Flying Home and Other Stories by Ralph Ellison

Flying Home and Other Stories Reviews

• 
  MJ Nicholls

  Stories exhumed by executors for posthumous collections can impact on an author’s legacy. These stories, if read before the masterpiece Invisible Man, might lead the reader to never approach that staggering leap forward in artistry—however, for those interested in the apprentice phase of Ellison’s career, when he wrote powerful social-realist and fanciful observational material, this selection is smashing enough.
• 
  Sean Barrs

  Ralph Ellison’s
  Invisible Man is a fantastically imaginative and powerful piece of writing. It has been a few years since I read it, and I have been wanting to try some of his other work since. And this short story collection seemed like a good place to see what else he has to offer.
  
  His prose here is simple and elegant with slight touches of greatness that would not be fully manifest until
  Invisible Man. There are hints of a great writer here, of someone who has a little more honing to do.
  
  The injustice of the African American experience is explored and captured from many different angles with a multitude of voices. From molestation and fondling on a train, to persisting and ignorant stereotypes, Ellison presents the racism prevalent in the southern states of America. His writing is highly evocative of colour and a constant awareness of colour in order to identify people and things. Colour clearly defines much of who and what people are here. It is the main descriptor he uses for objects also. It is important to him, and it is the first thing he mentions when describing anything.
  
  The title story “Flying Home” is perhaps the most poignant articulation of such themes. After awakening from a plane crash, and unable to walk because of a broken ankle, the pilot feels humiliated only because he fears that he may help perpetuate the “stupid ignorant” black stereotype condescending and racist whites used. He wanted to learn to fly so he could (figuratively and literally) rise above such reductionist labels placed on him, and because a bird collided with his plane, he is brought back down to earth. The story is effective because it shows the societal fears the blacks had as they experienced continued institutional racism.
  
  

  "When you must have them judge you, knowing that they never accept you mistakes as your own but hold it against your whole race - that was humiliation."

  
  Overall, this is a good collection of stories that often feature vehicles such as planes and trains that suggest great movement across the landscape. And I would like to think that this sense of movement is a subtle hope that perhaps things were slowly starting to move forward for the African American people.
  
  It must be said though, there is nothing present here that Ellison does not do better in the
  Invisible Man, hence my quite conservative rating. If you want to see what he is really about, start there.
  
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• 
  B. P. Rinehart

  I read this book as a fiction-supplement to another book I am currently reading called
  The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. As the latter book's title suggest, both books deal with The Great Migration and the effects it was having on people, in the case of this book, during the years between the late-1930s and the mid-1940s. These are stories written by Ralph Ellison from the beginning of his career as a writer until just before he publishes
  Invisible Man. Ellison had spoken of some these stories, like
  King of the Bingo Game, in his books of essays, but this is the first time collecting them all. It is not gonna be anywhere near as good as
  Invisible Man, but for fans of his it is nice to track his development as a writer. Of note, one can see how he transitions from the socialist-realism of his mentor
  Richard Wright to the high modernism of his other literary heroes:
  James Joyce &
  T.S. Eliot. A couple of stories revolve around two boys name Buster & Riley and feel like foreshadowing to the two characters made famous by
  Aaron McGruder.
  
  The best stories in this book are I Did Not Learn Their Names,
  The Black Ball,
  King of the Bingo Game, In A Strange Country and the title story. All, but the respective first, were written during Ellison's time in the Merchant Marines, a year before he began work on the first draft of his novel. Flying Home is an amazingly well-developed story about a
  Tuskegee Airman who accidentally crash-lands on a field and is found by an old sharecropper. It shows that, stylistically, his mind was already thinking towards Invisible Man's prologue.
  
  I can't say I would recommend this book to everyone. This is a posthumous collection of a writer's first work, as oppose to something like
  Going to Meet the Man which was written by a writer at the peak of his powers (fiction-wise). If you are a die-hard fan of Ellison, this a collection well worth having.
  
