book data
2,976 ratings,
4.20
average rating, 329 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
June 13th 2000
(first published 1998)
by Delta
binding
Paperback, 176 pages
isbn
0385334583
(isbn13: 9780385334587)
description
Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. Wi...more
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queereaders: * What are you reading now? | 108 | 90 | 5 hours, 18 min ago | |
| 1001 Books You M...: Which one did you just finish? | 1882 | 4054 | 8 hours, 38 min ago |
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 3,869)
All ratings
|
5 stars (1276)
|
4 stars (1113)
|
3 stars (486)
|
2 stars (85)
|
1 star (11)
|
avg 4.20
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Yulia by:
Ruth Bavetta
A wise and painful book, it speaks of authenticity and home and loss, how we convince ourselves to make irrevocable mistakes and how these choices harden in us and reveal themselves to strangers. I hope it continues to be as beautiful.
This is a book I want to own and make room for. I'm making slow progress, but only because I'm distracted by life, not because the book doesn't capture my attention and consideration.
It becomes even more powerful as it goes on, in fact...more
This is a book I want to own and make room for. I'm making slow progress, but only because I'm distracted by life, not because the book doesn't capture my attention and consideration.
It becomes even more powerful as it goes on, in fact...more
Like this review?
yes
(7 people liked it)
add a comment
James Baldwin is simply great. One can smell the Parisian room off the page in this incredible fast reading novel. The novel takes place in 1950's Paris and it deals with the torn sexuality of a man loving another man - and dealing with it. Not only essential read for those who are into African-American literature or gay lit - but just great writing. Baldwin had it down and he nailed it down.
Like this review?
yes
(5 people liked it)
35 comments
Read in March, 2009
I was torn between 5 stars and 1 star.
5 stars because it was a brilliant book and very well written. 1 star because it was so hard to read. The sheer amount of self-loathing, pain, and destruction depicted in the book was very hard to take. Like those fallen soldier momuments with their mottos of "Never Forget", we do need to remember though what life was like for those that came before us. And just how hard the struggle is for many, even today.
But while this ...more
5 stars because it was a brilliant book and very well written. 1 star because it was so hard to read. The sheer amount of self-loathing, pain, and destruction depicted in the book was very hard to take. Like those fallen soldier momuments with their mottos of "Never Forget", we do need to remember though what life was like for those that came before us. And just how hard the struggle is for many, even today.
But while this ...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
6 comments
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in June, 2008
recommended to Jessica by:
Nicole...as usual.recommends it for: aspiring artists, gays and lesbians, aspiring travelers, many more
Eros and Thanatos: Sex and Death. The mystery of inescapable human allure to these two themes paired--whether real life or fiction--is ineffable. Baldwin has conquered this couple, at least in the sense of his lucid understandings of them together, with his striking insightfulness to human nature. This book begins smack in medias res, you're left with this question of "what happens" throughout the whole thing, and you never tire of wanting. Wanting the answer to the initial mystery...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
7 comments
Read in February, 2007
I liked this book. Maybe I'll have to read it again, but it left me unsatisfied.
I found this book after reading Rebecca Walker's top books that influenced her. Rebecca Walker is the daughter of Alice Walker (ya know, The Color Purple and others). Somehow I fell upon her blog/extensive-personal-website and she had this book on her list. I had also just recently been re-introduced to James Baldwin by one of my students who was doing a biography on him. Stereotypically, February is Afric...more
I found this book after reading Rebecca Walker's top books that influenced her. Rebecca Walker is the daughter of Alice Walker (ya know, The Color Purple and others). Somehow I fell upon her blog/extensive-personal-website and she had this book on her list. I had also just recently been re-introduced to James Baldwin by one of my students who was doing a biography on him. Stereotypically, February is Afric...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
1 comment
this is by far my favorite Baldwin novel. The setting, the characters... and of course, the eroticism and betrayal. Baldwin writes lyrically as usual, but there is something daring and haunting about this story in particular. It is a quick read, one where time evaporates until your fingers flip to the final page before the book flutters upon your chest, finished, yet still throbbing throbbing in your mind.
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
simply wonderful. how i have gone so long without reading this is beyond my comprehension.
a moving, vivid, honest story about facing (or not) our identity, whether it is our sexual, nationalistic or emotional sense of self. at its core, this novel is about the power of love and the ways in which we resist its urgent tug.
my selection:
p.40: "tell me, he said, 'what is this thing about time? why is it better to be late than early? people are always saying, we must wait,...more
a moving, vivid, honest story about facing (or not) our identity, whether it is our sexual, nationalistic or emotional sense of self. at its core, this novel is about the power of love and the ways in which we resist its urgent tug.
