Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

15 reviews

ohgull's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, Child abuse, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Police brutality, Violence, and Death

Minor: Infertility, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Drug use, and Suicide

annablume's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

impeccable writing, the first part was hard to get through for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Infertility

Minor: Pregnancy

grantsharpies's review

dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Grief, Racism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Death, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

volcanogirl's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

This is a beautifully written book and an excellent example of James Baldwin's work. I enjoyed the prose more than the contents I think, but I also think that it's because of the limits of my own perspective. I have no deep personal connection to American evangelism, but I understood it just the same. It is a thoughtful, loving, incredibly human piece of literature and I think it's a very important book to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicide

emzireads's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death, and Suicide

jennikreads's review against another edition

This is beautifully and skillfully written. I just couldn’t get past reading about so much religious trauma when I have religious trauma of my own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Racism, Racial slurs, and Domestic abuse

badspringbye's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

not the coming-of-age story I was expecting it to be. it took a huge turn after john's hunting standpoint. gabriel (the father)'s life's a drag. john (the son)'s part, which was mostly only on the first 1/3 of the book, was frustrating yet gripping. that's the only thing that made me look forward to how it's gonna turn out at the end. the whole point of the story is a bit... out of shape..?

excerpt:
p. 20 "And this is why, though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John's heart was hardened against the Lord. His father was God's minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry

sofipitch's review

emotional reflective slow-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

4.75

This book was amazing. The focus on how Christianity corrupts, how it can enable ppl to do cruelty or at least feel entitled to it. Or the way it can make ppl feel remorse over things that were good, like Elizabeth with Richard just bc she wasn't married to him doesn't mean he wasn't 3000x better a husband than Gabriel. Also John hating his narcissistic and arrogant and abusive father, def can't relate to that at all, wouldn't be me. (/s) The sermons read or just the way religious figures talked constantly had me gritting my teeth in anger, I think Baldwin really got to the core of what I dislike about Christianity while never fabricating anything or displaying it as more than it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Racism

Minor: Suicide

dancefever's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

again, i just LOVE james baldwin and he never lets me down. beautiful beautiful prose, really evocative and beautifully shapped characters, all with their own individual struggles and stories. i loved how it told the tales of the parents generations and treated them as the flawed young people they were: sometimes a difficult thing to do with older generations. i would maybe mark it down just a tad for being a bit slower paced than the other baldwin books i’ve read and maybe a little harder to follow with the abstract poetics of it but still loved it nonetheless. 4.25 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Hate crime

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-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

5.0

Stunning. Intense. Powerful. Go Tell It on the Mountain is full of sin and sorrow and shame. If you grew up going to church (any church, not just Pentecostal) this book hits you hard. I can’t stop thinking about how the characters in this novel were supposed to be full of the love of the Lord but were so lacking in joy and forgiveness for their fellow human beings, even their brothers and sisters in the church. I’m going to need a minute to recover from this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Racism

Moderate: Physical abuse and Infidelity

Minor: Rape, Hate crime, and Death of parent