Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

52 reviews

noblekylie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Moderate: Death, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Violence

lauravreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Giovanni’s Room follows David, an American living in Paris who finds himself sharing a room with Giovanni. David finds himself conflicted with his attraction/relationship with Giovanni and the expectations from his family and society. 

This book is a powerful read as it delves into the complexity of love and companionship and their coordination with marriage and having a life partner. This book was published in 1956 and I feel that it makes this book even more powerful. The way Baldwin describes the love, affection, desire, and attraction that David feels towards men is so deep. Especially how he describes the shame and guilt that he felt for leaving his loved ones to peruse his relationship with a woman is profound. 

I found that this book had very slow pacing, which is okay, but I did find myself being a bit bored while listening at times.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Classism, Drug abuse, and Grief

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

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

marinapaso11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity

Moderate: Murder and Death

corvoid's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Sexism, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

b0ygenius's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cursing and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, and Death of parent

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I honestly loved this book and I’ve been wanting to read it for a while! I finished it in about 3 days as an audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, Child death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Biphobia

lucykateburns's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

chloebethx_'s review against another edition

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

4.25

James Baldwin really created a short masterpiece in this book, the emotions and struggles with sexual identity and finding your place in society were so well articulated and written out on the page that it took my breath away. Other reviews have put it in much better terms than I could, but this book is truly beautiful!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship