Reviews with content warning for Cursing - If Beale Street Could Talk

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

22 reviews

marena02's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I don’t know how to feel about the ending, but I liked this book. I enjoyed reading about Fonny and Tish’s love story, despite its sad and open ending.

For this to be my first James Baldwin book, I think the thing that stood out most to me was his writing from Tish’s perspective. She is seen by everyone around her as naive and overly optimistic, but it’s clear that while she goes through these new and traumatizing experiences of pregnancy and helping her man who is wrongfully incarcerated get out of jail, she is willing to change her mindset with every obstacle that gets in her way. Baldwin shows this in the way she he narrates her perception on the world and how she learns to navigate it alone with Fonny who has always been by her side. Her journey throughout the book was the most interesting to read about.

Like I said, I don’t really understand what he was trying to do with the ending, but everything else I enjoyed.

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lp961's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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emwebz's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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midnightmarauder's review

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dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If Beale Street Could Talk is a novel that follows the two protagonists, Fonny, a young man who is currently in jail for rape, and his girlfriend, Tish, who finds out that she is pregnant while Fonny is serving his sentence. The book mainly follows Tish as she and her family attempt to get Fonny out of jail.

The book is a romance novel through and through. The love that Tish has for Fonny and vice versa is constantly put on display.

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