jazzy_t's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Good book. An influential book of its time.
I enjoy reading about a side of lgbt+ I maybe haven't really read before. Paris in 1960s ish.
I felt the characters had a lot of depth and you connect to them but also become angry at them. They most definitely aren't perfect. I feel the author added this to the characters beautifully.
James Balwin the author is an amazing intreting man who deserves to be remembered more than his is currently.
Enjoyed the read, would recommend.
I enjoy reading about a side of lgbt+ I maybe haven't really read before. Paris in 1960s ish.
I felt the characters had a lot of depth and you connect to them but also become angry at them. They most definitely aren't perfect. I feel the author added this to the characters beautifully.
James Balwin the author is an amazing intreting man who deserves to be remembered more than his is currently.
Enjoyed the read, would recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Death, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia
oliverlang's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It feels rude to give this book anything other than 5 stars. It made me feel so many different types of ways; I felt joy in moments and heartache in others. Another book with unlikeable characters but profoundly human ones.
I'm just going to share some of my favourite excerpts in lieu of a wordy review:
I'm just going to share some of my favourite excerpts in lieu of a wordy review:
'Love him,' said Jacques, with vehemence, love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? And how long, at the best, can it last, since you are both men and still have everywhere to go? Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, and most of that, helas! in the dark. And if you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty-they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing, you will be despising your flesh and his. But you can make your time together anything but dirty, you can give each other something which will make both of you better-forever-if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.' He paused, watching me, and then looked down to his cognac. 'You play it safe long enough,' he said, in a different tone, 'and you'll end up trapped in your own dirty body, forever and forever and forever-like me.' And he finished his cognac, ringing his glass slightly on the bar to attract the attention of Madame Clothilde.
I smiled. "Things my father never told me.' 'Somebody,' said Jacques, 'your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour-and in the oddest places!-for the lack of it.' And then: 'Here comes your baby. Sois sage. Sois chic.'
I began to see that, while what was happening to me was not so strange as it would have comforted me to believe, yet it was strange beyond belief. It was not really so strange, so unprecedented, though voices deep within me boomed, For shame! For shame! that I should be so abruptly, so hideously entangled with a boy; what was strange was that this was but one tiny aspect of the dreadful human tangle, occurring everywhere, without end, forever.
TW: Suicide Reference
I did not know what to do or where to go. I found myself at last along the river, slowly going home.
And this was perhaps the first time in my life that death occurred to me as a reality. I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it-it, the physical act. I had thought of suicide when I was much younger, as, possibly, we all have, but then it would have been for revenge, it would have been my way of informing the world how awfully it had made me suffer. But the silence of the evening, as I wandered home, had nothing to do with that storm, that far-off boy. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Murder, Grief, Death, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Death, Homophobia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Bullying, Classism, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: Blood, Child death, and Pregnancy
Not sure how to tag it, but whether it's a reflection of the author's biases or an extension of the book's core themes, this book has a lot of negativity toward effeminate/GNC gay men.kingcrookback's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I kept thinking about the conversation Baldwin had with Maya Angelou, where he said, in response to a question about being gay, "[...] all I know about human life is if I love you... I love you. And if I love you and duck it, I die." I've read some criticism--most of it recent and mostly from people who are too young to seriously consider what it must have been like to be gay/queer before the late '90s at the earliest--saying that Giovanni's Room contributes to the idea that gay/queer life is tragedy. I think such a viewpoint is informed by a pretty severe misunderstanding of the book. The misery that David feels and the end of Giovanni's story are not brought about purely by virtue of their being gay but rather they're proofs of Baldwin's thesis that denying the truth of who you love is a kind of death. It's David's internalized homophobia that stops him from admitting his love for Giovanni, which leads first to Giovanni's decline and eventual execution and second to Hella's unhappiness. But it isn't so simple as David making the decision to allow himself to love Giovanni; Baldwin is deliberate in portraying the factors that complicate David fully accepting the fact that he feels this love, very powerful forces that include internalized homophobia, notions of masculinity, compulsory heterosexuality, and class. Tied into the issue of class are the concepts of race, nationality, and culture, and how these concepts even further complicate ideas of manhood/masculinity and justice.
