Are the flaws of the characters a main focus of the book? Um, existing while being black. 

I like the way Richard Wright writes. I saw this on a table for Black History Month at the library and picked it up for some short stories. Short doesn't mean vapid though. The stories were fraught with tension. The Flemish innkeeper who is enraged and indignant at the large black man drinking and cavorting with prostitutes in the inn. The boy who wanted a gun so badly it ruined his family. There were some very meaty stories being tackled here. I would read more of his work!