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ismaymacklin's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
it took me so long to read this but i really did love it. there were times when i was like omg this is so long, but i’m so glad i read it. it’s not as digestible and attention grabbing as giovanni’s room, but it is so so so good. <i love how the first “book” is like a prequel to the other books?? like idk if you get it you get it>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, and Racism
absolutive's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This was a very unpleasant book full of toxic masculinity, abuse, non-consensual sex, abuse of drugs, abuse of alcohol, and frequent betrayal. The characters, though seemingly diverse--from the South, from France, from New York, of Italian heritage, Black, white, gay, bisexual--all acted the same and spoke in film-like snappy dialogue. It's too bad, because Baldwin has something important to say in this book about race and sexuality and capitalism in America's largest city just a few years before America truly became a multi-racial Democracy with the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. But his nonfiction or even a shorter, sharper, book with more three-dimensional characters are (or would have been) more effective. The characters have no ideals, goals, values or personalities beyond violence, alcohol, lust, rage, and a Trumpian notion of "loyalty" that honours the memory of an abusive sexual assaulter because he is one of them: their brother, their friend, or their lover.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Drug abuse
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