A review by casskrug
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.0

good lord can james baldwin write. he renders these complex, flawed characters in such gorgeous prose. the writing is descriptive and lyrical, with all of the word choices working together to convey the intense love and heartbreak of the story. the use of foreshadowing ended up really working for me - initially i was worried i was missing something, but baldwin brings it all together in the end. it’s also really haunting to see the mindset surrounding queerness in the 1950s, the hiding and the internalized homophobia and the anguish it causes. this is one of those books where i know i didn’t catch everything the first time around. nonetheless i was really caught up in the characters and their relationships. i know i’d benefit from an eventual reread, but until then i’m really keen to try out baldwin’s essays!