Giovanni's Room: James Baldwin (Penguin Great Loves)

Giovanni’s Room is a beautifully written and emotionally intense novel. James Baldwin explores themes of love, identity, shame and loneliness through the story of David, an American living in Paris who struggles with his feelings and sense of self. The relationship between David and Giovanni is complex and tragic, and the writing captures the tension and vulnerability between them in a very honest way. Even though the book was written decades ago, the themes still feel very relevant today. It’s a powerful and thought-provoking read that stays with you long after finishing.

It takes place in Paris in the 1950s. And, surprisingly, we consider the contemporary French writer Patrick Modiano: the streets of Paris, cafes, bars, inactivity, wandering of a young man – about twenty years- his attendance with people older than him. We also think, Hung forces, to Jean Genet, but the feelings and writing feelings are not the same, far from it. It is also believed to any part of the anxlo Saxon literature including U.S. where young people come in continental Europe, usually South or even North Africa, in principle to be formed of life, but more specifically, to forget,be lost or destroyed, in alcohol and sex. Do, I think of Paul Bowles. But the universe is lightes by some exotic points. « Giovanni's room », I read it because it is regarded as an essential book genre literature. The problem of David, coming from the United States in Paris : he cannot say to his family and he cannnot thinh, himself, that’s a man he loves. He pretends to hesitate between man and a woman or women. But he can not stand, either, to love a woman or women. So it seems to me that the problem of David is deeper than the sexual kind. To borrow a phrase from Donald Winnicott, it is , for him, impossible to "be." And I would say that in a perverse way, he focused its inability to "be" on another he sends to death. But that’s not so simple. Indeed, if it is, rarely, about desire, it is never, never about pleasure. The sexual act appears as a comforting, calming anxiety, protection, leak, but never as a pleasure. The desire is present, as well as alcohol, which is flowing throughout the book, and much more than sex, but more like an escape from reality or one’ s self that as an accomplishment. Just made the first move of its realization, even before David is assailed by thoughts of guilt, disgust with himself or another man or woman ; he nevers lets him touched by sensations of pleasure. Everything is bathed in an atmosphere where everything is only falsehood or lie. Giovanni's Room is a filthy hovel in ruins : David’s inner world ? Then, of course, all this goes back to a distant childhood. And very beautiful and just this scene of early adolescence: he wakes up a first night with a friend and he is shocked by the sight of this fellow, still almost a child, still asleep, naked, fragile, near form him. This emotion, it is unbearable. And in this sense the universe of writing is, here, absolutely different from that of Jean Genet. Jean Genet fetch the rarest purest words to celebrate the body that moves, that dazzles him. Here, however, the emotion body has no place, must not be. And it seems to me that this is the key to David’s relationship with Giovanni, Hella and Sue. I liked the construction of the book: its back and forth between different periods in the life of David. And we know very quickly, even before David's ever met him, what will be the outcome for Giovanni, but no one knows how or why. This creates a tension. But throughout the last third of the book, everything is consumed: the guilt of David, his distaste for Hella itself. It remains for him to imagine in detail the last moments of Giovanni. Makes you wonder if there is not, there,finally, a sadistic pleasure, the only one… I did not like the amount of dialogue: in this world where everything is wrong, they talk a lot, and a lot to hide or lie, not to say that they desire, not to say that they love, they do not love anymore, not to say that disgust is between them. As if they were talking not to feel. The dialogues flow as numerous as the alcohol glasses. This universe of the book is bathed in a murky atmosphere, even if from beginning to the end, the light of spring, summer and fall has smiled to Paris. By the way, in 1938, Jean Paul Sartres had published "Nausea".

Brilliant but sad book, I have read this so many times.

Call Me By Your Name meets Tender is the Night in Giovanni’s Room, which follows David, an American living in Paris, and his relationship with the bartender Giovanni. From the comparative texts, I have chosen you will be able to tell that I adored this novel from the first line until the last. It also reminded me a lot of Brandon Taylor’s Real Life which I did not enjoy at the time, but after reading this and seeing similarities between the two I would like to give it a second chance. Baldwin deftly handles themes of gender, of what it means to be a man, and how it intersects with sexuality. The theme of alienation and isolation permeated every fascet of the novel, from the physical of Giovanni's room to the feeling of being, as F. Scott Fitzgerald puts it 'both within and without'. Even serving in the role of the narrator, David is both a part of what happens and just an observer, which is fascinating to see. At under 200 pages, the book is masterful in its ability to deliver a complete story, alongside these complex themes. It's the sort of book that is so brilliant it is difficult to review, other than to repeat how much I adore this book and urge you to read it.

