A review by gabibrose
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.5

James Baldwin examines the heartbreakingly human concepts of passion, shame, love, and death in his novel Giovanni’s Room. Set in 1950s Paris, an American man struggles to maintain his own perception of morality after engaging in an affair with an Italian bartender named Giovanni while his fiancée is abroad. Considered a pinnacle of both queer and classic literature, Baldwin spins elegant prose into a multifaceted environment that is constantly shifting in tone. Sexy, confusing, tragic, violent, and romantic can all be used to describe the robust circumstances Baldwin places his characters in, but it’s the idea of self preservation that serves as the theme of the novel. 

In short, the protagonist travels to Paris to find himself - a notion that Baldwin deems misguided due to the fact that the protagonist not only understands exactly who he is, but consequently suppresses his true desires and sexuality due to societal implications. Baldwin delves into the cost of maintaining heterosexual conventionality and presents the importance of quelling denial to regain the humanity behind our individual natures. 
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