fightingmarc 's review for:

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.0

emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Giovanni's Room has a similar feeling to the book I had just finished reading before, Yukio Mishima's Forbidden Colours, however the emotional payoff here has much more impact. Most queer people who read Giovanni's Room can see themselves in some way with the struggle of Giovanni, David and even Hella. Baldwin's writing is beautiful, and the last fifty pages of the story were weaved so intricately that the climax of the story, which you are warned about early on in the book, still manages a suckerpunch. This is a classic queer tragedy, and one that struck me with an intensity I haven't felt in a while.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence