Another Country

by James Baldwin

book data

1,948 ratings, 4.32 average rating, 216 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		50%
4		34%
3		12%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

August 1st 1985 by Laurel (first published 1962)

details

Mass Market Paperback, 366 pages

isbn

0440302005 (isbn13: 9780440302001)

description

Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales, Another Country is a novel of passions--sexual, racial, political, artistic--that i…more

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May 27, 2008

Vince rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

recommends it for: Lovers of Great Literature

A relentless, searching, profound novel. Much is dated, but that's okay for readers such as I, with anthropological tendencies, i.e., old Times Square hustler argot, 50s slang -- but AC also fills in the gaps, it shows how thing were done then, the whites who went to (gasp!), private negro jazz improvs, 50s publishing circles, etc.

The structure as mentioned, is innovative: the loss of a person seen through a cast of characters who run the gamut; literarary, successful, unsuccessful,...more

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Apr 23, 2007

Zefer rated it:

(review of isbn 0679744711)

Read in April, 2007

my preface: i love love love james baldwin. half those tired, cliched stories that you see on lifetime or a thousand other channels rehashed to the limit and beyond to wrench out whatever remaining tear they can manage? totally derivative of baldwin, only he did those stories right. so, erm, i'm a bit biased.

unfortunately, this book also, for a fair portion, flaunts one of baldwin's trademarks that i personally can only take so much of: his ability to go on. and on. and on. this isn'...more my preface: i love love love james baldwin. half those tired, cliched stories that you see on lifetime or a thousand other channels rehashed to the limit and beyond to wrench out whatever remaining tear they can manage? totally derivative of baldwin, only he did those stories right. so, erm, i'm a bit biased.

unfortunately, this book also, for a fair portion, flaunts one of baldwin's trademarks that i personally can only take so much of: his ability to go on. and on. and on. this isn't nathaniel hawthorne levels of running on about nothing---for starters, baldwin's actually running on about something---but the first half of the book is definitely slow, and i had to put it down for a couple months (putting a book down for a week or even a few is standard for me, but usually i'll get back to it within a month unless i'm really busy or navigating that book is becoming the bane of my existence). however, this going-on more often than not proves to be excellent if laborous buildup to incredible insights into human behavior, and this is the stuff i read baldwin for.

the story is solid and powerful; the characters are real. baldwin navigates race and gender and sexuality in a way that modern writers still struggle with, and this was published first in 1960. knowledge of race and gender and sexuality issues and their history are helpful, and some level of knowledge is crucial; high level of knowledge is mostly helpful for navigating nuances that baldwin scatters everywhere, easter eggs that are very informative if you know how to read them and probably more confusing than anything else if you don't.

an interesting note in this story is that it revolves around the friends and sister of a black man who beats his white girlfriend and eventually kills himself; therefore the characters involved have varying levels of sympathy for the man and blame placed on the woman. again, while it's not necessary to know everything about the history of black and white racial issues in america, it's important to have somme amount of solid grounding; if you are a white feminist without this grounding you may be totally stopped by this factor. i still totally recommend it, and if you feel you can put aside that issue and read deeper to see what's actually going on i do not think you will be disappointed (at the very least you'll have something to think about, questions to ask), but if hearing that totally turns you off this book, try something else.

quotes:

She listened because she knew that he was going back over it, looking at it, trying to put it all together, to understand it, to express it. But he had not expressed it. He had left something of himself back there on the streets of Brooklyn which he was afraid to look at again…It was not expressed. She wondered why. Perhaps it was because Vivaldo's recollections in no sense freed him from the things recalled. He had not gone back into it---that time, that boy; he regarded it with a fascinated, even romantic horror, and he was looking for a way to deny it.

---

"Oh, I did a couple things for American TV." Coming toward them, on the path, were two glittering, loud-talking fairies. [Eric] pulled in his belly, looking straight ahead. "And I saw a lot of theater---I don't know---it was very good for me." The birds of paradise passed; their raucous cries faded.

Ida said, "I always feel so sorry for people like that."

