Reviews tagging 'Outing'

O Quarto de Giovanni by James Baldwin, Paulo Henriques Britto

31 reviews

biblioghoul'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Outing, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

orchidd's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.75

highlights: definition of woman—of gender—through sexuality, reveals of the complex interiority of other characters through dialogue, arguments, mirror scene in last chapter

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Outing

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Murder

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of those books I've been like, ah I gotta read it, forever. And I finally did it. This book did not disappoint. Beautiful, brutal, intricate, this short novel packs a huge punch, exploring internalized homophobia, xenophobia, classism, and systemic disenfranchisement, all within a contained story of a doomed romance between two men from wildly different backgrounds over several weeks in Paris in the late 1950s. Baldwin is also in peak form here, with his signature incisive social commentary delivered through characters with deep complexity and humanity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Outing, and Classism

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Outing, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Blood, and Pregnancy

Not sure how to tag it, but whether it's a reflection of the author's biases or an extension of the book's core themes, this book has a lot of negativity toward effeminate/GNC gay men.

maess's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racism and Suicide

dniespal's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A brilliant, poetically written book on hardships of love. The language is astonishing and the portrayal of characters is quite vivid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

poirot's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This is the first book I've read by James Baldwin.  I'll definitely be reading more.  His writing is beautiful and elegant without being difficult to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Rape, Grief, Murder, Outing, and Toxic friendship

untanglingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

After months of wanting to read this book I finally did it!!

I need to say that at the beginning I was kinda disappointed because the story was not really moving forward, a lot of irrelevant things were described way too thoroughly and I couldn't really understand David's motives and thoughts. Even though I definitely would have had the time to read the whole book it took me days to read the first part... (But at the end I almost devoured page after page and just couldn't stop reading anymore :D)

With the return of Hella the pace of the story suddenly accelerated a lot and it finally got very interesting. Some thoughts eventually made sense and as a reader I got to understand David's situation a lot better.

Especially David's last meeting with Giovanni was really enlightening and also showed what being gay in these times actually meant for someone like him. In this scene as well as in the following, David and also Giovanni became very elaborate characters and I was very close to shedding tears when Giovanni begged David to stay, but he eventually went with Hella. The ending was quite sad, even though I had known that David and Giovanni wouldn't end up together. I still feel like David developed a lot as a character, so this could lighten my mood a little.

One thing that threw me off throughout the whole book were these misogynistic comments towards Hella or women in general. Back then the times were definitely different from today and Hella also addressed the topic of her role as a woman in society, but this was more or less the only time she was let to raise her voice and the whole topic just left me back a little uncomfortable.

All in all this is a great book and definitely worth reading, even though it takes a while until Baldwin actually gets to the point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Transphobia, and Outing

milliebrierley's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Grief, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol