Giovanni's Room

James Baldwin is a writer of incomparable skill. Take this sample paragraph, which I love and have read over and over: “Behind the counter sat one of those absolutely inimitable and indomitable ladies, produced only in the city of Paris, but produced there in great numbers, who would be as outrageous and unsettling in any other city as a mermaid on a mountaintop. All over Paris they sit behind their counters like a mother bird in a nest and brood over the cash register as though it were an egg. Nothing occurring under the circle of heaven where they sit escapes their eye, if they have ever been surprised by anything, it was only in a dream—a dream they long ago ceased having. They are neither ill- nor good-natured, though they have their days and styles, and they know, in the way, apparently, that other people know when they have to go to the bathroom, everything about everyone who enters their domain. Though some are white-haired and some not, some fat, some thin, some grandmothers and some but lately virgins, they all have exactly the same, shrewd, vacant, all-registering eye; it is difficult to believe that they ever cried for milk or looked at the sun; it seems they must have come into the world hungry for banknotes, and squinting helplessly, unable to focus their eyes until they came to rest on a cash register.” In addition to the beautiful prose, Mr. Baldwin here tells an emotionally painful tale of a man who struggles with his desire for Giovanni, when his world and his morality tell him his desire should be for a woman. Our narrator’s inability to honestly address his own feelings leads to emotional destruction all around and the guillotine for Giovanni. We learn of Giovanni’s fate in the opening pages, and then spend the rest of the novel being fed the details on how this ultimately comes to pass, which is not revealed until the final pages. It is a classic method of foreshadowing which is used to good affect here. If the characters here come across as just a touch overwrought, that is to be expected in a novel that is trying to blister us with the power of emotion, whether kept under wraps or loosed to extremes. In any case, it is a brilliant picture of the world of Parisian homosexual lifestyles, much condemned then, as is much the case for many today. Overall, an excellent read.

Giovanni’s Rooms is a racy novel about homosexuality, betrayal, lust, and drugs and alcohol. This novel was authored by James Baldwin in 1956. During the time era in which this book was written, such openness of homosexuality was adamantly frowned upon. Giovanni’s Room is a novel that was considered extremely provocative in the 1950’s. Whereas now, homosexuality is more acceptable. This novel will have its reader transfixed for hours at time, impatiently waiting to flip the page to see what unfolds on the next page. Giovanni’s Room is definitely a novel that broke boundaries in its era, but it shed light that people do struggle with homosexuality. David, Hella, and Giovanni are the most important characters in this novel. David is a handsome American in his twenties, who is struggling with his sexual orientation, alcoholism finances and honesty. Hella is David’s girlfriend. Hella is in Spain for the majority of the book, essentially weighing her options of continuing a long term relationship with David. Unbeknownst to her, David is sexually involved with Giovanni a very attractive guy, who struggles with alcoholism. Giovanni and David originally met with the intention of a friend named Jacques scoring a night full of passion and satisfaction with him. Jacques who is a lame flirt, essentially goes unnoticed by Giovanni. The night Giovanni and David me they end up being intimate with each other, and that where the book starts to unfold secrets, lies, betrayal and jealously. This novel’s popularity has withstood the test of time to due its nature. Not many people, especially in the past were able to express their curiosity, struggles, and infatuation with homosexuality. Giovanni’s Room defied social norm especially in the 1950’s, and gave people that may have dealt with the issues mentioned above, a sense of normalcy. Although readers know it was a fictional novel, the actual events and struggles were relatable. I also think readers looked at James Baldwin as a hero, not only was a writer, he was an African American gay man, not afraid to break against barriers. People generally look up to others that are able to do such things, and this could be a huge part of why Giovanni’s Room is still popular six decades later. Giovanni’s Room often talks around the actual details of homosexuality, even though the book is apparently about it. For example, his first gay encounter with a friend named Joey, is expressed as follows, “I was ashamed. The very bed, in its sweet disorder, testified to vileness. I wondered what Joey's mother would say when she saw the sheets”. It’s apparent they had sex, but David seems to shy away from blunt details of homosexuality. Although he talks around his homosexuality encounters, he does into grave detail about nearly everything unrelated to his homosexuality. Sometimes his details are a bit run on and unimportant. After reading this book, I immediately knew I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. James Baldwin is an astounding author, with a character that is fierce and courageous. After reading this book, it gave me a front row seat as to how someone may struggle with being who they really are. Camouflaging ones true identity can and will lead to self-destruct. Prior to reading this book, I viewed homosexuality as I would any sexuality, and that is be with whoever makes you happy. Do not let the sex, race, religion or any other factor deter you away from being with what you love.