  "For I found [that] the greatest difficulty for a Negro writer was the problem of revealing what he truly felt, rather than serving up what Negroes were supposed to feel, and were encouraged to feel." -
  Shadow and Act
• 
  Iván Ramírez Osorio

  Una colección de cuentos que valen la pena. Relatos que perduran y que invitan al lector a reflexionar, a pensar y a aprender. Todos los cuentos que se incluyen en este libro tocan temas muy "estadounidenses" pero, además, buscan construir la imagen del afroamericano estadounidense del siglo XX. Vuelo a Casa y Otros Cuentos presenta imágenes crudas sobre el racismo en los Estados Unidos, la hipocresía social ( que aún parece perdurar) y las dificultades de ser el otro, el diferente y el perseguido.
  
  Muy bueno relatos, creativos en cuanto a forma y fondo. Siguiente paso: el hombre invisible.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Ramon

  I love everything that is written by Ralph Ellison. With that being said, I found these stories much different than what I have been used from him. I had no idea what I getting in to with this book. I simply saw it and brought it. And read with the same attitude. This is a collection of his earlier works, prior to Invisible Man. So it was informative to see where he started and where he evolved as a writer. If you are an Ellison fan this worth your time.
• 
  Petter Nordal

  A beautiful, insightful, heart wrenching, gut-twisting, infuriating, soothing, burst-out-laughing, well crafted book that left me wishing it was longer.
• 
  Leena Anandhi

  An apt story to read for the Black History month reading. This is my first ever Ralph Ellison story. I couldn't help remembering 'The little prince'. The plane crashing on a desolate place is how it starts. This however is a bigger crash. As poignantly expressed by Todd, who is on his test flight, he fears how it will be viewed as a humiliation of not only an individual but of the race. A lost oppurtunity, of flying as a means of validation from his white superiors and peers, so much so even a landing in an enemy territory would have been a satisfying validation of his prowess. A longing to get away from the restricting community of blacks to the liberating rarified realm of skies and thus finally break away from the shackle of being a black man. The despondency of crushed dreams is so well articulated. The humiliation and anger from being joked about by Jefferson is so well expressed. Jefferson himself is someone who carries his blackness lightly, joking about it, has learned to accept it, manage it and survive it. For Todd however, the plane crash is like a blow to his own vanity in trying to disown his identity with Flying. For a crushing moment he realises that despite all the flying, the crash-landing ironically flies him home among the kind and understanding concern of his own, which he so disdained.
• 
  Marcos Teach

  A beautiful, bleak and sorrowful collection of the black experience during the 1930s-50s that often serves as a precursor to that wonderful masterpiece he's most well known for. Full of rage, hope and laughter at even at the bleakest moments, he evokes protest fiction writing at it's richest.
• 
  Anthony D'Juan Shelton

  A great collection of Ellison's short works. Though none of the stories come close to "Invisible Man", these stories proved Ellison was a gorgeous craftsman of word play.
• 
  Jerrika Rhone

  my grandmother was written about in this book making it always special to me. (period)
• 
  Jeff Clausen

  I have not read Ellison’s Invisible Man, which is by all accounts a fabulous read. This collection of short stories has many excellent moments, many to do with young Black men in one sort of danger or another. He is really good at putting you at the scene of the various adventures, and I enjoy his writing style. My only complaint is that none of the stories is color-blind; that is, we are constantly aware of the characters’ races, possibly to the level of distraction. I hoped that at least one story would take me to a place I’d never been, or a situation that I could revel in, but each time I was forced to confront some level of bigotry or ignorance or just plain evil white people. He’s too good of a writer to box himself in like this.
• 
  Sara

  Eh, it’s an interesting insight into black life in the early 20th century and especially into life hopping trains and being black in the military, but overall this is a really uneven collection and feels very far from invisible man.
• 
  Eric Hinkle

