroe, the protagonist into play with the realization of life in jail. He is hit with many obstacles, but doesn't know what to do. Himes present this story in a weird way.
The setting is very realistic. The protagonist has a problem with coming to the realization of it, "Top range,...a very cold block with small, grimy, and very cold cells."
Jimmy Monroe is a very complex character. One may not understand fully what's going on in Himes' mind when he created this character, but one must also keep in mind the title when you read the book at all times!

Himes present many flashbacks through Monroe, but fails to foreshadow at first. There is conflict between the whole story and the readers mind as well. One must not forget who the protagonist is because you will get lost.

Himes dos use some "big words" but, most of them tie in with the story. Some parts of this novel are simple, like every-day life talking, but the narration parts are more complex. "Before the fire, despite the fact of it's submergence beneath the level, endless, monotonous, unvarying, un-movingly eternal stretch," is an example of how Himes' really wants you to think.

This novel is an alright novel. One must keep in mind the "deeper meaning" or the "big picture" of some things. Read "between the lines." If the reader doesn't pay attention in the beginning, they will get lost later on in the book. Read the novel a couple of times to get the full meaning. One will find something new every time.