A review by bibika19
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

4.0

it’s a great and very emotional novel, however i think it should’ve been longer because i didn’t understand david’s feelings or motives. i know the point was that he didn’t want to express himself, maybe not even to the reader but if we got to learn his affair with giovanni more we would understand him better. this was annoying sometimes and confusing. i can understand why this choice was made, but i don’t agree.

i am also a bit sceptical about hella’s character. i can only explain her words through david’s “unreliable” narration. if that’s not the case, it was weird that she was independent and very conservative as well. she needed to be more complex imo.

the last line was chilling and i’d like to leave a quote i liked here:

“I understood why Giovanni had wanted me and had brought me to his last retreat. I was to destroy this room and give Giovanni a new and better life. This life could only be my own, which, in order to transform Giovanni’s, must first become a part of Giovanni’s room.”