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A review by hank_moody
Another Country by James Baldwin
5.0
People don't have any mercy. They tear you limb from limb, in the name of love. Then, when you're dead, when they've killed you by what they made you go through, they say you didn't have any character. They weep big, bitter tears - not for you. For themselves, because they've lost their toy.
For James Baldwin, love is the only human possibility, terrifying, but nevertheless the only one we have and there is no law or person who can tell us who we should love. If we lie about it, we live in a lie, building an immaculate colored facade for society as chaos unfolds inside. Love is sometimes another country that we don't know about, as Baldwin so aptly put it.
Love, just like in [b:Giovanni's Room|406235|Giovanni's Room|James Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1223664870l/406235._SY75_.jpg|814207], is the foundation of Baldwin's third novel, "Another Country", upon which he builds further topics he knew a great deal about, racism, class differences, and human relations. Through a group of friends and their connections, Baldwin shows to what extent he was a good observer, a connoisseur of people and, above all, how vast his knowledge was of the inner mechanism that animates us all.
Through the prism of sexuality and love Baldwin brings the story of Cass, a housewife in a seemingly perfect marriage whose illusion is shattered after she realizes she got into the relationship for the wrong reasons, that it was her ticket to leaving an environment where she didn’t feel at home; about Vivaldo, an unpublished writer struggling with his novel and his sexuality, a man who is in a toxic relationship with his best friend's sister because that's how he channels feelings for him, and guilt makes him believe in love, a feeling unknown to him; about Ida, a young African-American woman who carries with her resentment over the death of her brother, over the color of her skin and that of her lover, a girl who tries to get out of the mud of racism without choosing ways to do so; about Rufus, once a promising musician, now only a shadow of his former self wandering the streets of the city eaten away by guilt for his deeds because he was left without love due to repressed sexuality and became a monster he never wanted to be; about Eric, a fugitive and a returnee.
Each of these characters has their own story and a different idea of love, but none of them can say that they really know what true love is because they hide behind lies, behind marriage, behind sexuality, behind skin color. Suppressed feelings drive them to the edge of the abyss.
"Another Country" is not a geographical term, but a symbol of alienation due to the norms imposed by society, all that Baldwin went through in the 13 years he wrote that book. A novel that was a brave move at the time of its publication, but whose themes are still relevant today, 60 years after its publication, which speaks volumes about its quality.
For James Baldwin, love is the only human possibility, terrifying, but nevertheless the only one we have and there is no law or person who can tell us who we should love. If we lie about it, we live in a lie, building an immaculate colored facade for society as chaos unfolds inside. Love is sometimes another country that we don't know about, as Baldwin so aptly put it.
Love, just like in [b:Giovanni's Room|406235|Giovanni's Room|James Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1223664870l/406235._SY75_.jpg|814207], is the foundation of Baldwin's third novel, "Another Country", upon which he builds further topics he knew a great deal about, racism, class differences, and human relations. Through a group of friends and their connections, Baldwin shows to what extent he was a good observer, a connoisseur of people and, above all, how vast his knowledge was of the inner mechanism that animates us all.
Through the prism of sexuality and love Baldwin brings the story of Cass, a housewife in a seemingly perfect marriage whose illusion is shattered after she realizes she got into the relationship for the wrong reasons, that it was her ticket to leaving an environment where she didn’t feel at home; about Vivaldo, an unpublished writer struggling with his novel and his sexuality, a man who is in a toxic relationship with his best friend's sister because that's how he channels feelings for him, and guilt makes him believe in love, a feeling unknown to him; about Ida, a young African-American woman who carries with her resentment over the death of her brother, over the color of her skin and that of her lover, a girl who tries to get out of the mud of racism without choosing ways to do so; about Rufus, once a promising musician, now only a shadow of his former self wandering the streets of the city eaten away by guilt for his deeds because he was left without love due to repressed sexuality and became a monster he never wanted to be; about Eric, a fugitive and a returnee.
Each of these characters has their own story and a different idea of love, but none of them can say that they really know what true love is because they hide behind lies, behind marriage, behind sexuality, behind skin color. Suppressed feelings drive them to the edge of the abyss.
"Another Country" is not a geographical term, but a symbol of alienation due to the norms imposed by society, all that Baldwin went through in the 13 years he wrote that book. A novel that was a brave move at the time of its publication, but whose themes are still relevant today, 60 years after its publication, which speaks volumes about its quality.