Giovanni's Room: A Two-Part Series

Vee: This book is beautifully written and it resonated with me on a deeply personal level. It has so many memorable lines that made me reflect on my life and which I’ll hold close to my heart forever. Even though this book was written in a different time and social settings, it is relevant even today. It depicts the inner turmoil of grappling with one’s identity and the impact it has on the ones who love you. I feel sad for Giovanni and Hella, and I resent David for not doing enough to protect Giovanni. I’m glad Hella found out the truth in the end, and I wish Giovanni had found true happiness, love and success in Paris. :(

Canada on Dec 30, 2023

Todd Dewhurst: From my FB pages, “Race for Equality,” and “Herman Hesse: A Reflective Life.”

James Baldwin’s, “Giovanni’s Room,” was a very pleasant surprise, and I regret going this long without reading him. It is the first of his novels I’ve read, and after completing this one, I will assuredly continue with his authorship. His writing is clear, easy to follow, down to earth, and yet, he demonstrates an extensive vocabulary without being pretentious. While I would not consider his storyline to be directly Hessian, Baldwin’s themes about his experiences struggling with his homosexuality and identity, at a time when being gay was an open door for receiving severe backlash, are enough, in my opinion, to warrant discussion on this page. This is especially true when taking into account the double taboo of doing so as a black man.

There are a small handful of consistent themes in Baldwin’s novel, and none of them are clear cut from the other. The novel masterfully interweaves the complexities of David’s (the main character) two year stint in Paris. He unsuccessfully attempts to sort out the denial of his sexuality, his shame, his lust for it, societal phobic...

United States on Dec 07, 2023

brentan: I don't think I've read English of this quality since Joseph Conrad.

United Kingdom on Nov 08, 2023

Amanda M: This short beautiful novel paints a romantic underside of Paris from before… the fact that a guillotine makes an appearance is kind of odd, but the analogies of emotion, confusion, love and lust is something I think many people can relate to. I can definitely recommend, a great (queer) book club read.

Germany on Oct 23, 2023

Peter van de Grind: Un buen libro 📖

Spain on Jul 31, 2023

Josh Mauthe: Over the past couple of years, I’ve started making my way through the works of James Baldwin, the African-American writer and activist whose essays and writing grappled with race relations, sexuality and masculinity (Baldwin was himself gay, eventually openly so), and so much more. But as much as I love his essays – and I think he may be one of the great essayists of the 20th century (his essay “Notes of a Native Son” may be one of the finest essays ever written, full stop) – his fiction is no less remarkable for the ways it both explores the very themes that Baldwin so often explored elsewhere, but also for the emotional complexity and richness that Baldwin brings to bear in them. That was no surprise in Go Tell It on the Mountain, which was based very much on his own life, but the same holds true for Giovanni’s Room, a 1956 tale of a narrator confused and threatened by his own sexuality and his love for another man.

The plot of Giovanni’s Room is deceptively slim – it’s the story of David, an American ex-pat living in Paris; by the time our story begins, his fiancee is already on her way back to America, and his lover Giovanni is awaiting execution. And...

United States on May 26, 2022

Nayeli: Esta obra de Baldwin es simplemente sorprendente. Es hermosa y desgarradora.
La recomiendo totalmente.

Mexico on May 14, 2021