On the subject of race/nationality, if I recall correctly, there was also some criticism about the fact that Baldwin chose to write his protagonist as a white man rather than a Black one. However, I found that even though there were no Black characters present, the story was very aware of David's American-ness, if not exactly his whiteness. It's been said that people become more aware of how their homelands have impacted them once they travel abroad, and this is true for David. Though he becomes familiar enough with Paris to get around and have an understanding of the rhythms of the culture, he is never truly at home in Paris. Giovanni and the French characters alike speak of the differences they perceive between Americans and people of the Old World, and later, Giovanni speaks scornfully of the image of moneyed American tourists in his hometown. Rather than separating the subjects of race and homosexuality by writing a white protagonist, I believe Baldwin chose to examine them in conjunction with each other by focusing initially on white masculinity. Whiteness as a concept is irrevocably tied to a sense of superiority and supremacy, but David in the end finds that clinging to his idea of masculinity ultimately fails him, leaving him low.
Spoiler
Guillaume being a member of an old money French family and Giovanni being a poor Italian immigrant in Paris, it's difficult to fathom that class and nation didn't play significant roles in Giovanni's trial and, consequently, his fate. Thus, it's difficult to fathom that Baldwin didn't deliberately seek to depict how these broader ideas affect and complicate daily emotional life.On the subject of race/nationality, if I recall correctly, there was also some criticism about the fact that Baldwin chose to write his protagonist as a white man rather than a Black one. However, I found that even though there were no Black characters present, the story was very aware of David's American-ness, if not exactly his whiteness. It's been said that people become more aware of how their homelands have impacted them once they travel abroad, and this is true for David. Though he becomes familiar enough with Paris to get around and have an understanding of the rhythms of the culture, he is never truly at home in Paris. Giovanni and the French characters alike speak of the differences they perceive between Americans and people of the Old World, and later, Giovanni speaks scornfully of the image of moneyed American tourists in his hometown. Rather than separating the subjects of race and homosexuality by writing a white protagonist, I believe Baldwin chose to examine them in conjunction with each other by focusing initially on white masculinity. Whiteness as a concept is irrevocably tied to a sense of superiority and supremacy, but David in the end finds that clinging to his idea of masculinity ultimately fails him, leaving him low.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Murder, Misogyny, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Domestic abuse
ashleyann's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death
Minor: Alcohol, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts
fleebugs's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Miscarriage
Moderate: Car accident, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: Death of parent
rachelbug's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
poirot's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Alcohol, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
b0ygenius's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Cursing and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Body shaming, Child death, and Death of parent
thesawyerbean's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Nobody can stay in the garden of Eden.
A vivid and devastating piece of queer literature - both brave and important to portray the experiences of queer men, the struggles of coming to terms with their identity and the asphyxiating force of internal conflicts and prejudice within the historical context of its writing. I could not unpick the knot in my throat as I read through to the conclusion, seeing how the vulnerable budding romance soured into tragedy.
I can’t help feeling that I placed him in the shadow of the knife.
This was a fantastic read. However, while the power of the descriptive prose was evident and affecting, the long-winded, punctuation-ridden sentences were often confusing and convoluted. The metaphorical language was gorgeous, but also in some ways overdone in my opinion.
Despite these criticisms, I do believe this to be a must-read for fans of classics and queer literature.
A vivid and devastating piece of queer literature - both brave and important to portray the experiences of queer men, the struggles of coming to terms with their identity and the asphyxiating force of internal conflicts and prejudice within the historical context of its writing. I could not unpick the knot in my throat as I read through to the conclusion, seeing how the vulnerable budding romance soured into tragedy.
I can’t help feeling that I placed him in the shadow of the knife.
This was a fantastic read. However, while the power of the descriptive prose was evident and affecting, the long-winded, punctuation-ridden sentences were often confusing and convoluted. The metaphorical language was gorgeous, but also in some ways overdone in my opinion.
Despite these criticisms, I do believe this to be a must-read for fans of classics and queer literature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Murder, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship