Reviews with content warning for Violence - Giovanni's Room

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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

62 reviews

jessmbark's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

I have not read a tragedy with such perfect form since Shakespeare. The sense of doom is conveyed perfectly in both structure and description. At first, I tried to write a criticism about some of the misogyny in the work, but Baldwin made sure it had a point in the end. This is only my second Baldwin, but it won't be my last and it is, by far, my favorite.

The foreword of this version includes a note about failed screenplays and I am shocked it has not been put to film yet. I hope one day one of those screenplays works out so this story gets before more audiences.

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samanthaleereads's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

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ellie_1997's review against another edition

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challenging 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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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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snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

If there is a list of must-read books that carry within its pages endless, gorgeous prose prostrating themselves before the tender mercies of love, then Giovanni’s Room must be on it.

This little modern classic is an eloquent reflection of a young man caught between love and hatred, life and death, desire and morality. It is a tragic tale of queerness, of alienation and identity. Every failing, every affection, the internal and external conflicts this young man faces, along with the results of his every action and inaction are all laid bare on paper, expressed through elegant prose that amplifies how much of a sucker punch to the solar plexus this book is.

My only qualm is the emotional distance created by the very same beautiful prose I cannot stop waxing lyrical about. I could, on a more surface level, sympathise and empathise with the characters but the narrative was still too cold to evoke deeper reactions from me. Nevertheless, this remains a beautiful book and I fully recommend reading it.

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ellaroshea's review against another edition

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5.0

a deep, painful gut punch of a book. made me want to cry. how a book can convey so much pain of the queer experience astounds me. it is just gut-wrenching and deeply relatable about someone trying to force themselves into heteronormative relationships. I love how literarily they show the difference between his relationship with giovanni and his relationship with hella/the fling he has with another woman. the conclusion of the book is wrecking and full of so much desolation. just goes to show how destructive heteronormativity can be.

9/2/25

FUCK DAVID. I hate this man so much. he is one of the least caring and most hypocritical people I have ever come across in a book. this book makes me so angry and so sad. but you see at the beginning why he is how he is and why he does what he does, which makes me even more angry -- at the conditions which precipitated this.

please do not read this book if you're in a delicate headspace lol

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carpethatdiem2's review against another edition

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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 👍🏻

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