Ellis grinned. "Why should you feel sorry for them? They've got each other."(less)

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Oct 08, 2009

Martin rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in September, 2009

This is the best American novel I've read in years. Race, class, gender, and sexual orientation are examined through the prism of sexual politics among a group of writer/musician friends in Greenwich Village circa 1956 (I guessed the date based on an allusion to Doris Day's "Love Me Or Leave Me"). Everyone should read this book. As always happens in differing approaches to race/class relations, everyone is right in what they say, even when they contradict each other. There are no r...more

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Jul 01, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in March, 2006

Here are thoughts I wrote down when I first read this:

"About 100 pages left on the James Baldwin.. all this reading about love and sex has got me in a damn weird mood. I'm thinking, first of all, that I have never connected with anyone in the way that he's describing..in the sense of feeling somebody's moods as they speak, or noting when atmosphere changes with a group of people. Or maybe I do, but the terms are so thoroughly modern that it's just incomparable."

...more

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Oct 27, 2009

Jesse rated it:

bookshelves: book-club, on-my-bookshelf, read-in-2009

Read in November, 2009

Wow. Just... wow. Kind of weird—my reaction is not declare Another Country a new favorite, I just didn't love it in that way. And yet, and yet, it penetrated deeply, perhaps more deeply than some books I do consider my favorite...

Perhaps this has to do with how perplexing Baldwin is as an author—it takes a while, almost too much effort to get into the story, and then suddenly, unexpectedly you're in an ever-tightening vice, not sure how the hell Baldwin got you there before yo...more Wow. Just... wow. Kind of weird—my reaction is not declare Another Country a new favorite, I just didn't love it in that way. And yet, and yet, it penetrated deeply, perhaps more deeply than some books I do consider my favorite...

Perhaps this has to do with how perplexing Baldwin is as an author—it takes a while, almost too much effort to get into the story, and then suddenly, unexpectedly you're in an ever-tightening vice, not sure how the hell Baldwin got you there before you even managed to notice. He certainly has a way with words, beautiful, almost aggressively lyrical without ever being showy; but what his words do have is weight, an almost unbearable density that in some passages seem to weigh so heavily upon the skin, as if their sole purpose is to rip to shreds any layers of resistance, pick apart any and every last defense...

Really, I suppose that's as good a description as any of what Baldwin does to his characters; he flays them alive so their intangible insides—their hopes, fears, secrets, contradictions, prejudices, dreams—are splayed unceremoniously upon dirty Greenwich Village sidewalks and greasy tables in the smoky corners of dive bars for each other to see, to gawk at, to pick ruthlessly at, to take up and wield like weapons to destroy each other, to bind each other closer than ever before...

And to take it one step further—the title kind of demands as much—the same could be said about Baldwin's general examination of America: mercilessly yet lovingly (the oh-so-thin line separating love from hate is a reoccurring preoccupation throughout the book) ripping the American psyche apart. Granted, his focus on a very particular group, mid-to-late 50's Greenwich Village, certainly one of the most socially progressive enclaves in society at that time. But that's almost what makes Baldwin's exposé so very painful—he's unearthing and then brutally exposing the most hidden prejudices of the particular kind (regarding race, gender, class, sexuality) that liberals and artistic types like to think they've managed to exorcise and escape from. Baldwin's indictment of white liberal guilt can be particularly agonizing...

Kind of hopeless (the constant refrain at our first bookclub discussion: "it's amazing how so little has changed..."), but oh, so very necessary. Anybody who claims we live in a post-racial, post-anything era here in America needs to be promptly slapped upside the head with this book.

"Perhaps such secrets, the secrets of everyone, were only expressed when the person laboriously dragged them into the light of the world, imposed them on the world, and made them a part of the world's experience. Without this effort, the secret place was merely a dungeon in which the person perished; without this effort, indeed, the entire world would be an uninhabitable darkness; and she saw, with a dreadful reluctance, why this effort was so rare."(less)

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Dec 28, 2009

William rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

this is not colson whitehead bathing himself in his own pretense, nor is it richard wright dealing only in concrete and dense surface tensions- this is james baldwin. one of the greatest philosopher-writers of all time. however, this novel was disappointing as a whole. what began as a seed of gritty, dark humanity and violence burgeoned and blossomed into aggravating mediocrity. i love so much of his other work, that this was a complete let down in its monotonous tone and pace. not on the top of...more

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Jul 28, 2007

Kat rated it:

(review of isbn 0679744711)

recommends it for: Everyone

Most of my friends who also love Baldwin think this book is not structurally sound. Fine. But it has the most interesting women characters he ever wrote, and there are true, beautiful moments of dialogue that take care of its craft flaws. It depends on what kind of reader you are.

