Reviews - Va veni focul | The StoryGraph

Va veni focul by James Baldwin, Elena Marcu

6.56k reviews for:

Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” is a beautifully written piece of memory about his experiences with religion whether that be Christianity and the Nation of Islam as well as the connection to race — short and sweet.

liv328's review against another edition

5.0

I listened to the audiobook and it was so good, there were times I would stop what I was doing and just sit down and listen.

Baldwin deeply understood the world he lived in, and the patience and compassion that he extended to others is humbling.

mayacam's review against another edition

3.5

challenging reflective fast-paced

dani_chilensky's review against another edition

5.0

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Everyone should read this book.

compandacube's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

It was a hard but meaningful read

Content Warnings

sols314's review against another edition

5.0

This was my first Baldwin book that I actually discovered through "The Black Panther Pary: A Graphic Novel History". Baldwin's observation of the times during and surrounding the civil rights era is powerful. He examines how black Americans can escape oppression and how some of the thoughts of freedom are flawed. Ultimately concluding that "color is a political reality" and in the west, any color other than white is not the priority. I haven't read a book quite like this one before and was able to take many nuggets from it.

Ultimately I agreed with Baldwin's observations but I also got a sense of what it was like during those times as many black Americans sought equality and how that stands against the efforts being made now. Have we finally come to see the political reality of color? By we, I mean Black Americans. Have white Americans made any progress when it comes to understanding the effects of slavery?

The answer of course is not nearly as much as we probably should. By we, I mean Americans. There is still a disassociation between the race issue and politics.