Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

54 reviews

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

in the last book i read, Greta & Valdin, Valdin is praised for not being "one of those gay men who says awful things about women" and reading that i was like what! which gay men are those, i'll fight them. these are those gay men.

i was expecting a tragedy of forbidden love between expats in Europe, a proto–Call Me By Your Name, but that's not what this is. rather, Giovanni's Room is a character study of two lost men who come to depend on each other for purpose, until their foundations crumble. the pacing was excellent and the journey as bleak as it was for our characters. i was going to make fun of my edition's Tortured Poets Department–ass cover (black-and-white photo of subject posed in almost cartoonish angst), but it's actually quite fitting:

David, our narrator,

is the smallest man who ever lived. they're both terrible misogynists, don't get me wrong, but this one is literally an emotional terrorist (albeit unintentional, i believe).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Wasn't sure what I was expecting from this book, but it certainly surpassed all expectations.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Baldwin until I came across this book in the shelf, but holy mother of Christ, he's an EXCELLENT author.

I really do love how realistic the characters here are. They're all atrocious human beings,  but in a natural way. They're so repressed and internalised everything, that it makes sense how they act like they do. And I must say that, as a queer guy, I was very charmed by Giovanni myself in the beginning, too. Had a strong love-hate relationship with all the characters, but Jacques especially.

The ending was very satisfactory and realistic. I'm terrible at advertising books, but this was seriously an amazing read. Not a happy one, by all means. Lost all hope in my community. But a good read nonetheless. 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

rafdee13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

GOD (I screenshot quotes from the text after I got blasted hearing them in the audiobook. I have folder of these. Please help.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

theeo's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I don’t have anything original to add to the conversation about this book, but I personally enjoyed it a lot. It’s definitely an emotional read and a lot of the themes are very heavy, so it took me a little while to get through despite it being very short. This isn’t a bad thing in this case - I was savouring it. The descriptive language is so meticulously crafted that it felt wrong to rush through. 

I believe this is a must-read for queer literature and I’d really like to read more of James Baldwin’s work now!

Definite recommend, just don’t expect to like the protagonist…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

nad_books623's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death

emmas_reads_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

i’m not quite sure how this is the second book in a row that has managed to make me cry, but it has.

it took me almost to the end to really understand this story, which i find upsetting (for me) because i want to enjoy this story for what it is - an exploration of too little, too late; the impact of internalized homophobia on the self in the 1950s; the morality and immorality of love, and the impact that has on relationships.

giovanni and david’s relationship was doomed from the beginning. giovanni, i’m convinced, had depression (whether from his stillborn child or otherwise); david was stuck much too far in his head, shutting out and denying every signal of possible reciprocity to men he realized.

i read another review where the reviewer said that baldwin intentionally creates the confusion that david is feeling throughout the book, and i’m inclined to agree. whether that’s through the strange, jumping timeline; the long-winded and run-on sentences and paragraphs; the usage of french without providing translations (i refuse to believe that isn’t intentional).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Transphobia

Moderate: Child death

bookworm_sarah's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Child death and Miscarriage

quiettalker's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

Minor: Child death

marija_m95's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content