Reviews

honestly would’ve been 5 stars if the last chapter wasn’t so weird
I loved the way the story is laid out. the main characters together in one dramatic present moment, and then each chapter focuses on the history of each of them (Florence, Gabriel, Elizabeth)
the twists were so good
It’s a great commentary on faith, spirituality, religious ethics, guilt, and sin
we all had a crush on the lead church boy at some point, the sexual tension between Elisha and John was tight (or maybe it was just me 🤭)
OBSESSED WITH FLORENCE
not her whipping out the receipts from 30 years ago to call out her asshole brother and his foolishness
I was living for her and her not giving too fucks about what people thought of her and calling out bullshit left and right
whipping out the fruits of the spirit got me
also being a good friend to both Deborah and Elizabeth
“all women had been cursed from the cradle; all, in one fashion or another, being given the same cruel destiny, born to suer the weight of men.”
I appreciate that James Baldwin has such a poor opinion of men lol
and that men never change
this whole book was low key about how men suck and Christian men suck even more
the imagery of cosmic inheritance is so strong
and imagine the ego you have to have to consider your children the heirs to the kingdom of heaven (correction: your biological male child)
I wish there was more about John’s other siblings, especially the girls. Roy doesn’t even really make another appearance after chapter 1, they all kind of disappear
the story and all the characters’ lore is so well built…and then the last chapter just feels so hard to follow and doesn’t really climax and resolve?
his spiritual awakening / out of body experience is full of a lot of imagery of darkness and suffering (mainly at his fathers hands)
and then the last image of him surrounded by all rage patriarchs and ancestors of the Bible and the solidarity of being followers of Jesus through suffering was powerful
but I guess I wanted more to tie it all together. Besides Florence just trying to call Gabriel out on all his bullshit
regardless so good and loved the storytelling, character development, culture building

akick's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

aubrey_rose's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

mireya_98's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

3.5

gabe_escobedo's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

warroleggo's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

Written in Baldwin's poignant and passionate prose, his first novel employs stream-of-consciousness to explore religion, systemic racism and foremost, father-son relations. By exploring the history of key characters in the story, the importance of John's birthday and his enlightenment is achieved with great attention to the human condition. I was not able to gather the impact and significance of the novel and it lacked in its ability to tie the story together. Its strong rooting in 1930 America's black christianity also proved foreign without the clarity that will impact global readers.

dancevera's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated

4.25

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