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Giovanni's Room - Community Reviews back

by James Baldwin
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runner
runner rated it 4 years ago
What a wonderful yet very powerful read. David is betrothed to Hella, he is an American living in Paris waiting for his lover to join him. A chance meeting at a Paris bar with a young attractive Italian, Giovanni, results in David questioning values that he has always believed to be true. He takes a...
Cody's Bookshelf
Cody's Bookshelf rated it 6 years ago
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin’s controversial second novel, is a clenched fist, a bucket of sour grapes, a weeping work of art. A compact little tale of societal alienation and forbidden love (and lust), time has not dimmed its lights or smoothed its edges. Not one iota. Baldwin’s most well-known...
Brain Gourmet
Brain Gourmet rated it 8 years ago
This novel was everything I thought it was not going to be. And this time, I don’t blame my expectations for disliking a book. It did make an impression on me, albeit for all the wrong reasons.I feel that Baldwin did no research before writing this book. He just used bits and pieces that he had hear...
Nithou's Readings
Nithou's Readings rated it 9 years ago
La Chambre de Giovanni offre un magnifique triangle amoureux, écrit de façon extrêmement poétique et prenante, qui vous happe au sein de cette tempête de sentiments. Le livre joue avec la bisexualité (ou homosexualité) de son personnage principal, source de honte, d'interrogations, pêché impossible ...
KatieMc
KatieMc rated it 9 years ago
So rarely does an author really capture the essence of finding oneself unexpectedly smitten, that I had a moment of wonder when reading “He smiled bleakly and looked at me; to my surprise, he took my hand and held it.”. Giovanni’s Room is about saying yes to life, about taking a chance no matter how...
Sarah's Library
Sarah's Library rated it 9 years ago
11/12 - The sight of drag queens in full drag is as grotesque as monkeys eating their own poo? I think David might be projecting some of his own self-hatred onto these undeserving drag queens. I would suggest he needs to see a therapist about his latent anger, but I don't think a therapist would hav...
KatieMc
KatieMc rated it 9 years ago
Beautifully romantic and painfully tragic. So rarely does an author really capture the essence of finding oneself unexpectedly smitten, that I had a moment of wonder when reading “He smiled bleakly and looked at me; to my surprise, he took my hand and held it.”. Giovanni’s Room is about saying y...
shell pebble
shell pebble rated it 10 years ago
Baldwin's drawing of characters and nuanced treatment of the topic is beautiful and striking. David, the protagonist, is unable to accept his sexuality and is constantly lamenting his compromised manhood, while his girlfriend has decided to give up her party lifestyle and settle for a stereotypical ...
Tina Sandevska
Tina Sandevska rated it 11 years ago
I don't feel like I can properly review this book. Not because it's not relatable or anything; it is, even if you are not a gay man fighting with your sexuality in a community where being who you are is not acceptable. But mainly because the book is an absolute heartbreaker. I really didn't know muc...
Blogged Out Ma Nut
Blogged Out Ma Nut rated it 11 years ago
Life sux lol
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