I just started reading and it’s okay so far but I don’t really like the structure because the book is small, the words are small and really close together so I keep re-reading lines and confusing myself. It might just be a me problem and my eyesight but idk.. anyway here’s a comparison of the book with my iPhone 12 Pro Max phone case

The book is great, thought it’s quite a small little book, the writing is tiny, keep that in mind if you have bad eyesight.

I absolutely loved Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. It’s one of those rare novels that stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Baldwin’s writing is beautifully precise—every sentence feels considered, yet completely natural. There’s a quiet intensity to the storytelling that draws you in and doesn’t let go. The subject matter can be difficult at times, dealing with identity, love, shame, and the pressures of societal expectations. It doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable truths, which is exactly what makes it so powerful. Rather than offering easy answers, it invites you to sit with the characters’ emotions and contradictions. What struck me most was how timeless it feels. Despite being written decades ago, the themes are just as relevant today. The exploration of human vulnerability and the fear of being truly seen is something that resonates across generations. It’s a deeply moving, thought-provoking read—at times heartbreaking, but always honest. For me, it’s a perennial classic that deserves its place among the great works of literature. I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a novel that challenges and lingers in equal measure.

If you think words can’t paint anguish - read James Baldwin. If you think prose can’t make you feel the rose-scented breeze of doomed desire - read James Baldwin. If you think that Parisian summer cannot carry the misty dusk of a tortured soul’s gleaming fire - read James Baldwin. And if you think that no one could explain the wretched depths of man’s glance and soul and eyes - eyes that could hardly tire - read James Baldwin.

El libro es genial, pero la letra es bastante pequeña.

I bought this book not knowing too much about it other than the fact that a lot of people that have read absolutely loved it and I'm so glad I picked it up it is such a beautifully written piece of work. It feels like sitting sitting with someone who is incredibly well spoken and just being able to listen to them for a few hours it's a short story it with only 150 pages but makes the most of its short page count. P.s it's such a painful story

recommended

James Baldwin is a writer of incomparable skill. Take this sample paragraph, which I love and have read over and over: “Behind the counter sat one of those absolutely inimitable and indomitable ladies, produced only in the city of Paris, but produced there in great numbers, who would be as outrageous and unsettling in any other city as a mermaid on a mountaintop. All over Paris they sit behind their counters like a mother bird in a nest and brood over the cash register as though it were an egg. Nothing occurring under the circle of heaven where they sit escapes their eye, if they have ever been surprised by anything, it was only in a dream—a dream they long ago ceased having. They are neither ill- nor good-natured, though they have their days and styles, and they know, in the way, apparently, that other people know when they have to go to the bathroom, everything about everyone who enters their domain. Though some are white-haired and some not, some fat, some thin, some grandmothers and some but lately virgins, they all have exactly the same, shrewd, vacant, all-registering eye; it is difficult to believe that they ever cried for milk or looked at the sun; it seems they must have come into the world hungry for banknotes, and squinting helplessly, unable to focus their eyes until they came to rest on a cash register.” In addition to the beautiful prose, Mr. Baldwin here tells an emotionally painful tale of a man who struggles with his desire for Giovanni, when his world and his morality tell him his desire should be for a woman. Our narrator’s inability to honestly address his own feelings leads to emotional destruction all around and the guillotine for Giovanni. We learn of Giovanni’s fate in the opening pages, and then spend the rest of the novel being fed the details on how this ultimately comes to pass, which is not revealed until the final pages. It is a classic method of foreshadowing which is used to good affect here. If the characters here come across as just a touch overwrought, that is to be expected in a novel that is trying to blister us with the power of emotion, whether kept under wraps or loosed to extremes. In any case, it is a brilliant picture of the world of Parisian homosexual lifestyles, much condemned then, as is much the case for many today. Overall, an excellent read.

Sehr gute Verarbeitung. Tochter hat sich das ausgesucht und fand es gut.