Giovanni's room

This book started off so strong but it lost me at the last third of the story.
I had also not expected the amount of sexism and weird comments towards women that it had.
Things like: ‘he's a corporation lawyer and she's just the little woman.'
‘It's that you've got me. So now I can be - your obedient and most loving servant.'
‘I felt her moving, rushing to open the gates of her strong, walled city and let the king of glory come in.'

Which comes first: self-hatred or being a hateful person? Does one feed (or feed on) the other? And how does shame act as a catalyst in this toxic reaction?

Beautifully written, infuriating, moving, heartbreaking. The narrator is so loathsome (in a Gatsbyesque way) that I found myself in awe at Baldwin's sensitivity: to write someone like that, to take us in his self-justifying head and culture and era, to draw us in despite our dislike – that takes skill. It was an unusual experience and has lingered with me for some days.

I first thought this was a period piece, that our world has progressed since then... halfway through I realized my mistake. These characters are timeless: their fears, desires, insecurities, self-absorption; their pettiness and inability to communicate with or listen to one another; and yes, the oppressive mantle of shame inherited from our culture – I don't think we've outgrown those yet.

I starter reading this in June, but found it very difficult to get through. Turns out the text is very small and I needed reading glasses. I now have them, and can read the text without problem.

My biggest impression of this book is that I despise David. He cheats on his girlfriend with Giovanni, then cheats on Giovanni with a girl he doesn't even like, and hurts all three in the process.

I wasn't expecting a happy ending, of course, but I also wasn't expecting the main character to be so horrible.

This is a story about a very sad and ugly subject, but written with an honesty and rawness that adds some kind of deeper pathos.

This was my first time reading James Baldwin's fiction, having previously only read his essays, nonfiction, and seen interviews/speeches. He is eloquent as ever but his eloquence and insight is held up as a mirror to a protagonist who is drawn into harmful and cruel behaviours due to his dishonesty with himself and fear of his attraction to men. This is a novel about masculinity and internalised homophobia and how it can eat you from the inside. The story illustrates how the process of internalised hate prevents a person from loving and destroys the lives of the ones around them. Like I said, ugly and sad subject, but as you'd expect from Baldwin, his perspicuity and insight mean it is a nuanced portrayal.

You won't like the first person narration from our protagonist, David: he's misogynistic, transphobic, fatphobic and classist. I guess a realistic portrayal given David is a white American man of the 1950s. Prepare yourself to be exposed to these 1950s attitudes. But it's probably the best portrayal of internalised homophobia you'll ever read. And these externalised behaviours are a great illustration of how hatred of difference and desire for normalcy is at its roots, disconnection, fear, and denial of self.

There are moments of beauty in the descriptions of intimacy, and I did jot down a few very quotable phrases. It's four stars for the quality of writing, but three stars for how rotten the protagonist made me feel.

Giovanni's Room has become a litmus test for how emotionally I am in touch with myself. A book about an inability to love, an impossible relationship; for a long time I couldn't read past a few pages without my stomach in roiling knots. Last summer I could feel love, then winter came and with it as usual the clarity of grief. You can be delusional every time you go through this cycle, because romance is a shared delusion, but at one point we all have to confront the fragility and impermanence of love. Love through the lens of freedom or stability, youth or age, compatibility or incompatibility. That's what this book will give you. Every word was a gut-punch too close to home for a while. When Spring came and one could pretend the leaves were falling off their trees to greet you at exactly the right moment, I finally had the stomach to finish this heart-breaking book. Remember to tell your lover how much you love them while you still can.

Short Review: Baldwin's writing is incredible. Lyrical and moving. I really did not like his characters. They were childish, selfish and unwilling to actually work on relationships. This is yet another book where I see the real skill of the author, but can't really recommend the book.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/giovannis-room/