Reviews - Giovanni's Room | The StoryGraph

19.9k reviews for:

Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin

4.36 AVERAGE

usha's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mexie's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“You don’t have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.”

Fully bawling in my bed right now. Such a poignant story on internalised homophobia, repression of self identity, and most importantly, love. I am sure I will be rereading this many many times over my life, and I cannot wait for my heart to be ripped apart over and over and over again once more.

“It is cruel to have made me want to live only to make my death more bloody.”

eenie816's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

f_benedicte's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cylz's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

In a very relatively few pages, James Baldwin tells an exceptional story. You may not like the story, per se, but every word will be carefully and beautifully and sometimes chaotically (but perfectly) chosen, every feeling his writing evokes will be uncomfortably pronounced, and you will close the book quietly, flattened. Then, it will stay with you like a memory of some great heartbreak -- not one you will revisit with any delight, but one that will rush back to you some night when you can't sleep for you to turn over and over and over again.

bernie_e2001's review against another edition

5.0

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

readastorywithtory's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional 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: Complicated

oophshnartthepde's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Musical Pairing: Satie: Gymnopedies & Gnossiennes, Jacques Loussier Trio

I normally have a lot to say when I finish reading a book. For Giovanni's Room, I have strikingly little. For reasons both personal and that I attribute to the art of storytelling itself, this novel is a masterpiece beyond which I have the words to articulate its greatness.

Content Warnings