Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - O Quarto de Giovanni

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

O Quarto de Giovanni by James Baldwin, Paulo Henriques Britto

138 reviews

leabhar_love's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

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miller8d's review against another edition

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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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pyronautphea's review against another edition

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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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kydnmthws's review against another edition

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4.5

"I move at last from the mirror and begin to cover that nakedness which I must hold scared, though it be never so vile, which must be scoured perpetually with the salt of my life. I must believe, that the heavy grace of God, which has brought me to this place, is all that can carry me out of it."

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purplehulk713's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

This book only truly interested me at the very end when Giovanni is calling David out on all his bullshit. It felt so much like what people consider “literature” otherwise—clever and well-thought-out, but too dense and tedious to read to be of any real enjoyment to anyone who’s not an English scholar (and I’m speaking as university writing minor). But as a landmark in queer fiction, it does deserve praise. I just wish that it didn’t make me want so much for it to be over while reading more than it made me enjoy its poetic prose and insights (David is so frustrating, and Jacques and Guillaume are disgusting). But facing the sincerity embodied in Giovanni’s room was a truly tantalizing subject.

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onmalsshelf's review against another edition

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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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nzmerchant's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Beautifully written study of a very flawed main character and his journey with internalised homophobia. The book kinda lost me at the 30% mark but once I powered through it, I simply could not put it down! Overall, a very miserable read with some rather transphobic parts (but I understand this is part of the character’s internal monologue?) and i really felt for the characters and the unfortunate fates they were met with. Hella deserves better - I gotta say that…

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