BOOK REVIEW: Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Langston Hughes is an author on my should-read list, so I was glad of the nudge provided by Netgalley to read the novel Not Without Laughter. First published in 1930, it is being re-released by Union Square & Co. with an introduction by the poet Jasmine Mans.

The novel is semi-autobiographical: a coming-of-age story of a young Black man, Sandy, growing up in Kansas. Sandy is primarily reared by his grandmother, Hager, who was once enslaved. She is a deeply religious woman who refuses to hate, despite the injustices she sees in the world. She works hard as a laundress. And she has big hopes for Sandy.

Also in the family are Hager’s three grown daughters. The eldest, Tempy, has married well and is financially comfortable. However, she feels superior to the rest of her family and rarely comes home. The middle daughter, Annjee, is Sandy’s mother. She’s another hard-working woman, in service to a white family, but her focus is on her much-absent husband, Jimboy, not on her son. She works long hours, and when she’s home, she’s tired and depressed over Jimboy. He’s got itchy feet, never able to hold a job for long and constantly on the move looking for something better. And finally, the youngest daughter, Harriett, is a good-time girl. She wants better for herself. She is fiercely aware of racial injustice. And she doesn’t want to get trapped in the drudgery that rules the lives of her sisters and mother. She runs off to join a carnival. She resorts for a while to prostitution. But she finally finds her stride as a Blues singer.

Sandy is influenced by all of these family members. He grows up learning to take jobs wherever he can to help his grandmother and to have some spending money. But he’s also a fine student. He knows that a good education is his best hope of escaping poverty.

It was a little difficult settling into the book. The beginning uses a lot of Black dialect that, in this day and age, is disconcerting to read. But this is less pronounced, or less noticeable, as the book progresses and we are pulled deeper and deeper into Sandy’s life. The novel doesn’t shy away from his confusion and conflicted feelings. It presents the family members compassionately while showing them warts and all. It shows the differing struggles of the Black community in Kansas in that time period, but also brings to life their love and joy.