Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
| Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin | |
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| Category: Literary Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Heather Magee
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| Summary: Baldwin's ability to capture love and desire in its most fleeting and painful manifestations, and yet still convince his reader that love is worth all of this, is a testament to his talent. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 176 | Date: October 2001 |
| Publisher: Penguin Classics | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0141186351 | |
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..there opened in me a hatred for Giovanni which was as powerful as my love and which was nourished by the same roots
Giovanni's Room follows the narrator David, an American man living in Paris, as he navigates his torturous affair with Giovanni, an Italian bartender he meets in a gay bar. While David is engaged to Hella, who is travelling in Spain, the real tension in the novel arises not from his infidelity but from the deeper conflict within himself. It is David's crippling shame and denial of his sexuality that ultimately dooms his relationship with Giovanni.
The novel opens on the night before Giovanni's execution for the murder of his predatory boss, Guillaume. From there, Baldwin uses a non-linear narrative to reflect the emotional disarray of David's mind. The constant shifts in time may mirror his desire to rewrite the past, which is now his unending, continuous present in the form of his enduring guilt. In fact, guilt is David's only company by the closing of this devastating book.
One of Baldwin's great achievements in Giovanni's Room is his evocative portrayal of Paris. The city itself becomes a character—seedy, wretched, yet irresistibly alluring. It is a story which might feel dull if it weren't for the sublime emotional depth Baldwin offers and the fascinating backdrop of the underbelly of Parisian nightlife. Baldwin's descriptions of absurd Paris reveal a place full of contradictions, just like the people who inhabit it.
I couldn't help but imagine reading this novel on a Parisian balcony, overlooking the very streets Baldwin writes about, where women cashiers observe the city with a shrewd, vacant, all-registering eye. It's within this paradoxical Paris that Giovanni's room exists, nestled uncomfortably in its folds: a small, confining space that bears witness to David and Giovanni's intimacy, love, rage, and eventual collapse. It was only upon reading the description of the room itself, about halfway through the book, that I realised that the room, with its dilapidated walls and suffocating atmosphere, was a metaphor for the claustrophobic relationship between the two tortured souls. Indeed, when David insists to Hella that he must leave Paris at the earliest convenience, it is really a desire to escape from Giovanni, and his repressed feelings bound up with him that drive him away.
David's shame looms over every scene like an ugly shadow that smothers all light and hope, and eventually dims his very own soul. His inability to accept his sexuality leads to a profound sense of self-hatred, which he projects onto Giovanni. Despite his clear affection for him, David is unable to fully reciprocate the honesty and openness Giovanni offers. Baldwin expertly conveys this dynamic in a devastating line: He knew, unwillingly, at the very bottom of his heart, that I helplessly, at the very bottom of mine, resisted him with all my strength. Giovanni's raw vulnerability clashes tragically with David's relentless self-denial, creating a painful emotional distance between them.
Baldwin's portrayal of love denied by fear is so well etched into the fabric of this story. David's rejection of his queerness destroys his life so that he too, at the end of the book, feels as though he is sentenced to death. He, like Giovanni, winds up alone, and the reader is left shattered, wishing David had had the courage to love Giovanni, as Giovanni had loved him.
What makes Giovanni's Room so enduring is Baldwin's masterful exploration of the intersections between love, shame, and identity. Baldwin's depiction of love as both formative and destructive ensures that the novel resonates with readers long after the final page. If this book appeals to you, you may enjoy Our Young Man by Edmund White, which similarly explores the psyche of gay men and follows a protagonist who harms the men he loves.
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