Reviews with content warning for Outing - Giovanni's Room

crying. absolutely 10/10 book. The storytelling, the plot, the characters... James Baldwin's writing is so poetic, he managed to describe the ultimite gay struggle and the struggle of gay men's sexuality in society. The book is very personal and close to my heart, it hits so close to home and I think that every gay man can relate to this in a sense. Instant favourite.

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kmshobbs's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

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cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

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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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marissasa's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

This is my first James Baldwin book and I have always heard that he was an excellent writer who truly understood the human condition, but oof did this classic literature toxic yaoi hit even harder than expected. In all seriousness though, there is so much pain and turmoil and suffering in this book, interspersed with a few moments of tenderness and genuine human connection that will make your heart lift, only to be followed again by trauma, drama, and heartbreak that will drop it back into your stomach. The writing is beautiful and poetic in a straightforward way, and it touches on the themes of isolation, identity, homophobia, and masculinity in a very purposeful manner. The ending in particular is haunting and this book is definitely a testament to the plight of queer people throughout history that will stick around in my mind for a while.

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marionhoney's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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theprinceofdenmark's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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im_eebee's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-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

1.75

Beautifully written, but I hate the main character with a burning passion. I need him to get over himself yesterday. All he does is hurt people. I don’t like books where the main character is so deeply unaware of how their actions affect others. Some people will find that as the highlight of this book, but I find it frustrating to read. I’ll definitely check out Baldwin’s other work because the writing style was the only part of this that I liked, but this was a miss for me.

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kristina_in_space's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don’t know how to review this book. I gave it 4 stars by default. I didn’t really enjoy reading it, but does that make it a bad book? The characters aren’t likable, the settings are terrible, the actions of the characters are almost always wrong, but that’s the story. And Baldwin writes it with such melancholy beauty. I can picture it all, for better or worse. And the narration on the audiobook kept me entranced.

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