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creationwing's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I appreciated the narrator's ability to convey the sardonic humour in Baldwin's voice.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Confinement, Hate crime, Classism, and Racism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Slavery, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol, Police brutality, and Alcoholism
arkwen452's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Second Baldwin read this year and it was an audiobook again đ. Have to remember to get an ebook so I can annotate better. These are my immediate thoughts after reading this book.
Like most people, I always find Baldwin's work to be deeply reflective descriptive and poignant to the time when he writes these pieces and our present day. In the beginning, it felt like he was drawing parallels to not only pieces of literature and society, but also to the Points of his young adulthood, and his time in Paris. I found that he expresses his shifts in perspective and motivations very clearly in this book when it came to how he was realizing, and set instances how the white world perceived him; and also how his father perceived him.
I feel like the relationship between him and his father is a continuous theme in his writing as Baldwin expresses that their relationship wasn't the best, and in some instances is described as if they didn't have a relationship at all.
I liked how described his chapter in Paris, and part three of the book where it was as if he was rediscovering his position in a white society, but it was from the perspective of him being simply an American in Paris, rather than an American black man. As an American black man, he knew the role he played or the role he was expected to play as opposed to being in Paris, and being locked up for the simple small crime of being a possession of a stolen item that he didn't even steal himself.
Part one when he was talking about the parallels between literature, and how black Americans are seen in society, or perceived in society as these devilish, dirty and subhuman categories, he decisively constructs the identity of the black American, as being something so on known to the white American, besides the stereotypes that they made up of them.
And it's clear that those stereotypes still exist today; in the sense that there is a notion that we are certain way, when it comes to how we act how we live, how we talk, how we laugh, and how we perceive situations. Instead of really accepting the fact that our reactions Are usually the results of our environment and how society particularly the white American society perceives us. And something still very powerful and present in today's society when it comes to politics that I really appreciate when drawing attention to was how the black American becomes important when it comes to politics because of our numbers, and if they are allowed or able to influence us to support them, then that gives them , a lead in the polls.
But in the same time they make these false empty promises just to get our vote but it's not in the sense that they actually care for us or that they intend to hold up their end of these promises it is simply the matter of using us to meet their ends.
**A not so book related rant: Especially today in 2024 where I believe more than half the world is going to be at this intense voting when it comes to politics there has been this very strong pool to get that only black American votes but also other minority votes to swing in a specific Direction. It's just that it's clear that politics has not caught up to what society these communities actually want to see from his politicians.
Like most people, I always find Baldwin's work to be deeply reflective descriptive and poignant to the time when he writes these pieces and our present day. In the beginning, it felt like he was drawing parallels to not only pieces of literature and society, but also to the Points of his young adulthood, and his time in Paris. I found that he expresses his shifts in perspective and motivations very clearly in this book when it came to how he was realizing, and set instances how the white world perceived him; and also how his father perceived him.
I feel like the relationship between him and his father is a continuous theme in his writing as Baldwin expresses that their relationship wasn't the best, and in some instances is described as if they didn't have a relationship at all.
I liked how described his chapter in Paris, and part three of the book where it was as if he was rediscovering his position in a white society, but it was from the perspective of him being simply an American in Paris, rather than an American black man. As an American black man, he knew the role he played or the role he was expected to play as opposed to being in Paris, and being locked up for the simple small crime of being a possession of a stolen item that he didn't even steal himself.
Part one when he was talking about the parallels between literature, and how black Americans are seen in society, or perceived in society as these devilish, dirty and subhuman categories, he decisively constructs the identity of the black American, as being something so on known to the white American, besides the stereotypes that they made up of them.
And it's clear that those stereotypes still exist today; in the sense that there is a notion that we are certain way, when it comes to how we act how we live, how we talk, how we laugh, and how we perceive situations. Instead of really accepting the fact that our reactions Are usually the results of our environment and how society particularly the white American society perceives us. And something still very powerful and present in today's society when it comes to politics that I really appreciate when drawing attention to was how the black American becomes important when it comes to politics because of our numbers, and if they are allowed or able to influence us to support them, then that gives them , a lead in the polls.
But in the same time they make these false empty promises just to get our vote but it's not in the sense that they actually care for us or that they intend to hold up their end of these promises it is simply the matter of using us to meet their ends.
**A not so book related rant: Especially today in 2024 where I believe more than half the world is going to be at this intense voting when it comes to politics there has been this very strong pool to get that only black American votes but also other minority votes to swing in a specific Direction. It's just that it's clear that politics has not caught up to what society these communities actually want to see from his politicians.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent
artemisg's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
You can not describe anything without betraying your point of view, your aspirations, your fears, your hopes. Everything.
God, what a writer. In this essay collection, James Baldwin discusses and analyses blackness and being black in the early twentieth century.
