Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Giovanni's Room

If you, like me, have seasonal affective disorder do NOT read this right now when it's cold and dark because it will make you even more sad than I think it normally would. Incredible prose, visceral and heartbreaking. I've felt like David, Giovanni, and Hela at different times in my life, especially as a young queer person. It's relatable but in the way that Shakespearean plays are relatable: that's a feeling you've felt, but here's a version of it that is amplified with language and drama.

There were many uncomfortable parts, but what is queerness if not something that's uncomfortable sometimes, even if it's just internally?? This was my first James Baldwin book, and I look forward to reading more but maybe not until spring or summer so my heart doesn't feel like it's been so terribly torn from me lmao.

Content Warnings

radoie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

carpethatdiem2's review against another edition

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"Perhaps everybody has a garden of Eden, I don't know; but they have scarcely seen their garden of Eden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare."

minus half a star for classic 1950s misogyny 👍🏻

Content Warnings

sarah_kula's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wasn't sure what I was expecting from this book, but it certainly surpassed all expectations.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of Baldwin until I came across this book in the shelf, but holy mother of Christ, he's an EXCELLENT author.

I really do love how realistic the characters here are. They're all atrocious human beings, but in a natural way. They're so repressed and internalised everything, that it makes sense how they act like they do. And I must say that, as a queer guy, I was very charmed by Giovanni myself in the beginning, too. Had a strong love-hate relationship with all the characters, but Jacques especially.

The ending was very satisfactory and realistic. I'm terrible at advertising books, but this was seriously an amazing read. Not a happy one, by all means. Lost all hope in my community. But a good read nonetheless. 10/10

Content Warnings

theeo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I don’t have anything original to add to the conversation about this book, but I personally enjoyed it a lot. It’s definitely an emotional read and a lot of the themes are very heavy, so it took me a little while to get through despite it being very short. This isn’t a bad thing in this case - I was savouring it. The descriptive language is so meticulously crafted that it felt wrong to rush through.

I believe this is a must-read for queer literature and I’d really like to read more of James Baldwin’s work now!

Definite recommend, just don’t expect to like the protagonist…

Content Warnings

amy_q13's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

centauribound's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...