I'm mad at the world right now. I'm angry at all of my professors, friends, bookstore salespeople, really anyone who knows how much I love to read or has listened to what I like to read and never suggested I read James Baldwin. I mean, I get it. I know I will never be able to read everything, and professors have to pick and choose carefully, and my friends might not have read Baldwin, and I need to be my own hero. But really?! I love the early- to mid- 19th century artistic movements the best, and I only recently discovered Baldwin for myself? Not cool, World, not cool.
Okay, now that that is out of my system, let's look at Giovanni's Room. It was published in 1956 and follows the story of a young man's desperate and sad love life in Paris. Why is his love life desperate and sad you ask? Because he is gay, engaged to a woman, living with a man, and quite self-loathing. Not only is this novel tackling taboos of homosexuality, Giovanni's Room is beautiful. The language is lyrical. Baldwin creates believable characters. The plot is easy to follow, but not boring. All-in-all this novel represents great fiction.
Giovanni's Room thematically investigates loss, sexuality, culture, and the individual's response to outside stimuli. I want to explain how it took me through such a range of emotions, but I think the best way to say it is that this novel will make you feel. It will be different for each reader, but I don't think you could read this novel and not feel something--anger, hope, fear, love, joy, sadness, something. Baldwin makes you feel the absolute hopelessness and pure beauty that exist simultaneously in the world and in the act of falling in love. I really can't recommend this novel enough.
It might have taken me a long time to find my way to James Baldwin, but now that I have, I'm planning on making my way through his work. One down, eighteen to go. I can't wait!
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