I read this book when it first came out. I met and spoke with Mr. Harris briefly when he gave a lecture at my university in 1997. I am glad he wrote this book because he is telling the world what they should know about the invisible lives of black men and the women that they hurt. I think the author's writing style is extremely simplistic but I felt it was decent for a first novel. This book really made an impression on me because it was really my first look at how difficult life can be for a gay black man. One thing that I did not like about it was how Mr. Harris gave the impression through his depiction of Ray that most black men have these feelings and struggle with them. He seemed to give the impression that any man could be turned on to homosexuality if he found a man who was persistent enough which I don't believe at all. I never read anymore of Mr. Harris's books for that reason. However I do applaud his efforts to expose the lies carried on by men in our community.

In his first book Invisible Life, the author E. Lynn Harris introduced me to a world which before this was truly invisible and unknown to me. The chronicle of Raymond over a number of years described not only the life of a black man but one who was bisexual as well. Meeting Raymond Daly first as a young Southern college student deeply involved in a heterosexual relationship with his college sweetheart, to the days of his affair with a gay black man and then a black actress, to an acquiantance dying of AIDS, this book is especially memorable and poignant. It isn't any wonder then, that by the end of the book Ray is beset with uncertainties as to his sexuality. Pressure from his family not to even think of himself as a homosexual, hiding his bisexuality from the stodgy law firm he works for and then meeting a beautiful black actress who falls in love with him, by the books end, Ray must finally decide to consider the direction of his realtionships and his sexual life.

I found this book to be an easy read. Perhaps a bit too easy. It only took me les than a day to finish the book and at times I found the writing was like a very long coversation, instead of a novel. Despite this The characters were finely drwan and I am looking forward to reading the next two books in this series to see the final decisions Ray makes regarding his life.

A friend gave me Invisible Life to read on a road trip. I am the type of person where as if something doesn't grab my attention right away, it's a problem. After picking up the book at several different times, I almost decided not to continue it. While bored out of my mind, I picked it up and just read and read and read, until the book was finished. What took several weeks to start, only took what seemed like moments to finish. I can appreciate a new author. It's not easy putting all the thoughts that linger in your mind for so long into a masterpiece on the first try. Raymond Tyler's college years vividly reminded me of my own. I stopped for a moment to think of how many black male athletes at my school were possibly gay. This opened up a new frame of thought for me. I have known several women athletes who were bi-sexual, but never had I phantomed the notion of black male athletes being gay. For a moment, I wondered how Harris would describe two men making love tastefully, and without intimidating passive minds. At any rate, he gave the book a dramatic twist that kept me constantly reading trying to figure out what would happen next. I couldn't wait to get the the next novel.