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3 comments

Jul 24, 2007

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in January, 2006

This book is so raw and passionate it makes you feel things you are scared to know exist inside of you. It gives such an amazing depiction of life, of love, and of society. It truly opens your eyes to the gross imperfections of all of the above, making them that much more alluring.

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Sep 14, 2009

graham rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in June, 2008

According to this writer, "[James:] Baldwin considered race America’s poison pill. And he deftly portrayed Americans of all colors struggling to concoct their own individual antidotes—solutions that are temporary at best and always crazy-making because, at root, the problem is structural not individual." Uh, yep.

His books fuck me up pretty badly. Another Country had me reeling for weeks. I'm probably repeating years-old book reviews in saying so (and I'm sure the im...more

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Feb 04, 2009

Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in February, 2009

This book was pretty depressing. Race relations, Sexual repression, gender issues, pretty much all of these things lead to sadness. Oh and don't forget heartbreak, unhealthy relationships, alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

Really well written, beautiful passages. It had the ability to pull me in, it just was not a ray of light and happiness (I guess most writing isn't is it?.)

What did I pull away from the book? Life sucks, everyone is oppressed, depressed. Life will ev...more

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Feb 01, 2007

Xavier rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in January, 1996

New York in the early 70s. Jazz. Drugs. Interracial sex. Gay sex. Falling from grace. Outstanding prose. It's sexy and probably one of the best books I have ever read.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

Jan 25, 2010

Billy rated it:

(review of isbn 0679744711)

Read in March, 2010

With decades of dedicated effort in developing my craft, along with 99 percent more talent than the gods and genes and circumstances saw fit to bestow, perhaps I could theoretically write something like The Corrections or A Gate at the Stairs. But I am completely certain that even altering all those variables, I could never produce something as bracingly alive as this. I have no idea (and won't until immediately after hitting "save" on this review) what others think of this; whethe...more

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Jan 01, 2010

Louis rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

While this novel does not entirely succeed in all that it attempts to cover, it is a remarkable achievement nonetheless. Its themes of love, guilt, racism, redemption, and despair are interestingly, and sometimes innovatively, portrayed. One of the novel's weaknesses is its characters' excessive self-talk, sometimes in such theoretical terms that it seems to be absurb that this could reflect the daily thoughts of any person. But the sense of isolation and fear that modern society can create a...more

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Dec 10, 2009

Mbanga Ka rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in December, 2009

This is the first James Baldwin book I've read... he's an amazing writer, but in this work his powers are deployed to gloomy effect. This book is full of insights into racial and sexual identity, interpersonal relationships, and artistic drive -- but it's a depressing read. "Searing" is the only adjective I can add to those offered in the reviews included in this edition. The only quick criticism I can offer is that Rufus Scott, the first (and probably central) character just isn't ...more

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Sep 04, 2009

Jamie rated it:

(review of isbn 0679744711)

Owns a copy — Read in November, 2009

I really wanted to like this book, I did. My professor is, as she freely admits, "in love with James Baldwin," and I so hoped that I would be able to share in that wonderful book-loving glow. It was my first experience with Baldwin, and I've always heard such lovely things--I came at this with a lot of excitement. Unfortunately, I can't say by the end of it that I would align myself with Baldwin on an intellectual level--or even that I enjoyed the reading of it. In some ways, "...more I really wanted to like this book, I did. My professor is, as she freely admits, "in love with James Baldwin," and I so hoped that I would be able to share in that wonderful book-loving glow. It was my first experience with Baldwin, and I've always heard such lovely things--I came at this with a lot of excitement. Unfortunately, I can't say by the end of it that I would align myself with Baldwin on an intellectual level--or even that I enjoyed the reading of it. In some ways, "Another Country" reminded me of Radclyffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness" (another 'gay classic' that crept, rather repulsively, under my skin). There's a sense that all of the characters in both novels are so self-loathing that their purportedly "doomed" subject positions become positively inescapable--when in fact, the characters are bringing this DOOMDOOMDOOM on themselves. This is not to say that I can't handle a book where the characters are despicable--but that I can't stand a book where the author presents them as such because of an undercurrent of fatalism. Hall was working under the auspices of the inversion theories of homosexuality, and so Stephen & co. felt imprisoned in their bodies/identities (and espoused a sort of 'body is destiny' theory of identity, to my mind).

