Giovanni's Room (Penguin Modern Classics)

This timeless masterpiece seems to get better every time I read it. Baldwin has a way of snatching your attention and engaging each of your emotions in this hair raising, groundbreaking, raw, macabre love story. Giovanni's. Room shall always remain a personal favorite!

I've just finished Giovanni's Room for the second time and it was even more beautiful the second time through. The story is simple, but Baldwin adds layers of complexity with his simple prose. It is not a book that soon leaves you.

I was taken aback by this book. Powerful and beautifully written. A true journey of the self and very relatable to almost any reader, especially the young at heart. I cried and did not want to put it down. One of my new all-time favs!

Baldwin's cadences are wonderful, but I think that a lot of the talk here about eternal conflicts of the human heart is a little misplaced. I think that this novel (like Brokeback Mountain, according to its author Annie Proulx) is essentially about homophobia, especially internalized homophobia.

Beautifully written story that challenges the boundaries of human emotions. Sad and poignant but tender on occasion, a novel that reiterates that love only exist if we let it and how it can build or break us but yet remains the greatest gift of all.

An American in Paris struggles with his sexual identity amidst tawdry bars and characters on the periphery of acceptable 1950s society. He meets beautiful, flawed Giovanni. The result is an emotional, painful and tragic tale of self loathing, discovery and awareness. This book was difficult to put down and gut wrenching. It was hard not to feel a forest full of emotions as the story unfolds

Although I have read other works by James Baldwin, I did not particular like this story about a man in denial of his sexuality, as the result causes a lot of destruction of other people's lives while he appears to have moved on rather unscathed. I read this book as part of a course assignment, and probably would not have chosen this on my own.

[ASIN:0345806565 Giovanni's Room (Vintage International)]]

I read somewhere that Baldwin’s’ way with words is like a wave that slowly rolls to shore. I equate that to mean there is beauty in his mastery. I must agree with that summary. Though not comfortable with the subject matter, Baldwin had economy in his telling, that rescued this reader.

This book was my introduction (I'm embarrassed to admit) to James Baldwin, courtesy of a terrific book club. It was a beautiful novel and it will not be my last Baldwin read. Lush language without being cumbersome. A touching plot line with onion-like layers of meaning. Read this. Savor it.

Beautifully written. James Baldwin was one of America's very best writers. It helps to know some French when reading because Baldwin does not hold our hand and translate it for us. Baldwin's prose lifts this book above your typical sad gay story.

I liked the story, although it seemed more like the outline to a great novel yet to be written. It was just too short. The only thing I didn't like was the sudden strange ending that was unrelated to the relationships between any of the main characters.