Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
This is the third James Baldwin book that I checked out of the library, having first discovered his lyrical writing through the documentary-film I Am Not Your Negro. Go Tell It on the Mountain is actually Baldwin's first novel, so it might sound odd that I left it to the end. I never know what order to read an author's books in, so I usually just stick to reading what I'm in the mood for.
Drawing on his own childhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, Baldwin tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song. But he feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism make him cruelly abuse his family. Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different.
I couldn't help but compare Go Tell It on the Mountain to the other Baldwin books I have just read - which is where the order I read them in becomes important - and I did prefer both Giovanni's Room and If Beale Street Could Talk. I found this one took a bit longer to get going, although it is the longest of the three books, but by the time I was about halfway through I was hooked. I really liked the way different chapters focused on different characters, and I found that more of Baldwin's characters had more depth in Go Tell than in his other books that I read. This isn't a criticism of the other books, merely a comment on their style of narration, but I especially liked the female characters in this one more than I have in Baldwin's other books.
I liked the theme that ran throughout of children wanting to live different, better lives from their parents. This is both recognisable and unrecognisable, since this is a very different struggle for the African-American characters of the book than any I can imagine. The brief introduction (which I read after I had read the novel) explains this context well. I also liked the recurring theme of hatred, especially in characters who wanted to come to God but didn't want to let go of their hate - a conflict made more problematic by the fact that this hatred was associated with a preacher of God's word. I think this has relevance beyond its immediate religious context.
Baldwin is definitely a new favourite, but, at the moment, I still think his best book is Giovanni's Room.
Spoiler Warning! I was a bit disappointed when it was revealed that Johnny wasn't Gabriel's biological son, since I think this was too simple a solution to his favouritism for Roy. I understand that it fitted well with the exploration of sin, and made a neat parallel with Royal, but I think it might have been more interesting if Gabriel's bias didn't have a reason.
Drawing on his own childhood in a religious community in 1930s Harlem, Baldwin tells the story of young Johnny Grimes. Johnny is destined to become a preacher like his father, Gabriel, at the Temple of the Fire Baptized, where the church swells with song. But he feels only scalding hatred for Gabriel, whose fear and fanaticism make him cruelly abuse his family. Johnny vows that, for him, things will be different.
I couldn't help but compare Go Tell It on the Mountain to the other Baldwin books I have just read - which is where the order I read them in becomes important - and I did prefer both Giovanni's Room and If Beale Street Could Talk. I found this one took a bit longer to get going, although it is the longest of the three books, but by the time I was about halfway through I was hooked. I really liked the way different chapters focused on different characters, and I found that more of Baldwin's characters had more depth in Go Tell than in his other books that I read. This isn't a criticism of the other books, merely a comment on their style of narration, but I especially liked the female characters in this one more than I have in Baldwin's other books.
I liked the theme that ran throughout of children wanting to live different, better lives from their parents. This is both recognisable and unrecognisable, since this is a very different struggle for the African-American characters of the book than any I can imagine. The brief introduction (which I read after I had read the novel) explains this context well. I also liked the recurring theme of hatred, especially in characters who wanted to come to God but didn't want to let go of their hate - a conflict made more problematic by the fact that this hatred was associated with a preacher of God's word. I think this has relevance beyond its immediate religious context.
Baldwin is definitely a new favourite, but, at the moment, I still think his best book is Giovanni's Room.
Spoiler Warning! I was a bit disappointed when it was revealed that Johnny wasn't Gabriel's biological son, since I think this was too simple a solution to his favouritism for Roy. I understand that it fitted well with the exploration of sin, and made a neat parallel with Royal, but I think it might have been more interesting if Gabriel's bias didn't have a reason.
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