  As Invisible Man is one of the best books of the 20th century, I probably had unrealistic expectations for these short stories. Half of them are great, and are definitely worth it for fans.
• 
  Kenneth Sutherland

  powerful collection of short stories on what it is to be black in america
  
  highlights for me included
  
  [A Party Down at the Square]
  That I had the Wings
  A Coupla Scalped Indians
  Hymie’s Bull
  I Did Not Learn Their Names
  The Black Ball
  Flying Home
  
  
  
• 
  sophia

  *4.5 stars
  Very beautiful and interesting stories. Loved it
• 
  Benji

  This was my first book by Ellison and I'll be happy to read more. It made me frustrated in the issues it brings up but it also made me homesick for home in Tennessee, just from the way people talk and the areas of the country it describes.
  
  I feel like the stories that hit me the most were the last 4 : The black ball, In a strange country, King of the bingo game and Flying home. I've yet to read the introduction, but I flipped through it to get a sense of where this guy was coming from (generally I'm ANTI-introduction and PRO-stuff at the end-- P.S. is a good book feature that I've seen lately, interview and all kinds of things at the end, like in POISONWOOD BIBLE).
  
  Some of the stories were more traditional, others more free and loose. KING OF THE BINGO GAME felt exactly like a Cortazar short story, where it begins with one thing, an abrupt shift or two, then ends with another and you're not sure what is the point but you-know-its-coming-from-somewhere -you-won't-expect. Also, Ellison wasnt afraid of showing his characters with flaws and flailing about. As an African-American writer, I can see how you'd wish to only have noble characters with spotless personalities--but especially in the last story, Flying Home, the point is, 'let us be human, if we make mistakes allow us to wear them individually instead of generalizing that for all black people'.
  
  Pretty good! Recommended, eager to read his essays and his novel.
• 
  Ryan

  Interesting, quick jump into everything Ellison: race, politics, the south, and strange scenarios. Unfortunately, outside of the title story and "Party in the Square" most of these short stories fall... well, short. Some pieces could have benefited from some extra editing (thankfully he never went overboard...), and some just weren't too intriguing. Ellison, despite his small body of work, is a critical author in American history, and these stories work as a nice prelude to his magnum opus.
• 
  Patrick

  p.48 "It was always God, or the white folks. She always made him feel guilty, as though he had done something wrong he could never remember, for which he would never be forgiven." That I Had the Wings
• 
  Saad Abdulmahmoud

  Flying Home, Ralph Ellison
  
  This 13 short stories gives a human face to the Black -African-Americans. It’s about their American experience. Although going through atrocities, they are still hoping. In short, they’re still/also humans. Flying Home is the hope of being able to fly, with own wings to freedom. Similar to Tony Morrison’s book Song Of Solomon flight. Flight as a Means of Escape.
  
  The stories shows clearly what life was (still is) for African Americans in the States. The racial oppression is what I would remember from this book. How a young black boy is reprimanded for even singing about being president for fear of angering the white people.
  
  A Party Down At The Square
  A white boy witnessing the public burning of a black man.
  
  Boy On A Train
  A young black boy learning to interpret his mother’s tears on their journey in a train.
  
  Hymie’s Bull
  An account of a homeless white’s man driven to murder in rage and self defence but the blacks we would be blamed for it.
  
  A Coupla Scalped Indians
  A story of a black boy who sees a woman naked for the first time.
  
  That I Had Wings
  Two black kids trying to teach chicks to fly. The story is also about the old black aunt and her “slaves mentality”.
  
