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lezreadalot's review against another edition
4.0
I moved like an advance scout in wicked and hostile territory, my whole life was a strategy and a prayer: I knew I could not live without my brother.
4.5 stars. By god did James Baldwin know how to write. The premise of this novel (a man loses his famous, gospel-singing brother, and takes us on a grief-filled and nostalgic journey through their lives and past relationships) isn't something that I'd have gravitated to necessarily, but there were so many parts of it that were beautiful and struck a chord deeply within me. I'm so glad I read it. From the very beginning chapter, I loved these brothers, and Hall's outpouring of anguish when he hears of Arthur's death got to me even when I didn't know them as characters. By the end, I had tears in my eyes. This is an exploration of their relationship with the church and God, the various loves in their lives, Arthur's grappling with his sexuality, racism in America (and abroad), their perception of themselves as black men. Baldwin has a way of writing about simple things in a really really beautiful way, but a way that never becomes haughty or inaccessible. His writing is grounded, and oftentimes very crude, and the fact of that just made me love his insight even more? I was just bowled over by all the love in this book and how it was conveyed: the brotherly love, love between friends, lovers, husband and wife... There are some tender moments between men that made me want to cry, both romantic and platonic.
Niggers can sing gospel as no other people can because they aren’t singing gospel— if you see what I mean . When a nigger quotes the Gospel, he is not quoting: he is telling you what happened to him today, and what is certainly going to happen to you tomorrow: it may be that it has already happened to you, and that you, poor soul, don’t know it. In which case, Lord, have mercy! Our suffering is our bridge to one another.
Another thing this book does that I would've never expected to like is play with points of view. Technically it's mostly all told from Hall's first person POV, but Baldwin imbues him with a kind of omniscience. Perhaps it's because he's been told of these events, or he's narrating an interpretation of what he's been told, or filling in the blanks of his knowledge, but he narrates events that happen to Arthur, Julia, Jimmy, and other characters. It was really interesting. Like, a passage might read as if it were in third person, until you saw a line like, "and he was thinking about me" or something. I ended up really liking that? Normally I loathe head-hopping/omniscient POV, but this wasn't either of those things. It was deliberate, and gave an added layer of lyricism and meaning to the text.
It was beautiful to watch them; freedom is an extraordinary spectacle.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Kevin Kenerly, which I think was my first experience with him. but he's quickly shot up my list of favourites. This was beautifully narrated from top to bottom. Again, I have to mention that opening chapter when Hall hears of Arthur's death, the way he did the lines 'Oh, my God my God my God my God my God, oh my God my God my God oh no no no, my God my God my God my God, forsake me if you will and I don’t give a shit but give me back my brother, my God my God my God my God my God!' Ooof. Right in my heart. This was just such an amazing text. It's very very heavy and dark, so mind that if you pick it up. There's also a lot of words I wish weren't used, some things I wish I could change and that probably would change if this was written in modern times. Nevertheless, a great novel. I really need to continue reading more Baldwin; his writing just fires me up.
Content warnings:
Spoiler
child rape, incestual rape, child sexual assault, racism, anti-Semitism, slurs (homophobic, anti-black, anti-Asian)For, without love, pleasure withers quickly, becomes a foul taste on the palate, and pleasure’s inventions are soon exhausted. There must be a soul within the body you are holding, a soul which you are striving to meet, a soul which is striving to meet yours.
guilherme_bicalho's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
macshiney's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
avalin1's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
smemmott's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Compelling look at family relationships, both those that people are born into and those that develop. How love shapes us and how love itself changes over time. Memorable details and also restraint in the storytelling. Some sections were hard to read for the graphic descriptions of abuse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Incest, and Child abuse
jkbartlett's review
5.0
Astoundingly and heartbreakingly brilliant. I recently said this about "Another Country" but now- this really is my favorite novel.
