A review by jentang
Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin

4.0

One of those classic short stories that makes you want to use all of the typical New Yorker magazine book review buzzwords: poignant, timeless, essential piece of literature; etc., etc. A blend of art, addiction, humanity, and hatred in under 30 pages. Baldwin's depiction of desperation and need is raw and familiar, without needing any vehicles in the form of flashy literary devices. I would be surprised if this were not fact to most other readers. Pain and making peace with it are the pillars of mankind, and Baldwin's work is an ode as to such. I wonder how many more hours today I'll end up using just thinking about Sonny, and his all too familiar circumstances.