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reliures's review against another edition
5.0
Buddy read with @glitterpricked
Queer literary fiction taking place in 1950s Paris where David, a young American, waiting for his fiancée Hella to come back from Spain, meets Giovanni, an Italian barman and starts an abrupt and passionate affair with him.
Queer literary fiction taking place in 1950s Paris where David, a young American, waiting for his fiancée Hella to come back from Spain, meets Giovanni, an Italian barman and starts an abrupt and passionate affair with him.
This short but powerful book was an incredible dense read, dealing with themes about queerness, shame, homophobia, masculinity, misogyny, social conformity.
James Baldwin delivers each line with a sharp and compelling tone. Each line written felt experienced and personal, as he truly understands the characters and infuses them with his own story as a queer man who lived during that era in Paris.
Both David and Giovanni are flawed and complex characters, the author perfectly described the intricacy of someone dealing with their sexuality, gender identity, their internalised bigotry in a conventional society.
Yet living in a society that condemns, if not legally, then morally, that queerness, the two characters find themselves in Giovanni’s room, a place of liberation and love, where they can be themselves and not having to be in a state of self deception.
The dichotomy between the two, is shown literally: Giovanni is a passionate, solar being, who search for a true emotional connection but is utterly unable to live alone. He also shows himself as a very traditional Italian, with a patriarchal and misogynistic attitude.
David on the other hand, displays moment of selfishness, denial and impassiveness. His struggle with his sexuality and sense of self, his shame and self loathing, his struggle with his masculinity, his inability to accept love, dating back to his unhappy youth, did softens his flaws, making him a interesting character.
Metaphorically I also noted this opposition between the two is shown throughout different references in the book ( for example Judas/Jesus or innocence/guilt).
Sometimes it felt as David saw himself in Giovanni, or as his mirror image, specifically the passages where he imagines what Giovanni is doing, it felt like he was living through them.
Their secretive, whole consuming passion (une passion dévorante as we say in French), in addition to Hella’s impending return and other various problems (money, unemployment, dubious relationships), makes the tension slowly escalate and the author perfectly describes this mounting dread that slowly eats away at both characters until it explodes into a tragic finale.
This book felt very much like a photograph of its time yet it reminds us that today acceptance and respect are essential.
This review is a mess, a more capable reviewer will probably articulate better why this book is incredible, yet I feel with this book I felt I experienced more than I read it.
thebet's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Baldwin has the most incredible ability to make you read for pages on end, and finish with a truth so deeply concealed in each and every one of us that by the time you're able to understand it feels like a gut punch.
camwhitehurst's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
verity1's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
library_anne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
awill1122's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
reed_with_read's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
katiesphone's review against another edition
4.0
deeply emotional gripping absolutely heartbreaking.
David shows a dissection of how heteronormative and patriarcal american society follows a gay person all the way to a different country. David stays in paris because he can live with giovanni in relative happiness and comfort, but he hates all about paris that allows him to live that way. He yearns to fall back into the american backbone of society; marriage with a house and kids. something that david felt as a child was never there. He wants to use this successful image of an american man to deflect any suspicions of his sexuality off of. He leans into Hella to escape confronting his real and deepening feelings for Giovanni, but at the climax of the book he is almost disgusted by Hella and her femininity and runs away from her. Throughout the book I wanted to slap David around the face and give giovanni a big hug, and tell Hella to run away. But there's no payoff, only a painful ending. So many times Davis tries to act like a chameleon; he can play the part in gay paris and love giovanni, but he can leave and effortlessly don the clothes of a heterosexual american. He is ultimately unable to do this. he couldn't escape his sexuality and he couldn't escape giovanni's room.
David shows a dissection of how heteronormative and patriarcal american society follows a gay person all the way to a different country. David stays in paris because he can live with giovanni in relative happiness and comfort, but he hates all about paris that allows him to live that way. He yearns to fall back into the american backbone of society; marriage with a house and kids. something that david felt as a child was never there. He wants to use this successful image of an american man to deflect any suspicions of his sexuality off of. He leans into Hella to escape confronting his real and deepening feelings for Giovanni, but at the climax of the book he is almost disgusted by Hella and her femininity and runs away from her. Throughout the book I wanted to slap David around the face and give giovanni a big hug, and tell Hella to run away. But there's no payoff, only a painful ending. So many times Davis tries to act like a chameleon; he can play the part in gay paris and love giovanni, but he can leave and effortlessly don the clothes of a heterosexual american. He is ultimately unable to do this. he couldn't escape his sexuality and he couldn't escape giovanni's room.