If you're a fan of James Baldwin, I'd advise to stay away from this one-- it's like a low-rent Just Above My Head.
Baldwin, I love you to death, but the white protagonist describing himself: "My face is like a face you have seen many times. My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into a darker past," is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. What white person would describe himself that way? Thus opens the cheesiest Baldwin novel I've ever read.
As a sidenote, I'd like to add that the book is probably, comparatively speaking, very good for a book that concerns itself as directly with homosexual love and coming out as it does, because, plainly, Baldwin's style is always thorough and lyrical and profound and deep-acting on the psyche. But compared to his other books and literature in general, it's a stinker.
Baldwin, I love you to death, but the white protagonist describing himself: "My face is like a face you have seen many times. My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into a darker past," is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. What white person would describe himself that way? Thus opens the cheesiest Baldwin novel I've ever read.
As a sidenote, I'd like to add that the book is probably, comparatively speaking, very good for a book that concerns itself as directly with homosexual love and coming out as it does, because, plainly, Baldwin's style is always thorough and lyrical and profound and deep-acting on the psyche. But compared to his other books and literature in general, it's a stinker.
Helpful Score: 1
This is the most depressing book I've read this year. It's about a gay man's struggle to deny his sexuality. Published for the first time in 1956, it's a contemporary portrayal of attitudes toward homosexuality. Very powerful.
I loved this book. During the first few pages I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not, but having finished it I'd definitely read it again.
This was a college read but I ended up loving the story. Its sad and sweet full of life.
If you have read E. M. Foster's "Maurice," or Virginia Woolf's "Orlando," you may want to consider this one. I think that I shall subtitle this "Homosexuals in Paris," as it follows the exploits of four men who more than like each other. The narrator, David, is an American bum ( he has seemed never to have held a job) about to become down and out in gay (no double entendre intended) Paris. Woe, his mistress has left him for a tour of Spain, after which she returns to the USA. This is when his acquaintances of a similar bent introduces him to a bar owner and his very Italian bartender, Giovanni (who has also had a heterosexual relationship). At this David and Giovanni resume their latent penchant for the male persuasion. Though the reader is spared the wicked details, they quickly become more than roommates. Bring your imagination with you: also your LaRousse, unless you are quite up on your French. (Why do writers have to impress the reader with their proficiency in the French language? Even Tolstoy does so! It must be to ensure that the reader is an inferior.) So here is their relationship bared to all to a final breakup. Evidently David cannot decide for which team he wants to play. Giovanni, we learn early, is to be treated to a trip to the "National Barber." Wow! This is supposed to be 1950 France. Despite my lack of interest in this novel, I must read on to find out what this is all about and why Giovanni is to have his shoulders trimmed.
A wonderful book and gay coming of age story!
A great read.
