Something I’ve been meaning to do but had not gotten around to is read a Chester Himes book. Thanks to @ireadvintage for gifting me with a copy of The Third Generation so that I was able to finally do so!
      I’ve sat with this for a while, trying to figure out how to do this book justice with a write-up. Basically, what we have here is wife and mother, Lillian Taylor, 3 kids, husband teaches at a local black college in the 1920s in Missouri, he’s well liked…things sound good, right? Lillian, however, is passing. The rest of her family is not. The disdain Lillian has for her own people and community is where the trouble begins. Her dislike for darker skin becomes the undoing of their world. Causing her husband to leave his job, incident after terrible incident, looking for work, and that eventually brings them to Cleveland.
    I’ve read that some of this is based on Himes childhood, and that might make for a great explanation of how he was able to convey exactly what was going through Charles (Lillians favorite child) head, as his mother’s seeds of self hate were planted and bloomed like a bad weed throughout this family. He isn’t overly wordy with his descriptions of this, but he still managed to put you right inside this teen boys head.
   I want to be mad at Lillian. At first, I was, but there is also that part of you that realizes she was acting out of a place of wanting more for her family. She thought she was doing the right thing. At least, I believe she did. Not wanting the limitations of racist society to hold them back and telling them where their place is in this world. Generational trauma is what they got instead.
   I loved this book, even though it felt like a gut punch many times. I think that is the power of a good book, though, to put you through it.  As usual, I am not going to spoil any endings for you. This family is on a roller-coaster for sure.
        Look up Chester Himes and read about his life if you aren’t familiar. Strong ties to the area for all of the local Northeast Ohio readers. People often like to make Ohio a joke, but I think we have a pretty rich background when it comes to ties to the literary world.

The Third Generation hits deep. It’s been a great opportunity to hear about & learn about experiences that I have no knowledge of. Chester Himes takes a break from his usual crime stories to get real about colorism, family drama, and the struggle of being Black in post-war America. The story follows a middle-class Black family that looks perfect on the outside but is falling apart behind closed doors—mainly because the mom, Lillian, is obsessed with skin color. Her internalized racism messes up everything, pushing her husband to the edge and sending her favorite son, Charles, down a bad path.

This book doesn’t hold back. It’s raw, emotional, and straight-up heartbreaking at times. Himes really digs into the way racism, even within a family, can destroy people from the inside out. The writing is sharp, the characters feel painfully real, and the social commentary still hits hard today. If you like deep, thought-provoking reads with messy family drama and real-world weight, this one’s worth picking up.