Most analysis of Richard Wright’s long short story (or short novella, depending upon your perspective) focuses on the time that titular protagonist spends actually living out his role as a man forced to live underground. An argument can be made that the story could well have ended without Fred Daniels ever arising from the filthy bowels of the sewer and still remained a powerful parable. Removed from the context of the short period in which he re-enters the world above, however, Fred’s experiences underground cannot be fully understood. Indeed, it is the final section of the story when the man the reader meets on the lam from the fuzz as he descends through a manhole that finally transforms Wright’ hero from “ The Man Who Lived Underground” into Fred Daniels. When he arrives at the station, the cops ask why he is there. Fred responds that he is “looking for the men,” but the police don’t understand. They ask where he came from. “I come out from under the ground,” Fred tells them. One cop says they should send him to a psychiatric institution; others joke that he’s insane. Though state violence has freed Fred from the illusion that work would make his life meaningful and abiding by the law would prevent him from becoming a criminal, he struggles to explain those lessons to others. 29 For casual readers, I’d say this is probably a hard pass. If your book club likes Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club-type titles, also probably a hard pass. However, if your book club does dive into serious literary fiction from time to time, there is plenty to discuss in this book. The Man Who Lived Underground is a powerful book one that will resonate with modern readers even though it was written in the early 1940s. I love Wright’s writing in this novel, he was so vivid in his descriptions especially his details of the underground world. Wright use of alliteration and anaphoras was exceptional.

his arrest, then freer when he descends into the sewers and forsakes his faith but also adrift and lonesome. Neither life offers a full measure of humanity, The audiobook was read by Ethan Herisse. I believe that he is an actor, which surprised me because his reading was very flat. A more experienced narrator might have done a better job. 3.5 stars rounded up because of the author.In his next visit, Daniels comes on a movie theater. Like the embalming room, this place offers him a boon—sandwiches belonging to an old man working in the coal bin, as well as more tools for his effort to transform the cave into his lodging. When Fred awakes, the men are hovering above him. They get him into a car and drive him over to the Peabody residence. They take him inside and upstairs to the scene of the gruesome murder. As they demand that Fred “show us what you did”, Fred wrests free from them and runs down the hall. However, Johnson pulls a gun out, and Fred stops. As I listened to this audiobook, I kept thinking that it was important to have this published. However, I wasn’t enjoying it very much. I preferred the parts of the story that bookended Fred’s time underground. This was previously published as a short story and maybe I would have liked that more. Included in the audiobook, and ebook, is an essay titled “Memories of my Grandmother” which ties certain of the author’s experiences to the book. I can’t say that the essay helped me much.

Throughout this, Fred is only semi-conscious and his motor functions are clearly impaired. He’s unable to hold the cigarette that Murphy offered him. At some point, he does notice Murphy step away and enter the men’s room. He has a sudden impulse to escape. Fred gets up and walks down the stairs. Through the window, he sees the police car outside. He jumps through another window down the hall, landing hard on the pavement. One of the most horrifying slim masterpieces I've read in a long time, I did not know that this novel was once published as a short story by Mr. Wright. Now fully restored as a novel, it is a frightening novel of fear, hopelessness, schizophrenia and the need to be seen, rather than be othered.

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Doubtlessly, this book has plenty of literary value, but nevertheless, it still limits the people who I would recommend this to. And while it makes sense to publish this as a part of Wright’s literary cannon, it should be noted that the short story version of it explores much of the same stuff. Still, if you liked books like The Old Man and the Sea and stuff like that in English class, then you’re probably the type of person who will enjoy dissecting something like this.