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angelreadsthings 's review for:
Giovanni's Room
by James Baldwin
3.5 Stars. I’ve been hesitant to review this book since I finished it a couple weeks ago partially because I’ve been of two minds about it. On the one hand, I found Baldwin’s wording brilliant. The intentionality of his word choice, the weight of his sentence structures, the artistry of his descriptions - all were truly beautiful. But on the other hand, all the beautiful wording in the world could not salvage a plot that felt too shallow to truly capture my interest.
I spent most of the book just tolerating each plot point while waiting for the reveal of why Giovanni’s fate had been sealed. The only aspects of the plot that interested me more than the mystery around Giovanni’s fate were the scenes leading up to the crime but they came too late in the book to save the plot.
Perhaps, I would have appreciated other aspects of the plot if I had connected with the main character in any way, but I found him to be frustrating and uninteresting at best, selfish and despicable at worst. I spent much of the book trying to figure out why I should care about him and this feeling became more pronounced the more I learned about Giovanni and even Hella who seemed like much more interesting and sympathetic characters.
Above all, I think I struggled most with the reality that this novel wasn’t written for me. A reality that bothered me more than it usually would because Go Tell it on the Mountain felt so directly written for me. It felt almost like a step backward to have to sit through this more blatantly queer work that was written from the perspective of a community of men whose lives and principles and reactions to their fears and identity were so far removed from my queer experiences and so absent of ideas from which I felt I could learn.
Still, the wording was so beautiful, so truly remarkable that I loved it even though I could not love the other parts of the book, and that’s why I’ve rated it slightly above average. That and the recognition that I might have been able to tolerate the plot a little more had I read the book in a less piecemeal way or not already read his first novel and loved it so.
I spent most of the book just tolerating each plot point while waiting for the reveal of why Giovanni’s fate had been sealed. The only aspects of the plot that interested me more than the mystery around Giovanni’s fate were the scenes leading up to the crime but they came too late in the book to save the plot.
Perhaps, I would have appreciated other aspects of the plot if I had connected with the main character in any way, but I found him to be frustrating and uninteresting at best, selfish and despicable at worst. I spent much of the book trying to figure out why I should care about him and this feeling became more pronounced the more I learned about Giovanni and even Hella who seemed like much more interesting and sympathetic characters.
Above all, I think I struggled most with the reality that this novel wasn’t written for me. A reality that bothered me more than it usually would because Go Tell it on the Mountain felt so directly written for me. It felt almost like a step backward to have to sit through this more blatantly queer work that was written from the perspective of a community of men whose lives and principles and reactions to their fears and identity were so far removed from my queer experiences and so absent of ideas from which I felt I could learn.
Still, the wording was so beautiful, so truly remarkable that I loved it even though I could not love the other parts of the book, and that’s why I’ve rated it slightly above average. That and the recognition that I might have been able to tolerate the plot a little more had I read the book in a less piecemeal way or not already read his first novel and loved it so.