Reviews

Another Country by James Baldwin

irlsora's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

merle24's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

johndiconsiglio's review against another edition

Lotsa writers wrestle with self-doubt, but Baldwin made it an artform. His “unpublishable” Another Country (1962) drove him to “the point at which many artists lose their minds, or commit suicide.” He fled his NY typewriter for Paris & Israel—eventually ending up on a friend’s doorstep in Istanbul. He finished the book while hunched over a kitchen counter during a party. (“Istanbul, Dec. 10, 1961.”) A multi-character city saga, it circles around a Black jazzman driven mad by racism & his affair with a white woman. It’s a sometimes-beautiful mess, crammed with both (tedious) soul-searching & searingly-rendered NY streets.

chatnchew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

coriza's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

lizardbaby's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this whole novel wouldn’t have happened if they just started a polycule

amnesiacblues's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

4.0

bleak bleak bleak. real and gutting. book 3 is especially fantastic - talk about sticking the landing

erinmariebrinkman's review against another edition

4.0

exceptionally well-written misery. so many true and complex dynamics of race, sexuality, class, but only the painful dynamics - absolutely devoid of joy or potential for healing - and I think that’s the point. a brutal depiction of the unrelenting weight of racism that also reduced the rape and assault of women an unfortunate side effect of racial trauma and internalized homophobia. prioritizes male pain with Ida being the only semi-complex female character (at the very end). Baldwin is a true genius and his work deserves its status in the canon, but, at the end of the day, I’d rather read Audre Lorde. 

plankpot's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.5

someone_in_despair's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5