In Part One, he discusses black representation in 1950s media. This section went over my head a bit because I havenât consumed any of the media he discussed. Nonetheless, I appreciated his critical analysis of misrepresentation and tokenism (prior to the existence of tokenism). In Part Two, he talks about the experience of being black in America, through the lens of communities, himself, and his family. The titular essay Notes of a Native Son made me cry, due to the topic and writing style.
When he was dead I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him. When he had been dead a long time I began to wish I had.
In Part Three, Baldwin covers his experiences as a black man in Europe, which shone a new light on his experiences in his lifetime, and a new understanding of American identity.
In the context of the Negro problem neither whites nor blacks, for excellent reasons of their own, have the faintest desire to look back; but I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further, that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.
Overall, an absolutely wonderful essay collection.
God, what a writer. In this essay collection, James Baldwin discusses and analyses blackness and being black in the early twentieth century.
In Part One, he discusses black representation in 1950s media. This section went over my head a bit because I havenât consumed any of the media he discussed. Nonetheless, I appreciated his critical analysis of misrepresentation and tokenism (prior to the existence of tokenism). In Part Two, he talks about the experience of being black in America, through the lens of communities, himself, and his family. The titular essay Notes of a Native Son made me cry, due to the topic and writing style.
When he was dead I realized that I had hardly ever spoken to him. When he had been dead a long time I began to wish I had.
In Part Three, Baldwin covers his experiences as a black man in Europe, which shone a new light on his experiences in his lifetime, and a new understanding of American identity.
In the context of the Negro problem neither whites nor blacks, for excellent reasons of their own, have the faintest desire to look back; but I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent, and further, that the past will remain horrible for exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly.
Overall, an absolutely wonderful essay collection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism
jwells's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
Baldwin has a skillful way of pulling you in with a compelling story from his life, then spinning it off into a larger reflection on race and culture. Great writer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Confinement, and Racial slurs
mildlypretentiousreader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
5.0
A collection of essays, James Baldwin weaves a interlinked account of his experiences as an African American man in and out of America.
Autobiographical Notes
In my eyes, âAutobiographical Notesâ serves as a preface into the next nine remaining short essays. James Baldwin
Autobiographical Notes
In my eyes, âAutobiographical Notesâ serves as a preface into the next nine remaining short essays. James Baldwin
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Abandonment, and Racism
savvylit's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
"I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am, also, much more than that. So are we all."
Much of James Baldwin's writing in Notes of a Native Son is deeply profound. He puts into words the unique brand of American hypocrisy and racial disparity. These observations feel especially significant since he published them on the cusp of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Furthermore, many of Baldwin's observations on the persistence of white supremacy still resonate today - nearly 70 years later.
No one writes the way that Baldwin did. This is the second nonfiction work of his that I have read and his voice is just so singular. If you want to know what I mean, here are a few more quotes from Notes of a Native Son for your perusal:
"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster."
"Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the field of battle."
"In America, though, life seems to move faster than anywhere else on the globe and each generation is promised more than it will get: which creates, in each generation, a furious, bewildered rage, the rage of people who cannot find solid ground beneath their feet."
Much of James Baldwin's writing in Notes of a Native Son is deeply profound. He puts into words the unique brand of American hypocrisy and racial disparity. These observations feel especially significant since he published them on the cusp of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Furthermore, many of Baldwin's observations on the persistence of white supremacy still resonate today - nearly 70 years later.
No one writes the way that Baldwin did. This is the second nonfiction work of his that I have read and his voice is just so singular. If you want to know what I mean, here are a few more quotes from Notes of a Native Son for your perusal:
"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster."
"Americans, unhappily, have the most remarkable ability to alchemize all bitter truths into an innocuous but piquant confection and to transform their moral contradictions, or public discussion of such contradictions, into a proud decoration, such as are given for heroism on the field of battle."
"In America, though, life seems to move faster than anywhere else on the globe and each generation is promised more than it will get: which creates, in each generation, a furious, bewildered rage, the rage of people who cannot find solid ground beneath their feet."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Hate crime, Violence, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Grief, and Colonisation
honeyvoiced's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Confinement, and Racism
Moderate: Antisemitism and Death of parent
Minor: Domestic abuse
amelreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Confinement, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Ableism
Minor: Slavery, Rape, and Forced institutionalization
booksthatburn's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Rape, Confinement, and Violence
racheldelaney's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
NYPL #36
I can't believe that up until this point, I've only read Baldwin's fiction. This was hands down such an important collection of thoughts on a contemporary culture which, to be frank, really hasn't fundamentally changed since the 1984 edition.
It's wild to see the basis of performative activism and "wokeness" in 'Everybody's Protest Novel' and 'Trip to Atlanta', microaggressions and multiculturalism in 'Stranger in the Village', and the need for reflective representation in his piece on Carmen Jones. I think the thing that struck me the most was the ways in which imperialism continues to be woven through the American conscious-perhaps more than it was even 60 years ago when most of these essays were written.
I absolutely will be purchasing my own copy when I have room for bookshelves again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, and Slavery