artemiskm's review against another edition
emotional
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
ottiedottie's review against another edition
3.0
I find it incredibly difficult to keep the context and time and politics of the world in mind of when Baldwin was writing this particular book before I begin writing this review. I guess on some factual level I can understand how revolutionary it was. It was bold move to be sure (there is a better descriptor but it escapes me) to have his second novel ever suddenly shift tracks from race-centric content and tackle homosexuality with an entirely white cast. I do find that choice of making his main characters white a little strange considering that he's been vocal about how race and sexuality intertwine. I thought this would feature a black character (and I think that book with a black gay character at the lead would've been more interesting). I suppose it was a different era though and even what the novel ended up being was pushing the envelope very much.
I do respect all that.
But I do feel comfortable saying that it did not age well as far as queer literature goes.
There are things I liked very much about it of course. The author has a great command over language, especially in the earlier sections. I was almost moved to tears when we were exploring David's relationship with his father although I came to find both of them unbearable as the story went on. I enjoyed spotting little parallels and tidbits from Baldwin's own life interwoven in here, how he moved away to Paris to figure out his own identity etc. And I was truly charmed by the initial scene where Giovanni and David meet and hit off. Their banter and conversations were adorable and I could see very clearly why they liked each other.
My problems stem from the portrayal of queerness and the queer community in Paris. To me, it feels poorly researched and rife with stereotypes. All of the gay characters are defined solely by tragedy, misery and patheticness. David's inner turmoil is his internalised homophobia obviously, but instead of exploring how complex your feelings of self hatred and identity could be in a situation like that, there is only one aspect to it- that David hates "fairies". It did not read as if it was written by someone with much knowledge at all about how these queer spaces work. And while David is an unreliable narrator, the narrative and the text itself doesn't really position itself against him that much when he goes off about how much he despises feminine looking gay men or seethes and seethes at their very existence for being dirty while he also indulges in what he wants. His turmoil felt very one-note to me, when in reality there are so many other things that lead to convoluted and muddy feelings and there are many other things to being gay.
I understood why Giovanni was written the way he was- clingy to a fault by the end, but his story ends in needless violence and tragedy too, loveless. I suppose it stings reading this after living through decades of media that kills off gay characters by the droves relentlessly. But yes, as I was saying, both his and David's brand of misogyny was unbearable to read about. I think if it was actually dealt with, there were interesting conversations to be had about toxic masculinity, the idea of manhood and how that played into these characters' turmoil about their sexuality. But all these things were just up in the air and nothing was done with them at all.
I also especially dislike how shallow Hella was written and how regressive, no matter how much the text likes to pretend she was oh so cool for travelling around by herself. Maybe it was a shorthand to show that David was making a poor choice and going against his gut as he chooses her over Giovanni but it delegitimises the point further for me. I did appreciate that he ended up with neither of them though. Maybe his real problem was deep deep denial and refusing to think about what kind of love he's actually willing to accept. Instead he strings people along pretending as if he has nothing better to do. There's a reason the phrase "settling down" reminds David of sediment at the bottom of a stagnant pond.
Sigh.
Disappointing.
I do respect all that.
But I do feel comfortable saying that it did not age well as far as queer literature goes.
There are things I liked very much about it of course. The author has a great command over language, especially in the earlier sections. I was almost moved to tears when we were exploring David's relationship with his father although I came to find both of them unbearable as the story went on. I enjoyed spotting little parallels and tidbits from Baldwin's own life interwoven in here, how he moved away to Paris to figure out his own identity etc. And I was truly charmed by the initial scene where Giovanni and David meet and hit off. Their banter and conversations were adorable and I could see very clearly why they liked each other.
