EnShanté

Langston Hughes’ “The Ways of White Folks” is an anthology that dives into the lives of 14 Black and biracial Americans. Some characters are navigating their lives around the ways of white people, while others are living as best as they can despite the ways of white people.

My favorite character was…

Oceola Jones. I really appreciate how she gave zero fucks about the white lady who thought she was “saving” her from a life that she never asked to be saved from. For context, Jones is a gifted Black pianist who Dora Ellsworth becomes obsessed with and tries to control under the guise of “I’m trying to help you reach your potential.” When in reality, she was just a rich racist who viewed Jones as a “thing” to control.

“The stories feel effortless,
like Hughes exhaled them onto the pages.”

I enjoyed…

The writing. Hughes doesn’t try to guide the readers to think a certain way or to take a certain side. He just (it seems) tells the story as it is. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m realizing that the stories are told in a way that feels a little sarcastic. They don’t feel sarcastic because Hughes’ writing is sarcastic. They feel sarcastic because his storytelling is so nonchalant juxtaposed to the outlandish experiences the main characters are subjected to.

I didn’t enjoy…

“Rejuvenation Through Joy,” a story about a man who, with the help of his partner in crime, creates a cult and scams rich people out of (I believe) thousands of dollars. The story moved slowly and the main character was bland. The unsurprising surprise at the end explains why Hughes wrote Eugene Lesche, the main character, in such a cagy way but it was a build up that I didn’t need. It felt like season two of You. We all knew Love was like Joe because the signs were obvious throughout the season but the writers still revealed it to us as if we were supposed to clutch our pearls.

I rate this book…

Five stars. With the exception of one or two stories, I love this book. The writing is concise and admirable and the stories are needed. The stories feel effortless, like Hughes exhaled them onto the pages.

Would you recommend?

Yes! Read it and let me know what you think below.