Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

24 reviews

dugfromthedirt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

This took me soo many attempts to read with there being so much about both the characters and the happenings that was uncomfortable, often without reprieve, but god. The way it was all drawn out was beautiful. I wish I had the language for and practice at literary crit needed to delve into this the way I want to.

Before Giovanni's Room I was only familiar with James Baldwin's work as a political thinker/speaker, and his way with words in that context has always captured me. It's so interesting to find the same ring true in such a different place, such a different way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, and Infidelity

Moderate: Misogyny, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Miscarriage

miller8d's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Outing, Sexual harassment, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Sexism

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Abandonment, Death, War, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Bullying, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

yasmin_raev's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual content

Minor: Child death

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: Abandonment and Toxic relationship

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

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

laurendenton's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Alcohol, and Misogyny

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Abandonment, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, Violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

imaginefishes's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

i don’t know what else i can say about this except it resonated hard. im gay

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Murder, Infidelity, Grief, and Death

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content

andsoitgoes's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

3.0

I can see why this is a classic as the writing is artistic, and the emotions extracted by the subject matter are intense. However, the pace of the novel was not for me (very slow) and all of the characters seems a little more stereotypical than realistic. Not my cup of tea, but if you like emotionally intense books with an aura of mystery you'd probably like it. Please read trigger warnings before reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia

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

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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

3.5

though i personally give giovanni's room 3.5 stars, in actuality the book circumvents any ratings, for it is so much bigger than me, is a work of staggering importance wholly unaffected by my opinion of it.

the story has an initially confusing but thereafter thought-provoking structure riddled w/ metaphors and symbolism, important themes of internalized homophobia, identity, self-denial and -hatred and their consequences, and giovanni is a beautiful, lovely character whose tragic fate makes the book all the more devastating (though its ruminations on women still confuse me).

reading this short, dense book took me nearly a week bc it was so much like helplessly waiting for the inevitable trainwreck to happen. will def read more analysis on this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Abandonment, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse