Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.73 You Save: $6.27 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.69 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Giovanni's Room
Book Review: Simply emotional
Summary: 5 Stars
This has undoubtedly become my favorite book. Never have I had the need to reread a book till I was brought to this book. I could write comments about this book greater in length than the book itself, so I won't say more. It's a book you feel. Like the embrace given to a grieving friend,indescribable.Book Review: Thrilling !
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a story that maybe a little controvercial to some, but nevertheless it is such an EXCELLENT book!The story takes place in paris during a time when most blacks were in the US and few vendured outside the US. The twists and turns of the sexuallity context is handeled BEAUTIFULLY by means of letting the reader know but not know. The character ultimately is drawn between the woman and the man in his life and is frankly confused.
Without giving too much away, the book just keeps your attention and has you drawn in so much that you want to complete the book in one sitting....Now that's what a book should do!
Book Review: Weird ending
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked the story, although it seemed more like the outline to a great novel yet to be written. It was just too short. The only thing I didn't like was the sudden strange ending that was unrelated to the relationships between any of the main characters.Book Review: Where have you been all my life?
Summary: 5 Stars
One reviewer stated that it was a shame more young readers were not reading Baldwin. It has taken me almost 35 years to discover him. One of the best writers of the 20th Century.The subject matter (as you can see in other reviews) is a bit controversial for the time. However, Baldwins lyrical prose is certainly an enjoyment to behold.
I also read Notes of a Native Son at the same time as this book and its a great companion piece. Baldwin was an Expatriate living in Paris during the 50's and Notes give you further insight into Giovanni's Room.
A must read novel...A must read AGAIN novel!
Book Review: a compact, moving story ... a great read
Summary: 5 Stars
Giovanni's Room is my first taste of James Baldwin's brilliance. In less than 200 pages it transports the reader to 1950s France and tells of a complex love triangle between two men, one Italian and one American, and an American woman (who is 'off stage' most of the time touring Spain). What elevates Giovanni's Room beyond the realm of a soap opera or trite gay fiction are its brilliant prose (Mr Baldwin seemingly cannot write a bad sentence), terrific characterizations (especially of the troubled Giovanni and his pathetic 'friends'), and its ability to capture the atmosphere of Americans living in 1950s Paris (..it reminds me of Patricia Highsmith's latter 'Ripley' mystery novels). The book is sad and uncompromisingly honest.Bottom line: WAY beyond sterotypical gay fiction. Giovanni's Room is by any standard fine literature. Compulsory.