August 2014- Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin

[Barbara]

This is the first James Baldwin I've read. I thought it was an excellent book, though very sad. Not a single character had a happy life. Their lives were shaped by the heritage of slavery and the Jim Crow world that was still very much in evidence in those days. (and unfortunately, is still with us to some degree today)

I loved the language of this book. So many allusions to the Bible and the words of hymns and gospel music. Even when Baldwin wasn't quoting those texts you could hear it in his language. The tone captured that world so well. It made me think of all those wonderful speeches of Martin Luther King, with the sounds of the black church rolling off his tongue. You never forgot for one second that he was a preacher.

I'm not a believer myself but my atheist parents raised me on the music of Mahalia Jackson and I've visited churches like this at various times in my life. There's a very powerful spirit in that environment that Baldwin portrayed perfectly.

Such an American book....

[Roisin]

It is a powerful book Barbara and that comes through in the writing and the terrible sad lives of the people within it. The scene were a woman questions whether they can go to a museum. Something as basic as as that! Very moving. I read 'Our Nig' about indenture servitude in the north, basically slavery by another name. The young woman in that is well...physically tortured on a regular basis. Can't describe it as anything else

I'm not a believer in Christianity anymore, but I can see why black people took to such beliefs and made it there own. Besides being forced to. I re-read Paradise Lost. The biblical themes and images are overwhelming. Powerful...

[Jennifer W]

I only just picked this up yesterday. I'm not very far into it, but I think it'll be a good one. I'm very excited to be able to come back and read through the posts as it seems this book generated a good conversation.

[Roisin]

It is an amazing book and offers a window to the mindset of the people of that age. How black people spoke of each other. Just extraordinary! Baldwin is a very good writer. That remind's me, I must read is essays. Got a library copy.

[Jennifer W]

I finished it a couple days ago. Some parts of it I really liked, but I found I couldn't relate to John, so I preferred the back stories of his family members.

[Roisin]

Yes, I did too. John is the connection, a vehicle with all theses interesting characters that surround him.

[Val]

Yes I agree too, but I think it is James Baldwin's intention to make John something of a minor character in his own story.
John is still young and his character is not fully developed. The other characters, with their history and circumstances, and how John feels about them will all have an influence on him, but at the time of the book he is still unsure of himself.

[Jennifer W]

How much of these back stories does John know? Does he know that Gabriel is his step-father? Does he know anything about the truth of his biological father?

[Val]

I gather Baldwin only found out a lot of his own family history when older than John, and since this book is partly autobiographical, I would assume John does not know much about his either. The other characters give their back stories themselves, they are not narrated by John.

[Jennifer W]

I was under that assumption as well.

[Roisin]

Yes I got that impression too.