Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Giovanni's Room
Book Review: Is this Desire?
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a shame that James Baldwin is so overlooked by the younger generations of readers. There is no parallel to the brilliance in his work and his writing style that is literary and thought provoking. "Giovanni's Room" packs a tremendous emotional punch with its narration of David, an American living in Paris during the 1950's. David's journey is the slow acceptance of his sexuality, as he carries on a relationship with the Italian bartender, Giovanni, while David's fiance, Hella, is abroad in Spain. This novel has withstood decades of censorship on gay literature and we benefit from it. Baldwin takes on sexuality with grace and patience as we watch the narrator battle his own inner demons. Very early on, David tells us that he knows he is at fault for the suffering of those around him and that Giovanni will be will be executed on the guillotine the next morning. David then takes us back into his history with Giovanni and their life in the small room he rents. As the story unfolds, we watch as David creeps into the subculture of Paris, dependent on the money of his wealthy friends who loiter in the gay underground. Yet, there is a sense of contentment from the narrator with his new surroundings, though he does not openly admit to it. He sees his sexuality and his involvement in this "forbidden lifestyle" as a temporary one and then that fragile stability is shattered when Hella finally returns.
This book is a treasure that accurately documents one person's journey in self-discovery and questions the lines between love and desire. Thank you, James Baldwin, for what you've left behind for us.
Book Review: James!
Summary: 5 Stars
Giovanni's Room
By James Baldwin
James Baldwin! For me, writing his name sends joy and awe straight to my heart. I have loved him since I was a teenager and found him on a library bookshelf. I devoured as many of his novels as I could find and each was more than satisfying but when I found Giovanni's Room, I found what I had been searching for in my constant reading. A few pages into it and I felt that stab in the gut, that overwhelming rush that one gets when hearing an absolutely perfect piece of music or falling heart-first into a work of art. I know that it was the elegance of Baldwin's writing in this particularly elegant short novel that sent me head over heels in love with words.
Giovanni's Room is a painful story of a young man in Paris who is uncertain and uncomfortable with his sexuality. Baldwin presents a complex series of events with an understated, brilliant use of character and dialogue that lead to the destruction of several characters. Baldwin wrote so very well (or I am so very dense) that it took several readings for me to understand that it was not merely a tale of repressed desires but also a cautionary tale of the cost to others of random, casual acts of selfishness and unkindness. I re-read it every few years. Baldwin died of cancer in December of 1987. I miss him, I really do. Each Christmas I choose a few friends and gift them with Giovanni's Room. It is a deep pleasure to hear their reactions to this author's soulful genius and it is my small way of sending my loving gratitude to James Baldwin.
Sherry Harvey Podobnik
Book Review: More like ten stars!
Summary: 5 Stars
Everything about this book made my mind spin in awe. The story, uniquely told through fluid "flashbacks"; the characters, especially the narrator; and the prose, that sang like poetry (and I am not a poetry person) were all placed perfectly in place.This is the first novel from Baldwin I have read, and it will definately not be the last. I can't remember ever reading a book where it is told not through flashbacks, but through memories tempted by anticipation of an event yet to come. I love that. It's not just a cold recollection, it's as though each scene was tinted with David's emotions about himself and about what will happen to Giovanni.
At first, I was waiting for Hella's part to become apparent, but then I saw that she isn't what David is thinking about as he awaits the dawn. (Hey, sometimes I'm a little slow.) This could have easily been just a long inner monologue within one character, but it contributes the fascination and entertainment of a story.
Wonderful. This is how I would like to be able to write when I grow up.
Book Review: Mr. Baldwin goes to France
Summary: 5 Stars
It's possible that James Baldwin's main strength as a writer is his ability to be subtly insightful. He gets his ideas across without overpowering the reader with them. Much of the imagery that he uses in this novel is very poignant when considering the plight of both the main characer and Giovanni. That is, when considering the main character's inability to accept certain truths about himself, and the ramifications that has for others (I suppose, himself included). While this book only occasionally sustains the lyrical flow that made Go Tell it on the Mountain so very distinctive, it's more daring in it's approach and subject matter. Very few writers would be able to handle the ebb and flow of personal denial and hard realization as gracefully and naturally as James Baldwin does. So, in a sense, what it gives up in style, it more than makes up for in content; which isn't to say the style of writing is bad (I wouldn't have given it five stars if it was). Compared to most other writers, Mr. Baldwin has a fluid, insightful pen. I'm simply basing my stylistic comparison on the near songlike quality of prose in Go Tell it on the Mountain (which I also highly recomend). Also, while toned down quite a bit, there are quite a few religious referances throughout this novel. So, If you have read, or studied the Bible, that layer will be readily apparent. It might also be a good idea to have an English to French dictionary with you (or at the very least a handy French student whom you can reference). This novel has an abundance of untranslated French snippets.
I would recomend this novel for anybody who is interested in the struggle to resolve one's sexual identity. I would also recomend this to anyone who is interested in sexual politics. Although I wouldn't necesarilly lump it together with the books written by the expatriates (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein etc), anyone who likes those books may enjoy the European flavor of this one (with all of it's little snippets of french).
Book Review: No Matter Where You Go - There You Are
Summary: 5 Stars
My now-deceased cousin Charles was a gay painter who gave this book to me when I was 16. Back then I followed him around like his shadow, loving his stories of travel and lovers. I grew to travel and thought of how no matter where I went, I took me.James Baldwin's Giovanni's room, seems to be a story of this realization, of not being able to escape yourself; despite being in the free-est position you'll probably ever be in again. Too bad San Francisco wasn't up and running for a man in his position, back then. Nowadays the pilgrimage to self identity is the same by plane, and having lived in both Paris and Frisco, Paris (for me) is definitely the place to face oneself.
James Baldwin's David seems to be fighting a demon that surfaced long before his sexuality came into question. Between the lines I'm seeing a portrayal of Mr. Baldwin's 1950's America as the P-envying society of self-hate that he has escaped. He arrives in America's parallel universe, Paris; a place where he is accepted without having to reinvent himself.
I lived in Paris for 4 years. I went there with my pre-conceived notions, and was introduced to theirs. Being an American woman in Europe, men see you as the unfulfilled dame who has not been allowed to blossom. They see you as the accepting and unsatisfied victim of a cocky, selfish, binging male culture. They feel obliged to help you recover. to show that quality not quantity is the answer. finesse not excess.
Baldwin's Giovanni's room is a book that makes me think, that the plague of identity issues, sexual, societal, etc., is a monster empowered by self-doubt, a parasite in which strength of character can only defeat. You are your own worst enemy.