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kn0tp0rk's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
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? Yes
3.0
Definitely felt like a rehash of some of Baldwin's older works, though perhaps angrier. There are race relations, jabs at Christianity without making the leap into agnosticism/atheism, a scrawny Black boy, Harlem, New York, music. The way the story is told mostly works for me, that is, I understand the choice to tell it the way it's told. The ending doesn't have any astounding resolution because the story is basically about people Leo's met and situations he's remembered while he's out of commission due to a heart attack. That may be my biggest complaint with this type of tale, one that wishes to overview a character's entire life in so short a space. It may have been to the book's benefit to have Leo feud with Caleb as the final boss battle or something LOL
🔸Leo makes a comment about how his mother warned him of changing his underwear, and the fear of being discovered in dirty underwear during an accident. I've had similar horrors, which says something pretty sad about my mental state.
🔸Leo describes where a lot of anti-semitism comes from in Black communities. Their landlords were Jewish and treated them poorly--didn't fix broken windows or falling ceilings, kicked them out over late rent. / This isn't some inherently Jewish trait, of course. Most landlords are bad people regardless of religious heritage.
🔸Leo reflects on part of his childhood. I got super nervous when he spoke of wandering the streets to the movie theater alone. Back then it was frowned upon, but normal for kids to do this. Now we know that children need responsible adult supervision at all times because there are predators in even our own neighborhoods.
🔸Speaking of predators, he and his older brother, Caleb, get stopped by white cops. They're terrified during the debacle but afterward laugh about it. They talk about why white people act so viciously toward Blacks. Leo thinks about his white school teacher, who is very kind. He's confused and has many questions. Indeed, the question of racial hostility in the US is a confusing one to confront.
🔸Caleb curses God for their situation. Leo wonders how God could have made white people so cruel. Leo has a hard time buying into the idea that a god would make life so unfair. / The subject of an amusing The Boondocks episode, white Christian racists literally think they're going to a whites-only heaven, some believe Blacks have no souls or even go to hell just because they're Black. It involves a lot of reconciliation and interpretation on part of the believer. I'm happier an atheist.
🔸Baldwin does that unfortunate thing: describes women's breasts and buttocks unnecessarily. The problem, of course, isn't just that he does this, but that the breast and buttocks of men aren't also described so that one feels the women are inherently sexual creatures. Sometimes the penis is talked of, but certainly not in the same casual manner.
🔸Leo sleeps with Madeleine and gets a scolding from the cops because some white old folks tattled on him. Madeleine throws a fit, but it's obviously Leo who is hurt the most. The next day Leo and Barbara are chased through town by violent racists, who thankfully don't get hold of them. / Yes, racists love to wax poetic about blood purity. Of course, anyone who understands homo sapiens and genes realizes that 1) we're all the same species, and 2) lack of genetic diversity leads to extinction.
🔸Jerry is asked if he misses church. He says sometimes, but he thinks of his mother, who is a devout believer and yet also a loud anti-semite and racist. / Yeah, when I was in church, the popular group to renounce was LGBT+ people. I couldn't be someone who supported that hatred.
🔸Saul is one of those racists who doesn't call you racist slurs, but instead insists that you need to work harder and longer than everyone else.
🔸Caleb is a pastor. Leo thinks he's preying upon the ignorant to make a living. / Some Christian leaders are draining their communities ignorantly, others are entirely malicious. Either way, I share the opinion that living off tithes from a congregation is villainous. The sermons are repetitive, exhausting, not worth MY money.
🔸Leo's mother is angry that he has feelings for Barbara, who is white. Leo gets hurt. / While it may be an unfortunate phenomenon that Black men often have superficial preferences for white women, you can't stop yourself from falling in love with someone.
🔸Caleb makes Leo feel bad about trying to become an actor. He likens artwork to alcohol consumption (conveniently ignoring the addictive qualities of caffeine in coffee, which he prefers) and talks about how all the artists he's heard of are depressed or crazy. Then he uses some extra manipulation power to say that we should be creating for God, not ourselves. / Look, idk what the deal is with artists getting depressed. It could be a lot of things, like people wanting art, but not wishing to place value on it. But until you can demonstrate that it's possible for your specific god to exist, I have no reason to believe that I'm supposed to be doing anything for its benefit.
🔸Caleb converted to Christianity after an understandably shocking experience on the battlefield during WWII. / Okay, what about the non-believers who faced those same turmoils but are still non-believers?? No one seems to want to talk about them.
🔸Leo comments to himself that it looks like their father is very disappointed in Caleb's becoming a pastor. Indeed, he commented earlier that their father didn't raise them in the church and thought poorly of it. Their father gets on much better with Leo's friend/lover Christopher, who is very loud about his opinion that Christianity was forced upon Blacks by whites to make them complacent in slavery and their position in life. / Really can't blame their dad for this one LOL
🔸I don't like that Pete is referred to as looking "oriental." Very outdated, but this was published in 1968.
🔸Barbara, Christopher, and Leo have her Kentucky family over for dinner and wring their ignorant necks about the current situation of racism and wealth inequality in America. / It's still the same today, 54 years after the publication of this book.
🔸A reporter asks Leo about his role in films and says that it must be very important to the Black race. He comments that it's not helping pay their rents. The reporter doubles down, but so does he. / Honestly, yeah. Black celebrities can be inspiring, that's true, but the rest of us are just trying to put food on the table. We're not necessarily trying to be celebrities or "make it."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Cursing, Hate crime, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War
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