My problems stem from the portrayal of queerness and the queer community in Paris. To me, it feels poorly researched and rife with stereotypes. All of the gay characters are defined solely by tragedy, misery and patheticness. David's inner turmoil is his internalised homophobia obviously, but instead of exploring how complex your feelings of self hatred and identity could be in a situation like that, there is only one aspect to it- that David hates "fairies". It did not read as if it was written by someone with much knowledge at all about how these queer spaces work. And while David is an unreliable narrator, the narrative and the text itself doesn't really position itself against him that much when he goes off about how much he despises feminine looking gay men or seethes and seethes at their very existence for being dirty while he also indulges in what he wants. His turmoil felt very one-note to me, when in reality there are so many other things that lead to convoluted and muddy feelings and there are many other things to being gay.
I understood why Giovanni was written the way he was- clingy to a fault by the end, but his story ends in needless violence and tragedy too, loveless. I suppose it stings reading this after living through decades of media that kills off gay characters by the droves relentlessly. But yes, as I was saying, both his and David's brand of misogyny was unbearable to read about. I think if it was actually dealt with, there were interesting conversations to be had about toxic masculinity, the idea of manhood and how that played into these characters' turmoil about their sexuality. But all these things were just up in the air and nothing was done with them at all.
I also especially dislike how shallow Hella was written and how regressive, no matter how much the text likes to pretend she was oh so cool for travelling around by herself. Maybe it was a shorthand to show that David was making a poor choice and going against his gut as he chooses her over Giovanni but it delegitimises the point further for me. I did appreciate that he ended up with neither of them though. Maybe his real problem was deep deep denial and refusing to think about what kind of love he's actually willing to accept. Instead he strings people along pretending as if he has nothing better to do. There's a reason the phrase "settling down" reminds David of sediment at the bottom of a stagnant pond.
Sigh.
Disappointing.
taylorgarcia's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading James Baldwin is always the best decision
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Death
shruberry's review against another edition
4.0
“People are full of surprise, even for themselves, if they have been stirred enough.”
I can't exactly place my feelings for this book right now, I mean of course I love the writing style, it's beautiful, I love Giovanni even though he might be a little sexist, I even loved Hella; but I have never in my life not really liked the narrator before, yeah I understand that he was confused but in this book of only 154 pages he seemed to have hurt so many people all because of his own wrong decisions, David does not seem to understand himself and I felt very sorry Hella too *sigh*
Actually I'd like to hear the story from her POV, she seems like an interesting woman with a lot going on in her head. Hella sounds like a person who likes to drink and read and understands stuff in silence.
And OMG Giovanni seemed to have a really hard life didn't he, I felt so bad for him, whenever I thought it couldn't get any worse for him BAM there's a sad past or again David hurt the poor guy somehow *sigh*
But I did enjoy this book a lot and it has so many lines I wanna quote like:
“Perhaps he is a fool or a coward but almost everybody is one or the other and most people are both.”
“Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore”
“I often wonder what I'd do if there weren't any books in the world.” (I was not expecting to find something so relatable here!)
I can't exactly place my feelings for this book right now, I mean of course I love the writing style, it's beautiful, I love Giovanni even though he might be a little sexist, I even loved Hella; but I have never in my life not really liked the narrator before, yeah I understand that he was confused but in this book of only 154 pages he seemed to have hurt so many people all because of his own wrong decisions, David does not seem to understand himself and I felt very sorry Hella too *sigh*
Actually I'd like to hear the story from her POV, she seems like an interesting woman with a lot going on in her head. Hella sounds like a person who likes to drink and read and understands stuff in silence.
And OMG Giovanni seemed to have a really hard life didn't he, I felt so bad for him, whenever I thought it couldn't get any worse for him BAM there's a sad past or again David hurt the poor guy somehow *sigh*
But I did enjoy this book a lot and it has so many lines I wanna quote like:
“Perhaps he is a fool or a coward but almost everybody is one or the other and most people are both.”
“Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore”
“I often wonder what I'd do if there weren't any books in the world.” (I was not expecting to find something so relatable here!)
1kane's review against another edition
challenging
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
5.0
whoisthisjan's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
booklover_17's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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
5.0