This is by far the best book I have ever had to read for school. I know I said the same thing about “Siddhartha” just weeks ago but this book wins 100 times over. I was actually pretty excited to get started reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” because I had seen the movie and was pretty moved by how different it was from the basics we get in school about Malcolm X.
So like Mr. McCarthy said, it was a pretty smart move for Malcolm X to use Alex Haley as his author, not only to get his book out there, but just the relation between two African American men who are deeply interested in their heritage proved this book worthy of reading. The style of writing in this novel made this an exceptionally easy read. The thing that caught my attention from the first 12 chapters of the book was Malcolm interest to do new things all the time. You can really see his life spiraling down the moment he enters the pool hall in Boston because he is so eager to grow up like the cool blacks of the city. His new hobbies included smoking and drinking at the age of 16. When he gets to Harlem things only get worse when he starts to gamble and steal. He stays high and “wears his guns like ties.” When his hyped up lifestyle finally gets him locked up, his willingness to try new things ultimately alters his life when he is told by his brother not to eat pork and not smoke. His curiosity of this new suggestion leads him to his own revelations about whites and blacks. If he didn’t have such an open approach to living he wouldn’t be the self-educated leader that he was in his life time.
