Giovanni’s Room
Book | James Baldwin
A wonderfully compressed vision of a man destined for loneliness.
Love does not conquer all in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, a groundbreaking contribution to gay literature that shocked literati with its portrayal of an American expatriate, David, who falls for an Italian bartender named Giovanni. Love is, in fact, conquered brutally by social mores once David's fiancée Hella re-enters the picture and the relationship between David and Giovanni begins its horrific countdown to destruction. From the beginning, Baldwin makes clear that theirs is a doomed love, and this knowledge casts a tragic pall over even the sweetest moments of their romance. Elegant and concise, the prose alternates between past and present so that memories of the past and dread of the future appear to be two sides of the same coin. In a world in which shame trumps love, memory acts as an unending dirge to the ephemeral Giovanni. By the end of Baldwin's novella, we are left with a wonderfully compressed vision of a man destined for loneliness by his own shortcomings.
-
Books Review
The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison (writer) -
Books Review
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullersA broken-hearted deaf mute becomes the confidante of loners.
>> -
Books Review
Jamie is My Heart’s Desire
Alfred Chester
