Reviews - Going to Meet the Man

369 reviews for:

Going to Meet the Man

James Baldwin

4.34 AVERAGE

kiros414's review against another edition

5.0

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

rachelvardeman's review against another edition

5.0

Review coming soon. Need a few days to wrap my head around this one.

taraminter's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

lukenotjohn's review against another edition

3.5

This is a haunting powerhouse collection that is unfortunately diluted by a few gorgeously written but not super gripping stories. The more of Baldwin I read, the more convinced I am that he's one of America's all time greatest writers; his work is rich in detail, sharp in clarity, biting in honesty, and characterized by a subtle, stylish flourish that keeps anything he writes from feeling bland. So maybe it's confusing that this is a 3-star for me (as is Go Tell It on the Mountain). If I were solely going off a technical standard, they would both score higher for being exceptional examples of exquisite, masterful writing, but when I consider aspects like my personal connection to characters or enjoyment of the story, they lessen. And for this one, a 3 is more of an average for a collection that includes some 5-star stories and some 2-star ones.

The ones I enjoyed less unfortunately tended to be the longer ones (Sonny's Blues and This Morning, This Evening, So Soon) and that hurt my reading of the book as a whole since so much time was spent with those stories. The Rockpile, Previous Condition, and Come Out of the Wilderness were middle-of-the-road for me; I loved realizing I was revisiting the cast from Go Tell It on the Mountain in the first, enjoyed the sarcastic critique of "All Lives Matter" race relations in the second, and found the writing especially gorgeous in the third, but none of the stories themselves were all that gripping. The remaining ones, however, were all phenomenal.

I enjoyed the scathing look at religiosity that pervaded The Outing, as well as the opportunity to more intimately reconnect with John and the subtle ways that his queerness was handled throughout the story. I couldn't look away from The Man Child, intrigued and disturbed by the hints of a (notably perverse, repressed?) queerness throughout and absolutely shocked and mortified by the end. And then, of course, there was Going To Meet the Man, which has left me almost speechless as the titular and final story. It's devastating to recognize the familiarity Baldwin had with the psychology of racism necessary in order to pen such a pitch-perfect characterization of the thoughts and emotions of the protagonist, and although I could hardly stomach completing my reading I also think it should be required of everyone in this country. Baldwin is absolutely unflinching in his exposure of the inexcusable and horrific violence, hypocrisy, barbarism, and true evil of racism and the ways it infects and consumes the lives of white people.

library_raider's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

rickjones's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This short story collection presents moments of revelation for a variety of characters caught up in complex relationships and questioning their identity within them. I appreciated the diversity of people, places and times Baldwin wrote from the perspective of to make up the collection. He was adept at finding resounding voices for each of these characters, from playful young Black boys to a violently racist white sheriff. I felt like I understood the meaning and themes of some of these stories more than others, but it was easy to feel drawn into them all. The final and title story of Going to Meet the Man was one of the most disturbing works of literature I've ever encountered, and the most difficult to keep reading. Racism was described throughout many of these works, but Going to Meet the Man details how it has been passed on through generations of white families through violence to sedate depraved insecurity. I would be wary of reading this particular story if descriptions of violent racism and lynchings are triggering to you. My primary issue reading this collection was the length of the paragraphs. Often times I got lost in a passage and had to re-read it repeatedly to make sense of it, thought I doubt this is a problem for everyone. Overall, I enjoyed being introduced to Baldwin's style and skill through these stories, and look forward to reading his longer novels.

Content Warnings