Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Giovanni's Room

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

19 reviews

mdahg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

Since finishing this book, I’ve read some reviews and critiques online and I have to agree with what I’ve seen.

This book is beautifully written. Baldwin’s prose elicited so many emotions from me. I feel like everyone can relate to having a toxic relationship and being codependent with a partner- those are difficult feelings to reflect on. David is a complex character and everyone around him is calling him out for being an unkind, cold person. I felt like I knew David and could relate to his confusion about himself and constant anxiety about who he is as a person.

Though this was obviously an influential and important novel for queer literature, it was problematic which made it hard to read in 2025. The transphobia, internalized homophobia, misogyny/sexism were very apparent. Was this a reflection of the times or the author’s personal feelings? I’m not sure but either way, it really affected my enjoyment of this story.

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cloudyworld's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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.

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thenoboshow's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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annoyedhumanoid's review

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

in the last book i read, Greta & Valdin, Valdin is praised for not being "one of those gay men who says awful things about women" and reading that i was like what! which gay men are those, i'll fight them. these are those gay men.

i was expecting a tragedy of forbidden love between expats in Europe, a proto–Call Me By Your Name, but that's not what this is. rather, Giovanni's Room is a character study of two lost men who come to depend on each other for purpose, until their foundations crumble. the pacing was excellent and the journey as bleak as it was for our characters. i was going to make fun of my edition's Tortured Poets Department–ass cover (black-and-white photo of subject posed in almost cartoonish angst), but it's actually quite fitting:

David, our narrator,

is the smallest man who ever lived. they're both terrible misogynists, don't get me wrong, but this one is literally an emotional terrorist (albeit unintentional, i believe).

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messymimms's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.25

Another sad and sadly important book! I understand why it’s a classic, as it does what classics do best, delve into a deeply specific situation that has some bearing on universal human themes and emotions. At its heart, Giovanni’s room is a story about shame.

It chronicles what happens when the object of your desire is so unthinkable (read: a man) that they become grotesque and despised by virtue of your own projected self-hatred. Not easy reading.

The narrator is admirably reflective; he dodges and intellectualises but really, he knows how he feels. Baldwin accurately describes those moments where you can see the truth inside yourself, *somewhere over there* but you daren’t look in case it catches the light and becomes more real.

He is also painfully observant, detail-obsessed and speculative. Always going off and describing the projected inner workings of someone else’s life. Often women - such strange creatures! Speaking from a 21st Century ADHD perspective, he sounds neurodivergent. But that’s just opinion!

Beyond being a story of shame, this novel also talks about codependency, with characters smearing boundaries all over the place and taking advantage of power (the power of shame? Maybe that’s putting it too simply). It’s a mess! But that’s the point.

The writing itself is intense. There are long sentences. There are big words. There were some new words for me, like “unregenerate” and - dear god - it drilled the word sardonic into my mind. A lot of people in this book act sardonically. Some of it is in French, but I rather enjoyed that.

Especially towards the beginning, the language is dynamic and very exciting; heat “bangs” against walls, light “spills” covering everything, telephone poles “come crying out” as you speed towards them. This shifts through the novel, and towards the end is where I felt it became dense and a little tepid. This seems to reflect the main character’s depth of despair, which kind of works, I guess.

We have a great view into the inner machinery of the narrator’s mind, his attempts to cover-up, his little lies, his big ones, his overthinking, his biases and his bigotry too. The rest of the view is Paris and its characters, with all of their flaws laid out. So. Many. Flaws.

Look, there are reasons I have not ventured to Paris in my adult life. I’m allergic to hedonism. At best I don’t get it, at worst it ~~disgusts~~ really bothers me. The wine, the intensity, all of those varied and supposedly wondrous plaisirs of the flesh - not my bag. Don’t come for me, I’ve got my own shit, I’m in therapy!!!

As such, a book like this was never going to be meant for me. I’ve never felt David nor Giovanni’s particular gut-wrenching anguish, their need to be close and the impossibility of that, but overall, Giovanni’s Room truly had its moments. Despite being heady, intellectual and anxiety-inducing, it felt authentic. I have no doubt Baldwin wrote from experience.

For anyone looking to really delve into the mind of a queer person in the 1950s, I would consider this essential reading. I suppose I’d just ask you to remember it doesn’t represent all queer people. Many of us can (thankfully) both love and like each other.

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benegesserwitch's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rieviolet's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I had very high expectations for this novel and unfortunately it didn't live up to them as much as I'd hoped for.

I cannot fault Baldwin's prose, he knows how to paint a scene or portray an emotion with words. I also don't mind bleak and melancholic stories. I think that my main problem was that I struggled to connect with the characters. I wasn't very fond of David but honestly, I disliked Giovanni the most, he spewed such brutally misogynistic remarks that I just wanted to throw him into the Seine, sympathizing with him was the furthest thing from my mind.
While I recognize that not getting along well with unlikeable characters is a personal issue, I also think that the relationship itself felt a bit flimsly grounded. I was disconnected from the characters and, accordingly, I wasn't strongly invested in their turmoils and tragedies.

All in all, I understand and value the importance of the themes explored and the relevance of the novel within the queer literary canon, but it didn't resonate with me as deeply as with other readers.

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