Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

7 reviews

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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

keelymightread's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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 loved the angsty nature of this book. I enjoyed a queer romance in the 50’s so interesting. Reminded me a lot of the TV show Fellow Travellers, which was also devastating.I never really got attached to the couple though. Since it was so short, we really got bare snippets of their relationship as the story is kind of told from the future. I loved the love interest but the main character was the anti hero so to speak. If that speaks to you, then you’ll love this because it’s very self-destructive kind of protagonist. Overall, it taught me the lesson of honesty specifically about what you want in life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Police brutality

Minor: Death and Death of parent

savanha_reads's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

miller8d's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

2.5

I like James Baldwin’s poetic language and poignant emotional description but

I found the ending of this book quite disappointing and I really wish there had been more plot to this book. It felt like nothing really happened in comparison to how much of the book was spent explaining— it was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, which isn’t bad, it’s just not my preference. James Baldwin is incredible and brilliant and this book is historically significant, but I did not enjoy it very much.

Note: I pictured James Baldwin as Giovanni, and Hugh Dennis as Jacques.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

meenakshisathish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The first person POV is integral to understanding the story. The hatred you feel for the main character reflects the self-hatred and self-destruction the main character goes through, and the reader is forced to experience it. It becomes a metaphor about toxic-masculinity and internalized homophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

fightingmarc's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Giovanni's Room has a similar feeling to the book I had just finished reading before, Yukio Mishima's Forbidden Colours, however the emotional payoff here has much more impact. Most queer people who read Giovanni's Room can see themselves in some way with the struggle of Giovanni, David and even Hella. Baldwin's writing is beautiful, and the last fifty pages of the story were weaved so intricately that the climax of the story, which you are warned about early on in the book, still manages a suckerpunch. This is a classic queer tragedy, and one that struck me with an intensity I haven't felt in a while.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence