Hell of a Book is in conversation with the 1952 novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man is a foundational novel in the Black literary canon that follows the story of a young, ambitious man who migrates to the North during the Harlem Renaissance. Across a series of episodes, he faces racism and is gradually disillusioned by the social limitations placed on him as a Black man in a racially stratified society. By the end of the novel, he resigns himself to a life as an “invisible man,” living in hiding in the basement of an all-white apartment building.

Hell of a Book shares several similarities with Invisible Man. For example, Ralph Ellison’s protagonist is unnamed. The same is true of Jason Mott’s first-person narrator. Whenever characters make mention of his name, it is left blank: “I’m sorry. I haven’t introduced myself. I’m an author. My name is ———. Maybe you’ve heard of me and maybe you haven’t, but you’ve probably heard of my book” (35). 

This unnamed protagonist is also on an episodic journey toward racial self-awareness. He begins the book as an up-and-coming author, desensitized to the suffering of other Black Americans, and ends the book acutely aware of racial injustice and his position within it.