In many ways, it is a culmination of all of Baldwin's legacy. Here we have the wrestling of the church as in "Go Tell It on the Mountain", including the child preacher Julia who is tragic until she is, by the end of the tale, perhaps the strongest character. There are shades of "Giovanni's Room". There are biting analyses of the Civil Rights Movement (or, the second slave insurrection as Baldwin would call it), in the stories of Arthur's gospel quartet who wander with awe and tragic consequence down south. Arthur himself is as beautifully written a character, I believe, as any Baldwin has produced and the love between Arthur and his brother Hall as well as Arthur and his lover Jimmy are deeply and sometimes painfully honest. Above all, as Hall is an omniscient narrator privy to the full stories of all characters, we see the fruits of Baldwin's essays (especially "Notes of a Native Son") as each character in their own way reconciles (or suffers by not being able to do so) with what it means to be black in America.
I recently read the transcript of a conversation between Baldwin and Chinua Achebe at the University of Florida in the early eighties. The tragic comment comes from Baldwin when he announces that he will live into the next millenium and when he does- he will be eager to see what the country has done to reconcile itself with a bloody history. Of course, Baldwin passed away in 1987 from stomach cancer.
But if this is to be his final novel- it is a gift to lovers of literature but especially to those of us who made it to this new millennium and still yearn for those prophetic voices of the past to guide us forward.
In many ways, it is a culmination of all of Baldwin's legacy. Here we have the wrestling of the church as in "Go Tell It on the Mountain", including the child preacher Julia who is tragic until she is, by the end of the tale, perhaps the strongest character. There are shades of "Giovanni's Room". There are biting analyses of the Civil Rights Movement (or, the second slave insurrection as Baldwin would call it), in the stories of Arthur's gospel quartet who wander with awe and tragic consequence down south. Arthur himself is as beautifully written a character, I believe, as any Baldwin has produced and the love between Arthur and his brother Hall as well as Arthur and his lover Jimmy are deeply and sometimes painfully honest. Above all, as Hall is an omniscient narrator privy to the full stories of all characters, we see the fruits of Baldwin's essays (especially "Notes of a Native Son") as each character in their own way reconciles (or suffers by not being able to do so) with what it means to be black in America.
I recently read the transcript of a conversation between Baldwin and Chinua Achebe at the University of Florida in the early eighties. The tragic comment comes from Baldwin when he announces that he will live into the next millenium and when he does- he will be eager to see what the country has done to reconcile itself with a bloody history. Of course, Baldwin passed away in 1987 from stomach cancer.
But if this is to be his final novel- it is a gift to lovers of literature but especially to those of us who made it to this new millennium and still yearn for those prophetic voices of the past to guide us forward.
suspendedinair's review
5.0
Just another thing to add to a long list of things that make me cry.
"Lord, they were beautiful. But they damn sure couldn't count to ten, and they couldn't keep house. They loved their kids, but their kids didn't always know it, they didn't always remember the kid's name, they didn't always remember the wife or the husband or the sweetheart's name: and that didn't mean that they didn't love them. But who's going to be able to figure that out? How you going to believe that somebody loves you, when they way off someplace, getting some wild shit together, and look at you like you some bit of dust in in the desert, about two thousand miles away? How you going to imagine that, if you leave that person, she going to cry her eyes out, and maybe try to die? No, you see them in the club next Saturday, singing their ass off, and they lift you up, they hit you someplace, inside you, hard, and maybe they even make you cry--but--you don't know."
"Lord, they were beautiful. But they damn sure couldn't count to ten, and they couldn't keep house. They loved their kids, but their kids didn't always know it, they didn't always remember the kid's name, they didn't always remember the wife or the husband or the sweetheart's name: and that didn't mean that they didn't love them. But who's going to be able to figure that out? How you going to believe that somebody loves you, when they way off someplace, getting some wild shit together, and look at you like you some bit of dust in in the desert, about two thousand miles away? How you going to imagine that, if you leave that person, she going to cry her eyes out, and maybe try to die? No, you see them in the club next Saturday, singing their ass off, and they lift you up, they hit you someplace, inside you, hard, and maybe they even make you cry--but--you don't know."
andrewacashner's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chichi27's review
5.0
When I walked into Half Price, I wasn't even familiar with this title. Now it's one of my favorite books. I love it when that happens. Baldwin is definitely one of my favorite writers. He writes with such warmth and understanding of his characters.