Carl’s Reviews > Go Tell It on the Mountain > Status Update

Religious devotion at war with the body. General sense of pent-up power, frustration that can come out in violence, in religion, in sex.

Densely written in the best way.

Baldwin is an excellent writer, so much of it is insightful and thought-provoking. He's also honest, so after a somewhat worshipping session with Elijah Muhammed who explains the Nation of Islam tenets to him Baldwin, though thoroughly enamored by Muhammed, admits that he's going out for drinks with some "white devils."
Best passages are those that describe racism as a cancer that eats at whites, not just blacks.

Giovanni's Room, which I read in college, is a book that floored me. I didn't know writing could be so raw. I have never reread it for fear that I would lose that sense of the book. Time does change one. So far, Go Tell It on the Mountain is excellent. No pretense. Young JB as preacher, hiding from street, taking on father, learning power of words . . . confused about his place in the world. Honest.