vaishnave’s Reviews > Giovanni's Room > Status Update
vaishnave
is on page 20 of 192
Their decisions are not really decisions at all—a real decision makes one humble, one knows that it is at the mercy of more things than can be named—but elaborate systems of evasion, of illusion, designed to make themselves and the world appear to be what they and the world are not.
— Feb 04, 2026 06:07AM
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vaishnave’s Previous Updates
vaishnave
is on page 143 of 192
"Giovanni," I said, helplessly, "be careful. Please be careful."
He gave me an ironical smile. "Thank you," he said. "You should have given me that advice the night we met."
OH
— 11 hours, 52 min ago
He gave me an ironical smile. "Thank you," he said. "You should have given me that advice the night we met."
OH
vaishnave
is on page 142 of 192
"But I'm a man," I cried, "a man! What do you think can happen between us?"
"You know very well," said Giovanni slowly, "what can happen between us. It is for that reason you are leaving me."
oh, my god
— 11 hours, 54 min ago
"You know very well," said Giovanni slowly, "what can happen between us. It is for that reason you are leaving me."
oh, my god
vaishnave
is on page 141 of 192
"You are, by far, the most immoral man I have met in all my life. Look, look what you have done to me. Do you think you could have done this if I did not love you? Is this what you should do to love?"
— 11 hours, 56 min ago
vaishnave
is on page 116 of 192
"You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back."
— Feb 23, 2026 08:37PM
vaishnave
is on page 89 of 192
And I resented this: resented being called an American (and resented resenting it) because it seemed to make me nothing more than that, whatever that was; and I resented being called not an American because it seemed to make me nothing.
oh my gosh james baldwin you put it into words perfectly.
— Feb 23, 2026 08:36PM
oh my gosh james baldwin you put it into words perfectly.
vaishnave
is on page 62 of 192
but home, home across the ocean, to things and people I knew and understood; to those things, those places, those people I knew and understood; to those things, those places, those people which I would always, helplessly, and in whatever bitterness of spirit, love above all else. I had never realized such a sentiment in myself before, and it frightened me.
— Feb 23, 2026 08:35PM
vaishnave
is on page 5 of 192
I suppose this was why I asked her to marry me: to give myself something to be moored to. [...] But people can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life.
— Feb 04, 2026 06:05AM
