176 pages
Published Oct. 4, 2001 by Penguin Books Ltd.
Baldwin's haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two.
Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.
I don’t think James Baldwin and I were meant to be friends. This is the second book of his that I’ve read and, I appreciate all that has been said about his writing, I just…just….didn’t enjoy the read. Maybe I’m just not smart enough.
Content warning i would say this is a spoiler but literally this book is a 70 year old classic so idk
rip Giovanni, you would have loved "good luck, babe" by Chappell Roan.
Joking aside for a moment, David is one of those characters that stay in your long-term memory. The homophobic homosexual who (seemingly) only mistreats those around him, but who is actually constantly monitoring and punishing himself. A miserable life in the name of the norm.
Beautiful music telling us terrible things, to paraphrase Tom Waits. Heartbreaking and lovely. (And if, like me, you get stopped short by the guillotine being used in the 1950s — the last execution by guillotine in France was in 1977.)
A portrait of 1950s Paris, American culture and the margins of bourgeois society, of internalised homophobia and gay desire, of power and cruelty. And the psychogram of a privileged, pathologically passive and deeply disagreeable man, including two grotesquely dehumanising transphobic passages. All rendered in dense, vivid language and impeccable structure and style.
I cannot believe I haven't read anything by Baldwin until now. This was stunning. Difficult to read at times, but really truly spectacular.
