Reviews

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

halaurll's review against another edition

dark emotional sad

5.0

An exploration of internalized homophobia, gender roles, American identity, and the doomed nature of love, all in gorgeous and sad prose.

bryanna_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

sandro_reads's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Time moves fluidly in Giovanni’s Room. The narrator, David, spins a circular tale of desire and shame that encapsulates internalized homophobia and gender norms of the 1950s but still feels daring by today’s standards. 

harukoreads's review against another edition

5.0

Possibly the most beautifully written portrayal of quiet devastation that I've ever read. It's a tragedy through and through, but even with the slow sense of dread enmeshed in every page, I couldn't stop reading.

eco23's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

j_m_alexander's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

 “There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain.”

Tragic heartbreak and so much shame. Baldwin expresses passion and love and indifference and repulsion in so few words, but makes it palpable and undeniable. Through David, our protagonist, we experience things that maybe could never have been any other way, but then again perhaps if the world wasn't the way it was or if he wasn't precisely who he was, perhaps had a momentary expression not occurred or been responded to just as it was... but no... unavoidable tragedy, inevitable ruin.

“For I am—or I was—one of those people who pride themselves in on their willpower, on their ability to make a decision and carry it through. This virtue, like most virtues, is ambiguity itself. People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception. Their decisions are not really decisions at all—a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named—but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they and the world are not. This is certainly what my decision, made so long ago in Joey’s bed, came to. I had decided to allow no room in the universe for something which shamed and frightened me. I succeeded very well—by not looking at the universe, by not looking at myself, by remaining, in effect, in constant motion.”

What we find here is an exploration on sexuality and love forbidden, visceral emotion and self-delusion, and we get it all in this taut little package - such punch, such veracity, in such an unassuming short book. It should also be said that for all the emotional turmoil this book also has a captivating hook that makes one turn the pages to find out how we will arrive at the ultimate conclusion.

 

mlfey's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

I think, despite the decades and vast changes to how queer characters are and can be portrayed today, that this novel remains riveting, painful, and achingly, achingly relevant. 

aislina's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

_carmenwray_'s review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

w15teria's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5