Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

8 reviews

im_eebee's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Automatic negative points for being pro-Paris / pro-France and using the French language. AUTOMATIC !!!!!! I can't help my dislike, nay I say hatred of those baguettes!

Negative points also for the main characters, all characters being white. I understand that the story couldn't be told without them being white. It's just hard for me to relate to white stories. I don't understand them. Usually when I read them I think "Okay but you don't have real problems. Why are you complaining?" Which is only halfway a joke. 55% a jape.

I did relate to the main character however. For future me reading this, you just broke up with your first girlfriend. You only related in some, a few ways, not completely, but it was noticeable.

Despite my criticisms the writing was lovely. It feels like thee queer/gay book that mothered or grandmothered queer books. I loved the brief analysis into gender and heteronorms. It came out of nowhere but it really stood out. Every thing you feel for the first time has already been felt by the rest of humanity a billion times over. I also love when classics can still be relatable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Abandonment, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Confinement, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Car accident, Biphobia, and Death of parent

kell_xavi's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Read for book club. Beautiful descriptions, frustrating and heavy exposition, a disconnect between character actions and ruminations, and difficult emotional tensions to move through despite the short length.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Car accident, Sexual assault, Murder, and Transphobia

Minor: Bullying

zara89's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Outing, Violence, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Homophobia, Car accident, and Child death

Minor: Death and Death of parent

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Abandonment, Death, War, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Bullying, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

lyrapollock's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

chloebethx_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

James Baldwin really created a short masterpiece in this book, the emotions and struggles with sexual identity and finding your place in society were so well articulated and written out on the page that it took my breath away. Other reviews have put it in much better terms than I could, but this book is truly beautiful!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

romanita's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Transphobia

Moderate: Car accident, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent