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A review by ellareads2
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have been wanting to read Giovanni's Room for a while now, and I think that this was the perfect time for me to read it. Having seen/read secondary material on this novel before, I think that influenced my readings/annotations, but it did not completely remove me from the story. About three-fourths through the novel, I realized that David and Giovanni really could have been any queer men during the 20th century. This is a story about love, identity, and internalized homophobia that is recognizable to many, even if the degree was not as severe as David's and Giovanni's end. Funnily enough, at the beginning of last year (2023), I read My Policeman by Bethan Roberts. I feel that this is another iteration of this experience, simply set in a different part of Europe. Although there are many key differences from the two novels; one I think most prominent is perspective. In this sort of tragic narrative there is the man that is out (in the sense that he has come to terms with his identity), there is the man that is closeted and has extreme internalized homophobia, and then there is the woman that represents all that the closeted man should be and want but does not truly desire. The closeted man usually treats the woman terribly by not fully communicating his feelings and going through the expectation of a heterosexual relationship on autopilot. James Baldwin tells this story from the perspective of the closeted man. As the novel went on, David just got uglier and uglier. The hate he had for himself was projected onto Giovanni, and I believe is what ultimately led to his death. By the end of the novel, it is clear that he lacks love and empathy for anyone primarily because he does not have that for himself. Guilt and shame rule his ethics and decisions. From the first few pages, Baldwin makes clear that this will be a tragedy. We know that there will be a physical death of Giovanni, but I think with that, there was a spiritual death of David. It is painfully ironic that he does not even end up married to Hella and returns to Paris even though he lamented several times prior to Giovanni’s death that he needed to escape the city. It makes all the pain, suffering, and death seem pointless, but I think it makes sense. It wasn’t the city of Paris itself that upset David, but rather how he associated Giovanni’s room and his evident homosexuality with it. He feels that by physically escaping the city, he will escape Giovanni’s room and all that it contains. Giovanni’s pet name for David, l’americain, categorized him as a foreigner. When Hella returns to Paris from Spain, David is so urged to leave. David’s father writes him a letter worried about what he’s doing in Paris and advises him to come home. All of these details link, at least for David, his sexuality and masculinity. While not said explicitly, the person David can be in Paris (Giovanni’s room), or even person he can be with, is not the same person he has to be in the U.S. This is something I was vigilant or keeping track of as I read because of a close reading from scholar Dwight A. McBride called “Straight Black Studies: On African American Studies, James Baldwin, and Black Queer Studies,” where he asserts a relationship between sexuality and nation. I think that this is a really compelling idea that Baldwin definitely thought about deeply from both this novel and his shared experiences being a Black man in Paris. Overall, I really loved this book. The prose was phenomenal. Baldwin never fails to get at the heart of his characters. While the plot is essential to this story, I think the characters themselves really drive it and what is haunting me still after the last page. I know this may not be fair, but I’m giving Giovanni’s Room a 4.5/5 because I am upset by the kill your gays trope. This is common in much gay media prior to the 21st century, so this is no surprise, but I believe in this way, Giovanni’s Room was palatable enough to be lauded as literature and not a complete disgrace. 
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