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

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

57 reviews

theuncannydani's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Baldwin wrote this is such a poetic way, but I was still able to follow it. That was great.

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sofipitch's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Every book by Baldwin absolutely knocks it out of the park and this one is no exception. But I think compared to some of his other books which are bleaker, while this book deals with heavy topics and unfair circumstances, there is such a strong love between Tish and Fonny as well as their families that shows how much love and support from others can do in the face of oppression. Comparing this love to heartless people is seen over and over again, from the difference between Tish and Fonny's family at the pregnancy announcement and even just Victoria versus Jaime's choice to help or not help Sharon in Puerto Rico. This book is just phenomenal

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elliejhnsn's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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kn0tp0rk's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If Beale Street Could Talk is one that ends on a cliffhanger, and I think that appropriately mirrors reality. Those dealing with falsely accused loved ones in jail/prison don't know if they'll get them out, just like we don't really know what will become of the characters in Beale Street. There's some excessive use of the f-slur in this work, and I have a feeling that advocates of the fictionalized "buck breaking" phenomenon may latch onto things written of here. It's very true that M/M sexual assault happens in jails/prisons. But some of the commentary about Officer Bell such as "I'm going to fuck you, boy" may be read in a sexual manner alongside Tish saying she feels as though he wishes to sexually assault her. That may have been Baldwin's intentions, but let's not go accusing the gays (a violently oppressed minority) of wanting to sexually assault all of society.

🔸Fonny is jailed, and Tish feels as though she can't speak to anyone, that no one can understand her. / Yeah, I think young people who have lovers incarcerated are often called foolish. Maybe they are foolish sometimes, but that can't always be the case. There are prejudices thrown at women who are pregnant or have children and also have significant others incarcerated.

🔸Tish and Fonny become friends after fighting. People don't believe in their friendship. / It's unfortunate that boys and girls can't just be good friends. That everything is seen as sexual. I've experienced this prejudice even around my lesbian, bisexual, pansexual friends. A mistrust from others. We must be trying to have sex!

🔸Fonny describes how his mother's faith in God turned into a fetish with her husband. She would cry out about saving his soul and they'd have sex like it was all just a game. It shows how performative some believers are.

🔸Mrs. Hunt is a colorist. She and her daughters benefit from being light-skinned. She looks down on Fonny for being darker and Tish for being even moreso.

🔸I like that Tish's family is happy about her pregnancy. They were very wholesome and supportive.

🔸Mrs. Hunt says she hopes Fonny's jail time turns him to Jesus. Sharon answers sarcastically that the Lord works in mysterious ways. / Always looking on the bright side is one thing that disgusts me about Christianity in particular. You can't ever have any time that is bad. You always have to think about the good. That is toxic positivity and not healthy. Sometimes life is shit and you don't need to be thankful that you're still breathing. God needing to force you into unspeakable turmoils to convert you should make you question the validity of God's power and existence.

🔸Mrs. Hunt and her daughters inveigh against the news of Tish's pregnancy. Mrs. Hunt hides behind her religion to criticize Tish and the unborn child. Frank slaps Mrs. Hunt. / I don't condone domestic violence, but even Mrs. Hunt's behavior is a form of emotional domestic violence. Using your religion to say that everyone is sinning when they do something you dislike is nasty and exhausting.

🔸Tish is weary of the lawyer's, Hayward, intention, because he is white and asking for more money, but she softens up when she notices how he gently speaks to her and how he has a distaste for racism. / I like that the lawyer was humanized. All too often we are quick to think that lawyers are vain disgusting people.

🔸Man, Sharon's mission in Puerto Rico really failed and I wasn't ready for that emotional impact.

🔸Sharon is shook from her trip. She realizes that POC in North America have it bad no matter where they are. / This has its truths, but let's not hold onto this believing that it's pointless to try to escape any nation's hardships. I have designs to leave the States myself, and I'm often met with this criticism. No, there really are other countries that have it more together. Even Baldwin recognized that life had its improvements when he moved to Paris (obviously not North America, though).

🔸Even though the jail/prison system is rife with sexual assault and violence, Fonny learns to humanize the detainees around him. Some of them are in his same position, after all.

🔸Adrienne, one of Fonny's sisters, doesn't have the best attitude, but she's not a one-dimensional hateful husk. Frank hates her because she looks like her spiteful mother, and she resents this. She's very worried when Frank goes missing. / Adrienne's situation is unfortunate. She can only learn from those around her. She and her sister have been damaged by society and their parents, and I feel bad for them both.

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the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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sarasreading's review

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challenging dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

This was very good, so beautifully written, and also very heavy. The ending felt really abrupt to me. That and the explicit sexual content were the only things I personally didn't care for. But this is a classic for a reason, and the writing is so powerful.

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moonyreadsbystarlight's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.75

An incredible book! He weaves back and forth through time as he tells this story. It is so beautifully written and has so much excellent social commentary.

I will say, definitely take the SA content warning seriously. If you want specifics, it is a bit spoiler-ey:

The thing that stood out to me was the fact that the survivor was confronted and not in a delicate way. There was no victim-blaming or saying that she was lying about it happening, however she is confronted becuase she chose the wrong person in the line-up (assumably) after being manipulated. While they do take some care in how she is confronted, it still is not great. While I do think there is a reason the author chose to have the story play out like that, it seemed like something that could be potentially quite triggering.

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