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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
Wow. Just...wow. I don't know where to even start with this one.
Simply an outstanding short story collection. Story after story, I kept saying to myself, "Oh, yes, that's very, very true! I never thought of it that way before!" Even the single story that I thought was bordering on mundane, by my standards, had those very same "Ah, hah!" moments. But as good as everything before it was, nothing quite prepares you for the power of the collection's title story, "Going to Meet the Man". If all the stories before it were like a friend gently poking their finger on your chest, to make a point, then "Going to Meet the Man" is an electric cattle prod jammed against your heart and held there. Take all the black civil rights books you've ever read. Distill them into a few brief pages. Add a drop of nitro glycerin for good measure, and then lean back and read. But, while this story specifically covers racial tensions in America, it easily goes further in describing any of all the societal hatreds, whether it be blacks and whites, Catholics and Protestants, Aryans and Jews, Sunnis and Shiites, or any other Us-In-Control versus Them-That-Are-Different dynamic. Powerful, powerful stuff.
Every story clawed back another layer of emotional turmoil, and by the time I’d read Sonny’s Blues I was speechless and remained so up through the final story. Baldwin paints rage and fear so exquisitely. The titular story is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read and it will haunt me forever.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A book of masterfully crafted stories where Baldwin looks into the human condition of love, hate and everything in between.
Holy COW! How great of a writer was Baldwin? Short stories that simply kill. And do not even really prepare you for the final story, which is just too damn much. This is a huge book by a great writer that I strongly recommend.
Absolute masterpiece of collected short fiction. I tend to avoid short stories and short story collections, for whatever reason (they’re too disjointed? Leave too much to be desired? Seem unfinished? Too often some are strong and some are weak?). I have read a couple collections where every story was a gem, though, and this one joins that elite club. I’m not surprised, because Baldwin is one of my favorite writers for a reason. Still, he knocks me out. I doubt, and he comes back at me. “You’re going to doubt me again? Really? Take this….” I thought I’d always prefer Baldwin’s essays to his fiction, but now I’m sure that can’t be true. He’s just a master. And to end the collection with that story… “Going to Meet the Man.” Good god. How did he do it? How could he do what he did? Every time. Emotionally… creatively… he leaves me in awe.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Incredible.
Absolutely f*cking incredible.
Going to meet the Man is simply one of the very best collections of short stories ever created in the English language. Each piece carries with a depth of essential truth that is lacking from novels hundreds of times their size. Sonny's Blues alone, says more about addiction, family, masculinity and music it's forty pages than just about any novel I have ever read. And Baldwin did it beautifully. Even the atrocities described carry a terrible poetic elegance that make their subject matter even more immediate.
I sobbed in public.
I barely restrained myself from reading sections out loud to random strangers. Barely.
Absolutely f*cking incredible.
Going to meet the Man is simply one of the very best collections of short stories ever created in the English language. Each piece carries with a depth of essential truth that is lacking from novels hundreds of times their size. Sonny's Blues alone, says more about addiction, family, masculinity and music it's forty pages than just about any novel I have ever read. And Baldwin did it beautifully. Even the atrocities described carry a terrible poetic elegance that make their subject matter even more immediate.
I sobbed in public.
I barely restrained myself from reading sections out loud to random strangers. Barely.