my selection:
p.40: "tell me, he said, 'what is this thing about time? why is it better to be late than early? people are always saying, we must wait,...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
I consider a good book is the one who can hook me up emotionally. Giovanni’s Room does that to me. From all gay novels that I have read, I choose this as the ultimate one. Basically, it’s David’s memoir about his affair with a handsome young bartender called Giovanni. Sounds cheesy? Wait a second, you’ll love how Baldwin delivers the conflict. The emotion between the two characters is so intense you just want them to be forever together. Giovanni is too adorable. Also, Giovanni’s room ...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
2 comments
Read in September, 2007
I love this book. The descriptions, the emotions almost made me woozy. Baldwin's writing is powerful; it's like you're in the room watching the torrid love affair in progress. I’ve read this book many times. When I first read it, I was en route to Paris. His depictions of the famous city are exactly as they are. He captured the romance, the history, the ancient buildings, the sidewalk cafes and pulsing river under running through the city. Baldwin genuinely moved me with color, fragrance and f...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
Read in March, 2009
My favorite scene from this book was where Baldwin uses the layers of detritus in Giovanni's room to describe the his history. It reminded me of a similar scene about the detritus on a character's desk in Gravity's Rainbow. I wonder if one scene influenced another. They are both post WW2 works.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
incredibly well-written, disturbing yet beautiful. i can't think of another book that describes so well the way you can go from loving to hating someone, as well as all the self-loathing. i understand why this is considered gay-lit, but I think that classifies it far too narrowly. Anyone who has loved and struggled can identify with this book.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in March, 2005
I think the gender roles of the text as a whole were kind of weird. We didn’t get any glimpses of female homosexuality, so Hella’s character gives us the only insight into expected/wanted female gender roles. David seems to feel that it is impossible to be a man while being homosexual; doing so “takes away his manhood,” where marrying and having children with Hella would cement his manhood for him. He is in a constant state of flux, never sure where his interests actually lie, fightin...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2009
This is the third time that I've read the book and each time I'm amazed by Baldwin's ability to: 1. write a sentence 2. blow the reader away with it and 3. craft a multi-layered narrative that provides greater rewards with each reading. The novel is about David, a young man who has escaped America (the place of Father and the Law) and who lives in France (the place of Mother and, supposedly, Freedom) and who has difficulty making decisions or taking responsibility for his actions. The narrati...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
There's something about Paris.
Some day I would like to lead a book club--or teach a class or something--focused on Paris and drinking and sexuality. Because the three go together so, so, SO well (proven amply not only by Giovanni's Room, but by Nightwood and The Sun Also Rises and The Book of Salt, and maybe one other I'm forgetting right now).
Now I want to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by, but instead I shall study for my English final. Alas.
Some day I would like to lead a book club--or teach a class or something--focused on Paris and drinking and sexuality. Because the three go together so, so, SO well (proven amply not only by Giovanni's Room, but by Nightwood and The Sun Also Rises and The Book of Salt, and maybe one other I'm forgetting right now).
Now I want to sit in a cafe and watch the world go by, but instead I shall study for my English final. Alas.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2009
This is a novel about a young American man living in Paris in the 1950's. The story revolves around his relationships Giovanni, an Italian immigrant working at a local bar, and Hella, his American fiance who is absent, traveling in Spain for much of the novel. The developing sexual relationship between David and Giovanni creates the central conflict between David's love and desire and his sense of morality and obligation. It all ends tragically, of course.
I've never read any Baldw...more
I've never read any Baldw...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
This book shows up on a good many recommended reading lists for the genre, so I figured, it must be good. Heck, even the people at Random House think it's a classic, including it in their "Modern Library of the World's Best Books", presumably because they thought they needed something representing gay lit. Well, all I can say is, we've come a long way baby. A long way in what is considered good literature, that is. It's a well told story, with a great sense of place, but a classic? May...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2009
I am re reading this book and I am dying. I want to scream it is so good. Every sentence is like a Mozart melody. The words and messages, shoot straight up the blood stream and into your heart.
One day I will have a story like this to tell. My favorite BOOK OF ALL TIME. I HAVE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!
One day I will have a story like this to tell. My favorite BOOK OF ALL TIME. I HAVE FOUND IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
Read in January, 2006
Half of the time, it made me wish I lived in 195x Paris. The rest of the time I remained grateful to be of the 21st century. This novel was way ahead of it's time, and remains just about the most serious, genuine and authetically sad stories ever told about illicit love.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
It was actually really interesting -- I was assigned this book during our "African American Studies" unit in my American Studies class. Baldwin is African American, yes, but his characters in this book are not. It deals with a white American male and an Italian male and their love affair. I liked the book.. it gets a bit racy at times, but overall was enjoyable to read. I just found it interesting that while everyone else in the class was giving reports on racial segregation, my fr...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
I am teaching this now, and reading it for about the third time. It's interesting to do with undergraduates because it is a young person's book. It's romantic and tragic, it takes place in Paris, Baldwin is writing through the voice of a white male narrator, itself an affirmation that despite Jim Crow back home, we aren't any different under the skin, or whether we sleep with men or women. There's parts that smell a little too "literary"/of that time, but I love Baldwin -- and my st...more
Which book is your choice for our March read.
comments and details Sign in to vote!
