Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

51 reviews

whatannikareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i was afraid that i was gonna go into this with too high of expectations but goddamn i was so emotional—not necessarily crying but i was just SO emotionally invested in these characters. this story isn't even 200 pages and it is filled to the brim with beautiful prose (some of which I don't think I'm smart enough to understand but still enjoyed lol). Each character was so flawed but you still felt for them. I took a bit of adjusting in order to settle into Baldwin's writing style but when it came full circle at the end i just wanted to reread it again because i was like, oh OH OH THIS IS HAPPENING NOW AHHHHH.

i think this might be one of my favorite books of all time. i love how it's not stretched for 100 more pages of fluff. i loved the american expat feeling that i've felt before and am anxious to encounter again in my near future moving overseas. i can't believe this was written in the 1950s (i believe) and it's still like a good indie film that could be released today. i loveddddddddd this, THE DIALOGUE IS THE HEART OF THIS BOOK GOD i was just GLUED to the page with the back and forth. ugh so good.
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