Reviews

Going to Meet the Man by James Baldwin

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moseslh's review against another edition

3.0

This was my first time reading Baldwin, and I enjoyed it but didn't love it. That being said, I tend not to like short stories as much as novels, so this was not entirely surprising.
This is a nice collection of stories narrated from a variety of perspectives, including several from black children, one from the brother of a heroin addict, and the particularly disturbing title story whose protagonist was a racist white cop.
Most of the stories were thought-provoking, but I didn't find any of them to be extremely powerful. I look forward to reading more Baldwin to see if I like any of his other works better.

viren90's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

lydiature_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

i don't know what to say. me and short story collections have a complicated relationship. they're really just hit or miss for me. and those that are "hits" i stop thinking about weeks after finishing, if i'm being honest. so when i saw that this was available on libby, i hesitated.

i'm so glad that i read this. i was instantly hooked by the first story, "the rockpile." it was so interesting to see how baldwin was able to build up tension in a domestic, delicate setting. i felt the dread that elizabeth experienced as a wife to a volatile husband. the writing style in particular was lush and vivid. i was pleasantly surprised to see that the second story, "the outing", was connected. we got to see more of johnnie and the dynamics between him and his step-father gabriel.

i can truly say that all the stories were amazing. the writing style was so vivid and beautiful and raw. baldwin handled each of his narrators with respect and fondness. he explored gender dynamics, race relations from the white and black perspectives, and sexuality. it was a very interesting and thorough collection of short stories that left me wanting MORE. they were all distinct, which impressed me a great deal. many collections that i've read by other authors had narrators that blended in with one another, narrators that weren't very interesting or fleshed-out even. but baldwin took great pains to give life to each of his narrators and everyone had a distinct way of speaking that was so remarkable to me.

there were only 8 stories, but i could see them each being developed into longer works (like a novel or novella). the lowest rating that i gave was 4.5 stars. like i said, all of the stories were amazing but the ones that completely stood out to me were: "the man child", "sonny's blues", and "going to meet the man." they left me absolutely shaken, especially "the man child" and "going to meet the man." when i finished them both in particular, i wanted to throw UP.

man, i'm really kicking myself for not buying the physical copy, because then i would've been able to annotate. but whatever, i can just buy the physical copy and re-read it next year. because honey, i will most definitely be re-reading this.

RATINGS OF STORIES:
1. "the rockpile"- 5 ⭐️
2. "the outing" - 4.75
3. "the man child" - 5 ⭐️
4. "previous conditions" - 4.75 ⭐️
5. "sonny's blues" - 5 ⭐️
6. "this morning, this evening, so soon" - 4.5 ⭐️
7. "come out the wilderness" - 4.5 ⭐️
8. "going to meet the man" - 5 ⭐️

i 100% recommend this, and i definitely think that this should be required reading. this is an american book.

demillesfahan's review against another edition

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5.0

Baldwin is excellent—his mastery of the form is unmatched and it shows in this volume. Sonny's Blues and The Man Child are riveting; if you pumped me full of enough MDMA to kill a small dog and hyped me up enough I'd get their full contents tattooed on my body like some kind of living tome.

100reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative 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

5.0

James Baldwin will always be a 5 star for me no matter what. You can cut the tension with a knife in the first two stories.

bibliorama's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

James Baldwin is a great writer and he makes it easy to fall into the narrative of each short story. You know it's interesting when it has me googling articles for the summaries and meanings to each story like I'm back in school. I can tell this one will get better upon rereads.

Content Warnings