Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

218 reviews

carpethatdiem2's review against another edition

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  • 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

4.5

"Perhaps everybody has a garden of Eden, I don't know; but they have scarcely seen their garden of Eden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare."

minus half a star for classic 1950s misogyny 👍🏻
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bridgedeebookish95's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A revolutionary novel. Truly. Baldwin’s words are timeless. This felt almost cinematic or theatrical in the way the dialogue flowed. I enjoyed it a lot. Equal parts devastating and frustrating. Beautifully written narrative about class, identity, and the ways in which one is conditioned to hide themselves from not only strangers and those closest to them, but themselves as well. 
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sarapriz's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-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

3.5

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vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

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

3.5

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noonanjohnc's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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alice666's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

5.0

‘People are too various to be treated so lightly. I am too various to be trusted.’

Wonderful and remarkably vulnerable, Baldwin gives his insight into the complexities, anxieties and passions that exist beneath the skin of our most palatable and performative natures. And, how we can be so convinced and hypnotised by a separate safe idea of ourselves that it can be seen to be corrupted and imperilled by our most genuine and intimate selves.

In short, be prepared for many tears.
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bookwormcat's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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eliisar's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I wanted to like this so bad. It did have some good and emotional moments, I especially liked the last couple pages. But the language was very confusing for me. Might be because English isn't my first language, but every page had sentences I had to reread several times before I understood them. And that didn't even work sometimes so I just moved on because I was getting frustrated lol.
The story also went in a direction I wasn't expecting. I mean, I didn't think it was gonna be a super happy queer love story, but I wasn't expecting this, so I kinda went through the book with a completely wrong idea in my head. 
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itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I can officially say that a book has  put me in a reading slump for being too good! The novel is perfection. There were lines in this that had my jaw on the floor because of how hard hitting yet beautiful they were.
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mar's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

GOD.
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