Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Un autre pays

‘“Pray? Who, pray? I bet you, if I ever get anywhere near that white devil you call God, I’ll tear my son and my father out of his white hide! Don’t you ever say the word Pray to me again, woman, not if you want to live.”’

This novel is not for the easy-hearted, its main themes being racism and human estrangement. Sex, misogyny, toxic masculinity, and violence is the interwoven fabric of the story, and the characters are one big, unlikeable mass of suffering. Often, these elements of the book disgusted me or provoked some pretty heavy reactions in me. Despite Baldwin’s identity as a black gay man, one must announce that the book is still a product of its time - though this of course also adds to the historical depiction of racism and patriarchy, which definitely interested me. Finally, this is a novel that doesn’t say a whole lot as you’re sitting with it, but only truly revealed itself to me as I finished it and had left it to brew for some days.

What brings this novel up from a pretty standard 4 rating to a 4.25 is Baldwin’s writing. It is simply put immaculate, constantly blending love and hate into shattering contrasts of existential crisis, human loneliness, and, of course, racism. It is forceful, violent, and at once beautiful - and is sure to stay with its reader for a while as a literary shot of refreshment to the brain.

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lmwanak's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

When my husband and I were engaged, our pastor assigned us a book to read about Black/white interracial relationships. I wish he chose this book instead, as it displayed Black/white dynamics far better than the other book. It also was talking about white privilege way before we started talking about it in this current time (which is both encouraging and discouraging).

I'm floored by the relationships and the tensions and the friendships and the jealousy. The moments of rage, the moments of tenderness, in some cases directed towards the same person. And although Rufus only appears in the first quarter of the book, his presence lingers after his death. and while there was times I felt the story wandered, Baldwin's writing kept me fully engaged.

This was the first James Baldwin book I've ever read, and it definitely won't be the last.

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sofipitch's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

Still processing how I feel after finishing this. The ending felt really abrupt but I'm sure that was on purpose, this book was very much "a slice of life" so I don't think Baldwin wanted a resolution bc life often has none. But a greedy part of me still wants more. Also Baldwin's writing is beautiful as always. I think certain stories about affairs have been done to death but I think Baldwin's writing, and by having race and sexuality play role in the relationships of the characters made it excellent. In a lot of ways I wonder if plucking them out of the 1960s would have helped but probably not, we still deal with a lot of these same issues today

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alisonbrookins's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

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aliannavelezzzz'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

5.0

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atticusbinch's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Another Country is very much a novel about everyday people and their ever changing relationships with each other, with nyc as the background of their problems. This book feels like an investigation or case study of human nature and how no one person stays the same their entire life, and a singular shared death of a friend can have an enormous impact on someone. It shows the human capacity of malice and disgust towards one another, but also, ownership, greed, and twisted versions of love. No one in this book is a saint, which makes this novel grounded in reality, and ultimately creates unlikability towards the characters. However, while reading, one develops their own complicated relationship to the characters, maybe simply bc the audience knows their ugly darkest secrets, and not the superficial facade that an acquaintance or stranger may see. The audience has an intimate knowledge of everything these characters go through, so it is a constant battle between viewing them as “bad” bc of their actions, but also knowing the humanity behind it. Some components of Another Country are excellent, for example, the hesitant yet strangely casual conversations between the male characters about sexuality. The questioning of one of the main characters saying to another ‘you ever wish you were queer?’ feels jarring yet honest, and adds another layer or intimacy and vulnerability that ones does not typically see male characters portray. However, there are faults as well. Particularly the treatment of the women in this books. It feels like they all have suffered the most, aside from the first main character of the story, and at the hands of their male counterparts. They are not given much dimension or a story line outside of the male characters, their whole lives seem to revolve around men, which is disappointing, because there are only three (or four) women featured in the whole book. And we only gain insight into one of the women, even though she’s not terribly interesting. Another component that was lack luster is the discussion of racial dynamics, whether it’s about interracial relationships, mixed friendships, or fetishization of black peoples. It feels like one character in particular was almost punished, for bringing it up even though it’s her lived experience and she’s trying to bring people into the light rather than keep them in the dark. Seeing a darkskin black woman be treated in this way, and worst off than any of the other characters, felt very sad and disappointing. Also, the narrative did not feel skewed in her favor, as she is the only remaining black person in the story (everyone else is white) and the audience doesn’t even get to see things from her perspective. It felt like the story wanted to make her the villain when actuality she was more of a victim than anyone else. Though I am still processing the intricacies of the novel, I do think it’s something that I’ll think of for a long while afterwards.

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tina94's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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