A review by miller8d
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

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