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A review by weebeeweebee
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
4.0
This book seemed really light to me, and bored me at times because there was so much idle talk of French life, American life, drinking, dinner and all those kinds of things. But underneath all that, this earthquake of mature and emotionally-nuanced, homosexuality-centred drama breaks out. To me it shows a sad truth of loving men in a homophobic society, how much people can hurt themselves and others in an effort to stay in the closet.
Plus - death and murder come up from time to time in the news, and I feel like there's always this really uninformed take on the lives of folks involved, sensationalised for headlines. Giovanni's Room made me think deeper about those kinds of stories, about the different layers at play for one person good and bad, what role everyone has in a death and, basically, why it's important to own up to your shit. I dug it.
Plus - death and murder come up from time to time in the news, and I feel like there's always this really uninformed take on the lives of folks involved, sensationalised for headlines. Giovanni's Room made me think deeper about those kinds of stories, about the different layers at play for one person good and bad, what role everyone has in a death and, basically, why it's important to own up to your shit. I dug it.