Scan barcode
A review by savaging
Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
3.0
James Baldwin's last novel was an uneven experience for me. Sometimes I was sobbing at the depth and meaning and love in the book. Sometimes I felt cold and bored. The first paragraph of the book is maybe the most powerful opening I've ever read. But then before long I was mired in long passages describing the details of Christmas shopping for each member of the family.
My favorite parts of the book were musings on race, which maybe means I'm always going to prefer Baldwin's essays to his fiction. But I also appreciated the story's gentle wish-fulfillment, showing family members being kind and loving to each other, supporting their gay brother and son and friend, who supports them back in return. This felt like an important counterweight to the systems of violence and oppression that menace them at every side. The fact that they love each other isn't enough to save them -- but it opens up their stories to something more than violence and victimhood. Which is maybe also why Baldwin wanted to take time depicting Christmas shopping, I guess.
An aside: The old paperback cover shows two straight couples, one in a steamy nearly-nude make-out pose. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Is this to disguise a very gay book (yes siree, we got some straight sex in this book)? Is this to give readers plausible deniability? I laugh every time I look at this cover.
My favorite parts of the book were musings on race, which maybe means I'm always going to prefer Baldwin's essays to his fiction. But I also appreciated the story's gentle wish-fulfillment, showing family members being kind and loving to each other, supporting their gay brother and son and friend, who supports them back in return. This felt like an important counterweight to the systems of violence and oppression that menace them at every side. The fact that they love each other isn't enough to save them -- but it opens up their stories to something more than violence and victimhood. Which is maybe also why Baldwin wanted to take time depicting Christmas shopping, I guess.
An aside: The old paperback cover shows two straight couples, one in a steamy nearly-nude make-out pose. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Is this to disguise a very gay book (yes siree, we got some straight sex in this book)? Is this to give readers plausible deniability? I laugh every time I look at this cover.