Here, not only does Baldwin present race relations as invariably deadly (re: namely, Rufus, but also Ida's relationships with, well, everyone), but brings in a whole 'nother ballpark of problematic positions with this. There are, I truly believe, underlying strains of misogyny and internalized homophobia throughout the text; female characters are the ultimate figures of abjection (Cass, particularly, seems to believe she *deserves* her debasement); gay men are the 'handkerchiefs' that big macho men like Rufus and Vivaldo can wipe their cum up with without a passing regret. Again, I'm aware that voicing these positionalities creates a space for further dialogue, but my problem is that it seems Baldwin *advocates* these troubling ideas. Why are women and gay men invariably punished throughout the novel, while the 'straight' (?) men can more or less do anything they want without a care? (Call me on the Rufus example, because I can argue that further, but perhaps this review is growing too long.) Like Hall, it seems, Baldwin's seeming self-loathing (or at least discomfort with his own sexuality) may have bled too fully onto the narrative. And while my prof asked the class why everyone--within and outside of the novel--felt so drawn to Rufus' magnetism, the fact of the matter was that I didn't find him a particularly alluring figure at all. Others called him the "locus of desire" in the novel--but I found him to be an insufferable, womanizing, fatalist fucktard. And again, I get that Baldwin was trying to illuminate the conflicts that mandates against miscegenation create in the individual, but my problem was that he seemed to excuse sexualized and racialized violence against women by virtue of this conflict. In short, that ain't right.

I might give Baldwin another shot. I still want to pick up "Giovanni's Room," and the excerpts I've read from "Just Above My Head" seem much better than this novel. Oh, and that's another thing. There were moments where Baldwin's prose was spot-on, but there were long stretches of writing that seemed to me to have been peeled right off of the scabs of an undergraduate creative writing workshop. Sorry, friends, but this novel bugged the hell outta me.(less)

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Jan 11, 2009

Jackie rated it:

(review of isbn 0679744711)

bookshelves: best-books-ever, classics, generally-gay-not-strictly-straight, race-religion-other-dinner-no-noes, unrequited-love

Read in September, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 20, 2008

Vera rated it:

(review of isbn 0140184112)

bookshelves: country-united-states

Owns a copy — Read in February, 2010

recommended to Vera by: S
recommends it for: everyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This review contains spoilers and swearing.

I've read a fair few pro romance novels and an utter boatload of slash fan fiction so I think you will know to listen with awe when I tell you that this novel is the most outrageous example of Healing Cock I have ever read. And not just any Healing Cock: GAY Healing Cock. Actually, it's more like:

GAY HEALING COCK

It's really, really amazing. All the sex between men and women is combative, unrestful, offers no lasting ...more

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Jan 25, 2008

David Beavers rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in January, 2007

recommended to David by: Chana!!

An incredible book that made me feel like maybe the novel was still possible, still something that could be written; to wit it's one of the most lovely and devastating books i've ever read, and it's kind of alarming that this book feels relatively obscure in the current canon: Baldwin the author is shopped to us culturally in Sonny's Blues, which appears in every short story compilation in the country i think, but there's a weird tokenism about that, I can't help but feel.

Baldwin's ...more

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Jan 22, 2008

Pa rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Another Country is a novel wrought with feeling about race and sexuality in America in the fifties and sixties. The novel does not have a single, straight narrative but instead is built on the narratives of several main characters--blacks and whites, men and women, homosexuals and bisexuals--who struggled to love, live and achieve artistic freedom in a country fraught with racial tensions and violence. The emotions of the characters--their passion, hatred, anger and jealousy--are described wit...more

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Sep 07, 2007

Elena rated it:

(review of isbn 0141186372)

Read in September, 2007

Well, I really liked it. I mean, you know, I read this for the first time probably five years ago and I didn't find the style as appealing or probably I just didn't get it.

For me, the only problematic thing about Another Country--and I don't remember from other Baldwin I have read if this is characteristic or not--is how lamely he treats the women. I mean, Cass is always in the kitchen making food and putting things on trays, and her housewifey position is pretty much unquestioned. ...more

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