  Flying home
  Is the title story, is about a Tuskegee pilot, Todd, a young black air force candidate in Flight Training School in Macon County, Alabama, during World War II. Todd is among the first African Americans accepted into the air force and feels a tremendous amount of pressure to perform well so that he can prove he is equal to his white counterparts.
• 
  Alessandro Pontorno

  Ralph Ellison è uno degli scrittori che più ho imparato ad amare, a dispetto di una produzione letteraria relativamente esigua.
  Dopo il meraviglioso ""Uomo invisibile"", la lettura della raccolta di racconti intitolata "Volo di ritorno" riporta ad un tempo, nemmeno troppo remoto, in cui l'odio razziale era una realtà quotidiana, violenta, cieca.
  Eppure quel tempo viene raccontato anche con una profonda nostalgia: povertà voleva dire sviluppare l'inventiva e la fantasia per giocare o si tramutava nel coraggio per trovare un posto nella vita, amicizia e solidarietà diventavano legami indissolubili e non relazioni passeggere, la relazione con la natura era vitale e non relegata ad un approccio da turista.
  E tutto questo viene narrato magistralmente, con una spruzzata di jazz ed un pizzico di magia voodoo.
• 
  Jennie

  i am SO happy that i didn't write off ralph ellison after reading invisible man (and disliking it). this collection of short stories is SO GOOD. a lot are based on the south, riding the rails, and two friends named buster and riley (which were some of my favorite stories). i could definitely see some of the themes/style of invisible man sprinkled throughout the collection, but i was better able to appreciate and understand this time around. whether you're a fan of ralph ellison (or not), definitely read this collection. warning: you will need to put the book down and take some time away from it after finishing the first story.
• 
  Sarahjoy Maddeaux

  It's not exactly true to say that I liked this book. It was painful to read. But for that reason it gave a disturbing insight into what life has been, is still like for Black people. There was an interesting mix of styles, characters, and plots; not all of them were directly about injustice; but it was always there as a background - the differential treatment because of skin colour. Some of the stories were stomach-churningly awful. I found the ones with the two childhood friends were a bit repetitive. Some were a little sweet. All gave brief glimpses into these individual lives, with shadowy pasts and uncertain futures. I would be interested to read more from this author.
• 
  Barry Belmont

  Upon hearing Riley's variation of the titular song "That I Had The Wings" in which he joked about swinging from the White House gates were he the President, Aunt Cate chastises the boy that it's a sinful notion, the idea of a black President: "The Lord don't like it, nor the white folks neither." Ellison throughout the book offers many such prescient sentiments. Half-observation, half-prophecy, the whole is something timelessly American. Sadly, timelessly American.
• 
  L.P. Coladangelo

  3/5
  
  Stories with varying degrees of success, with an incisive eye on race relations in the United States, they span from heartfelt, realistic fiction, to fables and tales that stylistically and laconically lampoon white racism with severe aplomb. Some of the selections show the kind of dazzle that permeates Invisible Man; others fall short but will be of value to those who appreciate Ellison's work in general.
• 
  Carol

  Ralph Ellison is, perhaps, best known for the National Book Award winner Invisible Man. This collection of fiction essays/short stories allowed me to feel the impacts of Jim Crow and racism more than the nonfiction writings I have read. The difference between feeling and intellectually understanding is significant.
  
  This was the first time I ever heard buzzards (turkey/black vultures) referred to as “jimcrows”...language matters.
• 
  Nicole Miles

  I particularly appreciated the introduction which explains a lot about Ellison's perspective, the first story which tells of a lynching from a white man's perspective–impassive but for his telltale physical response to the cruelty–and last story about a black pilot who has crashed and requires medical assistance. The rest was fine too, but didn't speak to me so much.
• 
  César Niño Rey

  «Si yo fuera boxeador profesional habría sido más humano, pensó. No un mono que hace gracias, sino un hombre. A ellos simplemente les encantaba que él fuera un negro que volaba, y eso no era suficiente. Se notó separado de ellos por la edad, por entendimiento, por sensibilidad, por la tecnología, y por su necesidad de medirse a sí mismo en el espejo del aprecio de otros hombres. En cierto modo se sentía traicionado, como le pasó de niño cuando descubrió que su padre había muerto».
• 
  Charlotte

  the last (and longest) story is by far the best, very poignant. i'd give that one 4*s
  
  i feel like i would have enjoyed this more if i had read it physically rather than listening to an audiobook as it was kind of hard to differentiate between the stories. i'd like to read it again as an actual book.