Decades in the Making, Ellison's Unfinished Second Novel Emerges as Essential Read: ...The framework of a great novel is certainly here. A Black preacher and former musician named Hickman takes in a child whom he calls Bliss. Hickman raises Bliss as a light-skinned Black in Georgia, grooming him to be a preacher. But when he grows up, Bliss disappears, resurfacing as Adam Sunraider, a senator from New England who demagogues relentlessly on race. A third character named Severen, who was also abandoned as a child, targets the hypocritical Sunraider.This is a deeply complex, even epic, story. And it's rendered as majestically as you would expect from Ellison. Those who want a traditional read, however, might be dissuaded by the book's length and what is in essence its lack of filter. (Those turned off might be better off spending less and picking up Juneteenth, an extraction of the work showcased here and published in 1999.)
