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bibliorama's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, and Addiction
ellareads2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This collection was absolutely beautiful! It was the first time I've completed a work by Baldwin and I am excited to finish the rest of his fiction works this summer. Here is my ranking of the short stories because I do not feel that my overall star rating does justice to what I really thought of each story:
1. The Outing
2. Previous Condition
3. The Rockpile
4. The Man Child
5. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon
6. Sonny's Blues
7. Come Out the Wilderness
8. Going to Meet the Man (MAJOR TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING FOR LYNCHING)
What I like most about "The Outing" is how close to home it feels. Baldwin perfectly captures what it's like to grow up in the Church around very religious people and feel all that shame, guilt, and trauma even as a child. Along with these religious power dynamics, he also explores how this intersects with gender and age within the congregation. I love the descriptions of male intimacy-whether platonic or romantic it could be read-between the two boys Johnnie and David. These boys, as well as their friend Roy, do not buy the narrative of salvation that others around them do. But Johnnie, being the preacher's son and living and breathing this religion, still desires the great love and intimacy all the worshippers around him display during the service on the boat. It is a beautiful scene that Johne observes, but he is not truly apart of. I felt that as a queer person with religious trauma, the seamless parallels Baldwin makes are very powerful.
*full review will be on blog*
1. The Outing
2. Previous Condition
3. The Rockpile
4. The Man Child
5. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon
6. Sonny's Blues
7. Come Out the Wilderness
8. Going to Meet the Man (MAJOR TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING FOR LYNCHING)
What I like most about "The Outing" is how close to home it feels. Baldwin perfectly captures what it's like to grow up in the Church around very religious people and feel all that shame, guilt, and trauma even as a child. Along with these religious power dynamics, he also explores how this intersects with gender and age within the congregation. I love the descriptions of male intimacy-whether platonic or romantic it could be read-between the two boys Johnnie and David. These boys, as well as their friend Roy, do not buy the narrative of salvation that others around them do. But Johnnie, being the preacher's son and living and breathing this religion, still desires the great love and intimacy all the worshippers around him display during the service on the boat. It is a beautiful scene that Johne observes, but he is not truly apart of. I felt that as a queer person with religious trauma, the seamless parallels Baldwin makes are very powerful.
*full review will be on blog*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Hate crime, and Racial slurs
Minor: Abortion and Slavery
elchivovivo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Beautiful mid XX century american prose.
Baldwin’s plots move forward like a river, and also like a river, they plunge into depths, pausing like whirlpools into the souls of character or into deep insights contained in the scenes.
Baldwin’s plots move forward like a river, and also like a river, they plunge into depths, pausing like whirlpools into the souls of character or into deep insights contained in the scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Violence
asililydying's review against another edition
3.75
Sonny's Blues and Previous Condition are my favorites, Going To Meet The Man itself as a story may be the most disgusting thing I have ever read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Child death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexism, Child abuse, Cursing, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Murder, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Classism, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Violence, Gore, Racism, and Genocide
dancefever's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
as with most short story collections, this is difficult to review. the very medium itself preempts a “mixed bag” of stories, either all too similar or inevitably containing a few duds. this is arguably even moreso the case with baldwin, who with his careful crafting of character and scene being one of the main reasons i fell in love with his writing, perhaps wouldn’t be able to develop those as well in a shorter medium. of course, his books are short anyway; but the characters are forged so lovingly and vividly in them that i wasn’t entirely sure if i was going to connect to the characters in his short stories as well as i did in his novels/novellas. well: i did! for the most part. each story feels like it is held together by a common thread: according to the blurb, the “role of inherited prejudice in shaping man’s destiny”: inevitably for a baldwin piece, this takes the shape of racism, sexism and homophobia. the family dynamics play a starring role in most of the stories, whether this be to the benefit of the characters in question or to their downfall. some stories give me echoes of baldwin’s other work, like the american in paris in “This Morning, This Evening” (a la Giovanni’s Room), the lament of sonny’s brother at his incarceration (a la If Beale Street Could Talk), and the church community with the closeted young boys in “The Outing” (a la Go Tell it On the Mountain”). though i understand that baldwin is want to explore the same themes throughout his work, i couldnt help but wish for a fresher perspective, rather than the same feelings and emotions over again.
the last eponymous story was absolutely haunting. the weakest stories, i felt, were “Previous Condition” and “Come Out the Wilderness”; which just felt like sketches at best. saying that, i do think baldwin is extraordinarily good at writing women and portraying women’s voices in general; the woman in the latter story felt uncharacteristically underdeveloped.
a mixed bag, but overall a good collection with a decent length for short stories: would recommend to someone who wants to dip their toe into short-form fiction. 3.75/5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Moderate: Racial slurs
library_raider's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Racism
gayliott's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Violence, and Torture
eddyn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If i had to choose one piece of writing that moved me the most inside it has to be this story. Like a ride through a town, an uneasy glance at a window, it is short and effective, yet somehow genius at pointing out the slow agony of the different characters: this book is like a series of slowed frames in a movie that stay printed at the back of my brain, full of questions unanswered.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence
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