Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

13 reviews

im_eebee's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

1.75

Beautifully written, but I hate the main character with a burning passion. I need him to get over himself yesterday. All he does is hurt people. I don’t like books where the main character is so deeply unaware of how their actions affect others. Some people will find that as the highlight of this book, but I find it frustrating to read. I’ll definitely check out Baldwin’s other work because the writing style was the only part of this that I liked, but this was a miss for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Classism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

kristina_in_space's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I don’t know how to review this book. I gave it 4 stars by default. I didn’t really enjoy reading it, but does that make it a bad book? The characters aren’t likable, the settings are terrible, the actions of the characters are almost always wrong, but that’s the story. And Baldwin writes it with such melancholy beauty. I can picture it all, for better or worse. And the narration on the audiobook kept me entranced. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

paddy_chh's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A masterfully written story but I cannot truthfully say I enjoyed reading it. A book about how internalised homophobia can ruin your own and the people around you’s lives.  It was a poignant story and it was well told, but for someone like me who is tired of seeing queer stories end in heartbreak  it wasn’t at all what I wanted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

berthe's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts

miller8d's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I like James Baldwin’s poetic language and poignant emotional description but

I found the ending of this book quite disappointing and I really wish there had been more plot to this book. It felt like nothing really happened in comparison to how much of the book was spent explaining— it was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, which isn’t bad, it’s just not my preference. James Baldwin is incredible and brilliant and this book is historically significant, but I did not enjoy it very much.

Note: I pictured James Baldwin as Giovanni, and Hugh Dennis as Jacques.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Outing, Sexual harassment, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Sexism

onmalsshelf's review

tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Some of the best writing I’ve ever read in a classic, but with the most insufferable cast of characters. Oi with the misogyny already 

Also The Atlantic lied in their blurb, ‘Exciting…a book that belongs in the top rank of fiction’

Exciting? Where?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Classism, and Mental illness

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Abandonment, Death, War, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Bullying, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

renniewest's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

“I think now that if I had had any intimation that the self I was going to find would turn out to be only the same self from which I had spent so much time in flight, I would have stayed at home.”

this novel is crushing in its depiction of the complexities of human conditions, love, mental illness, etc… it’s made me the kind of melancholy that sticks with you for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

jazzy_t's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Good book. An influential book of its time. 

I enjoy reading about a side of lgbt+ I maybe haven't really read before. Paris in 1960s ish. 

I felt the characters had a lot of depth and you connect to them but also become angry at them. They most definitely aren't perfect. I feel the author added this to the characters beautifully. 

James Balwin the author is an amazing intreting man who deserves to be remembered more than his is currently.

Enjoyed the read, would recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Homophobia

noblekylie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Violence