Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - El cuarto de Giovanni

id like to point out that i read the last 2 chapters whilst listening to radiohead and it made it sm more gut wrenching x

ts is so well written and so character driven. i loved it so much, even when i put it down i couldn't stop thinking about it.

i've seen people complaining about the ‘lack of plot’ and to that i say: you are unfathomably stupid and completely missed the point. its the equivalent to reading an autobiography and then complaining that its too much like real life?!?

also there was nothing more satisfying than hella absolutely gagging david at the end. he was such a terrible person who never truly cared abt anyone else and yet he always played the “woe is me” card. hella and giovanni should've teamed up and killed his ass!!

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charlotteoftheweb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad

4.0

This was a fascinating and tragic novel. The fascinating part was the glimpse into a man from the 50s acutely struggling with his internalized homophobia (and the very real threat of external homophobia as well). But it was tragic because, as outsiders, we could see every bad decision that David made, and we wish we could do better, but we know he won't. And, despite the fact that I'm a woman from 2024, there were countless pages that I dogeared solely because I could relate so strongly to David and his anxieties.

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carolive's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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marthadude's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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readingoverbreathing'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
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was simply beautiful. I enjoyed If Beale Street Could Talk, but this was an entirely other experience for me, sad, tragic, yet so very tender.

It's frustrating that this story is crafted to inevitably end in tragedy, and that frustration, as well as the general disregard for the very few female characters, that dropped this a star for me. I also found it quite difficult to really sympathize with David. Living in an entirely different time, under complex societal pressures I can excuse, but a lot of his suffering really was of his own making, his self-destructive tendency to distance and even extract himself from those he loved most.

But overall, this truly is a beautiful book, so richly evocative of Paris and interior spaces, of human body language and emotion. This is canonical reading that is not to be missed.

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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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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mates's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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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annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

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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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