Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
This book was amazing. It elicited so many emotions in me. As a white man, I’ll never know the struggles people of colour have faced and still face today. But I think this book brought me as close as possible to understanding how it would feel. Going to Meet the Man is my first James Baldwin book, and you can tell he had a very refined style of writing that I can say is timeless. There's a quote in one of the stories that follow:
”Goddammit to hell, I'm sick of it. Can't I get a place to sleep without dragging it through the courts? I'm goddamn tired of battling every Tom, Dick, and Harry for what everyone takes for granted. I'm tired!”
I honestly don't know why but that passage of text just floored me. Something so simple as having somewhere to rest your head at night something we all do take for granted being so hard to obtain and once you got it so hard to keep when you're a person of colour in the ’50s.
So why not five stars? There were a couple of stories that I felt dragged and didn't equal the quality of the stories that came before and after it. For me, five stars means perfect and although if I could have I would have given this 4.5/5 stars as it's close to being perfect. But I must be genuine when I rate a book. Either way, this is a must-read book that I recommend everyone reading when they get a chance. I'm going to want to read more from James Baldwin in the future.
”Goddammit to hell, I'm sick of it. Can't I get a place to sleep without dragging it through the courts? I'm goddamn tired of battling every Tom, Dick, and Harry for what everyone takes for granted. I'm tired!”
I honestly don't know why but that passage of text just floored me. Something so simple as having somewhere to rest your head at night something we all do take for granted being so hard to obtain and once you got it so hard to keep when you're a person of colour in the ’50s.
So why not five stars? There were a couple of stories that I felt dragged and didn't equal the quality of the stories that came before and after it. For me, five stars means perfect and although if I could have I would have given this 4.5/5 stars as it's close to being perfect. But I must be genuine when I rate a book. Either way, this is a must-read book that I recommend everyone reading when they get a chance. I'm going to want to read more from James Baldwin in the future.
chilling. maybe too chilling for me, perhaps its shorter length is better that way.
I love James Baldwin's style of prose. My favorites from the short story collection are probably The Man Child, Sonny's Blues, and Going to Meet the Man. I don't usually gravitate towards short story collections but I'd read anything James Baldwin writes.
dark
emotional
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
one of the hardest pieces of literature I’ve ever read. Absolutely haunting.
challenging
dark
reflective
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
amazing. favourite: going to meet the man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Of the eight stories, I most liked the first two, which are really sketches for [b:Go Tell It on the Mountain|17143|Go Tell It on the Mountain|James Baldwin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348424233s/17143.jpg|1027995], and the gorgeous "Sonny's Blues", which doubles as persuasive jazz criticism from 1957 (a very productive moment!) The title story is a gutsy but formulaic effort to psychoanalyze a racist Southern sheriff. The others, in the context of Baldwin's career, were more productively framed elsewhere as essays, though none is without some moment of brilliant insight.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder
It only took me so long to read this because I wanted to savor every paragraph of every story in it. Baldwin writes from such varied perspectives - a hateful white deputy, a black singer moving back to America, a tired young black woman caught in a doomed love affair - and none of them ever come across as anything other than wholly genuine. His writing makes me ache, it's so tremendous.