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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Read this for In Brief book club at City Lit. Wow. Tough. I enjoyed these stories a lot more than the Baldwin novel I read over the summer. Even the characters who were from the novel in the first two short stories were much more palatable to me in short story form. Maybe selfishly because I didn’t have to spend as much time in their suffering.
“Sonny’s Blues” is the best, I think. “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard.”
“Sonny’s Blues” is the best, I think. “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard.”
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This collection was absolutely beautiful! It was the first time I've completed a work by Baldwin and I am excited to finish the rest of his fiction works this summer. Here is my ranking of the short stories because I do not feel that my overall star rating does justice to what I really thought of each story:
1. The Outing
2. Previous Condition
3. The Rockpile
4. The Man Child
5. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon
6. Sonny's Blues
7. Come Out the Wilderness
8. Going to Meet the Man (MAJOR TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING FOR LYNCHING)
What I like most about "The Outing" is how close to home it feels. Baldwin perfectly captures what it's like to grow up in the Church around very religious people and feel all that shame, guilt, and trauma even as a child. Along with these religious power dynamics, he also explores how this intersects with gender and age within the congregation. I love the descriptions of male intimacy-whether platonic or romantic it could be read-between the two boys Johnnie and David. These boys, as well as their friend Roy, do not buy the narrative of salvation that others around them do. But Johnnie, being the preacher's son and living and breathing this religion, still desires the great love and intimacy all the worshippers around him display during the service on the boat. It is a beautiful scene that Johne observes, but he is not truly apart of. I felt that as a queer person with religious trauma, the seamless parallels Baldwin makes are very powerful.
*full review will be on blog*
1. The Outing
2. Previous Condition
3. The Rockpile
4. The Man Child
5. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon
6. Sonny's Blues
7. Come Out the Wilderness
8. Going to Meet the Man (MAJOR TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING FOR LYNCHING)
What I like most about "The Outing" is how close to home it feels. Baldwin perfectly captures what it's like to grow up in the Church around very religious people and feel all that shame, guilt, and trauma even as a child. Along with these religious power dynamics, he also explores how this intersects with gender and age within the congregation. I love the descriptions of male intimacy-whether platonic or romantic it could be read-between the two boys Johnnie and David. These boys, as well as their friend Roy, do not buy the narrative of salvation that others around them do. But Johnnie, being the preacher's son and living and breathing this religion, still desires the great love and intimacy all the worshippers around him display during the service on the boat. It is a beautiful scene that Johne observes, but he is not truly apart of. I felt that as a queer person with religious trauma, the seamless parallels Baldwin makes are very powerful.
*full review will be on blog*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Car accident
Minor: Slavery, Abortion
Jimmy B does is again. 10/10 I cried a lot and I love revisiting some characters from his novels. I wonder how much Eric from the man child inspired/is inspired by Eric from another country. Sonny’s Blues also inhabited the same world and energy as another country.
These stories were very moving and thought provoking. The collection was very well crafted. Usually with short stories I find myself wanting more, but Baldwin does such a great job of ending each story. My favourite stories were: The Rockpile, Sonny’s Blues and This Morning, This Evening, So Soon.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated