Sign in with Facebook
emma's Reviews > Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room
by
by
emma's review
bookshelves: diverse, classics, non-ya, literary-fiction, recommend, owned, reviewed, authors-of-color, lgbt-plus, 4-and-a-half-stars, reread
Aug 04, 2021
bookshelves: diverse, classics, non-ya, literary-fiction, recommend, owned, reviewed, authors-of-color, lgbt-plus, 4-and-a-half-stars, reread
Read 2 times. Last read February 21, 2024 to February 28, 2024.
This book contains this passage:
"And this was perhaps the first time in my life that death occurred to me as a reality. I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it - it, the physical act. I had thought of suicide when I was much younger, as, possibly, we all have, but then it would have been for revenge, it would have been my way of informing the world how awfully it had made me suffer. But the silence of the evening, as I wandered home, had nothing to do with that storm, that far-off boy. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine."
And that is more in a paragraph than most books can get to in hundreds of pages.
What a thing.
Bottom line: Read it! Read everything James Baldwin ever wrote. Obviously.
4.5
---------------
tbr review
"haunting and controversial"? i'm in
"And this was perhaps the first time in my life that death occurred to me as a reality. I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it - it, the physical act. I had thought of suicide when I was much younger, as, possibly, we all have, but then it would have been for revenge, it would have been my way of informing the world how awfully it had made me suffer. But the silence of the evening, as I wandered home, had nothing to do with that storm, that far-off boy. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine."
And that is more in a paragraph than most books can get to in hundreds of pages.
What a thing.
Bottom line: Read it! Read everything James Baldwin ever wrote. Obviously.
4.5
---------------
tbr review
"haunting and controversial"? i'm in
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
Giovanni's Room.
Sign In »
Quotes emma Liked
“And this was perhaps the first time in my life that death occurred to me as a reality. I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it—it, the physical act. I had thought of suicide when I was much younger, as, possibly, we all have, but then it would have been for revenge, it would have been my way of informing the world how awfully it had made me suffer. But the silence of the evening, as I wandered home, had nothing to do with that storm, that far off boy. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine.”
― Giovanni’s Room
― Giovanni’s Room
Reading Progress
February 4, 2021
– Shelved
August 4, 2021
–
Started Reading
August 5, 2021
–
Finished Reading
February 21, 2024
–
Started Reading
February 28, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Brierly
(new)
-
added it
Aug 04, 2021 10:43AM
I hope you love it!
reply
|
flag
This is one of my favourite books, and every time I hope the ending will be different but it never is :(
Brierly wrote: "I hope you love it!"i at least really liked it!
Caitlin wrote: "This is one of my favourite books, and every time I hope the ending will be different but it never is :("fortunately i am not characteristically inclined toward hope
Do you think this would be a suitable book for a BR?
Paritoshika wrote: "Do you think this would be a suitable book for a BR?"don't see why not!
I will pick up this book this month! For some reason, I have been wanting to read it with someone. But I haven't found anyone yet so I will just go for it now!
Paritoshika wrote: "I will pick up this book this month! For some reason, I have been wanting to read it with someone. But I haven't found anyone yet so I will just go for it now!"totally get that!!! i hope you enjoy it :)
my favourite quote from this is “we had, in effect, been playing a deadly game and he was the winner. he was the winner in spite of the fact that i had cheated to win� (yes i know it from memory haha). such a beautiful book
dz� wrote: "my favourite quote from this is “we had, in effect, been playing a deadly game and he was the winner. he was the winner in spite of the fact that i had cheated to win� (yes i know it from memory ha..."so stunning
In what chapter was this quote: "we had, in effect, been playing a deadly game and he was the winner. he was the winner in spite of the fact that i had cheated to win"? Can’t find it anywhere
Keyfii wrote: "In what chapter was this quote: "we had, in effect, been playing a deadly game and he was the winner. he was the winner in spite of the fact that i had cheated to win"? Can’t find it anywhere"sadly i do not have a photographic memory and i would have no idea
The link you posted isn't working
I just finished this book (literally today!) and the characters were all messy as hell, and I really had a love/hate relationship with that because i wanted to fist fight them all. Except hella but maybe im just a girls girl :)
That passage is beautiful! Totally speaks for itself. Great review!
Southern Lady Reads (Crazy Busy-Will Catch Up!) wrote: "That passage is beautiful! Totally speaks for itself. Great review!"i can't put it better than baldwin!
Alyssa wrote: "I just finished this book (literally today!) and the characters were all messy as hell, and I really had a love/hate relationship with that because i wanted to fist fight them all. Except hella but..."this is a vibe
I recently read this (because of your book club) and loved it, especially the way it portrays gay men trying to navigate a relationship while being trapped in the gender roles of the time. Also the writing was so beautiful I don’t understand how James Baldwin used the same alphabet I use every day 😭
