Review: Giovanni’s Room

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I know that I'm the odd one out on this novel, but I felt just sort of neutral about Giovanni's Room.

I can absolutely see why it's a classic- Baldwin is clearly a masterful writer and his prose was absolutely beautiful. If you've read enough of my reviews though, you know that I am unfortunately attracted more to plot and fast pacing rather than slow, flowery writing. Even though this novel is tiny, it still dragged in the middle for me.

That being said, I could see and appreciate Giovanni's Room as it operates as a character study. The first person narrator, David, is torn between gregarious Hella and moody, intense Giovanni. He struggles to choose between the two and to come to terms with himself and his own identity. The tragedy of his denial of self is mimicked in the plot of the novel.

This is the kind of novel that makes me wish I was back in the classroom, dissecting the multiple meanings behind Giovanni's "room" and make connections between the different characters. Maybe someday...

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