“I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life.” This is a great opening line and like the rest of the novel, it keeps you guessing and anticipating what comes next after every page. Giovanni’s Room is a beautiful, fast-paced, poignant novel that examines the depths of self-denial a person can put themselves through when they cannot face who they truly are. It also shows the effects social alienation has on these individuals as they come into themselves bit by bit—their triumphs, their failures, and ultimately the consequences of their actions. Each character is sympathetic in their own way and their personalities seem so real you almost want to hug them or hit them throughout the book. Some may cry as they read this novel, some may roll their eyes as they miss the meaning behind each perfectly curated sentence Baldwin lays out for us. But, most likely, you will feel a heavy weight pressing down on your chest as you turn each page to reveal yet another moment that is cause for self-reflection. I think Giovanni’s Room is a lovely, classic, and important read that anyone can identify with even when they least expect it. Go. Read it. Now.

GIOVANNI'S ROOM was not James Baldwin's first novel; his debut came three years before with GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN. Nor was it the first post-war novel to deal with homosexuality; Gore Vidal addressed the issue in 1948's THE CITY AND THE PILLAR. But Vidal, as good a writer as he is, is not a poet. And GIOVANNI'S ROOM is the work of a poet. Baldwin's writing is uncommonly beautiful. Even when dealing with the darkest of emotions and the most devastating of tragedies, his prose soars like an eagle above the usual form of the novel, giving the events a depth and meaning that, to my mind, most forcibly recall Tennessee Williams; it is a shame that none of Baldwin's novels or plays were ever filmed. The fairly simple story concerns David, an expatriate American in Paris, aged about twenty-seven or so and somewhat of a drifter. He is involved with a young woman named Hella, whom he has asked to marry him; at the start of the story, which is told in flashback, Hella is off traveling in Spain, considering David's proposal, which despite the appearance of importance she is giving it, has a hollow ring to it. While Hella is gone, David, needing money, becomes involved in the homosexual world of Paris. He does not go so far as to have sex with any of the men, but he learns quickly how to use them to get the money that his father keeps refusing to send him from the States. One night, with one of these acquaintances, a middle-aged businessman named Jacques, David goes to a bar owned by Jacques's friend Guillaume, and meets the new barman, a beautiful young Italian named Giovanni. The two young men hit it off extremely well; without revealing too much, suffice it to say that the evening ends in Giovanni's room, in his bed. The remainder of the novel deals with David's inner turmoil over the fact that he has fallen head-over-heels in love with Giovanni, a love, though this is not said directly, much deeper than whatever it is he feels (felt?) for Hella. Later on, naturally, Hella returns to Paris, and David, afraid to face Giovanni, simply abandons him and takes up with Hella at her hotel. The inevitable happens, and Giovanni and Hella eventually meet on the street. Giovanni is with Jacques, and they invite David and Hella out for a drink. Hella, perhaps sensing something, begs off on the grounds that she does not feel well. David takes her back to her hotel. The following evening, David returns to Giovanni's room and attempts to explain to him why he must make his life with Hella, but at this point it is obvious that he is trying to convince himself. The novel turns tragic after David and Giovanni separate forever. Giovanni commits a murder and is sent to the guillotine; David and Hella rent a house in the south of France, but inevitably, one night, David disappears and takes up with a sailor. Hella tracks him down and finds him, very drunk, with the sailor, in a gay bar. Embittered, she leaves for the United States almost immediately. David, who appears to be planning to stay in Paris, leaves the house and goes to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the train station. I don't know to what extent David's self-loathing mirrored Baldwin's, or if Baldwin felt that way at all, but the really remarkable thing is that all of the people in this novel, American, French, and Italian, are white, yet Baldwin, who seems to have had an almost musical ear for dialogue, speaks in all these different voices with amazing accuracy and precision. This is an astonishing work of art. To describe it as a novel about homosexuality is to trivialize it. It is a deeply human story about people with flaws, and how these flaws sometimes can be our undoing.

In December 2012, a rather large group met at the LGBT Center in NYC for "Giovanni's Room," an important novel that many people knew about and wanted to discuss. In general, everyone liked the novel. Many of us praised the writing and thought that it was far superior to the story, while others liked both the characters and the story, as well as the writing. Clearly, James Baldwin is admired for his precision, his observations, and his ability to create characters, situations, and realistic dialog. Baldwin is able to express complex emotions with contradictory feelings: "This fearful [expression of love from Giovanni] opened in me a hatred for Giovanni which was as powerful as my love and which was nourished by the same roots." The structure of the novel is perfect. Baldwin starts us out in a house in the South of France as his former fiancee Hella is headed back to America and Giovanni is in jail awaiting his execution. We then alternate between meeting Jacques and Giovanni, the early story of David (the narrator), David's relationship with Hella, Giovanni's early story, how it all fell apart with both Hella and Giovanni, and David's presence in the house in the South of France. Themes of imprisonment appear throughout the novel, in Giovanni's cell as well as David's feelings toward both Giovanni and Hella. We also noted that the Europeans of 1950's in the novel were still impoverished after the war and thought that all the Americans were rich. After initially questioning Baldwin's choice in making David a blond white guy, we agreed that making him black would over-complicate the story. There was some disagreement on the growth of the characters. Some thought that the characters were strong and well thought out. But others thought that David remains tightly wound and does not learn to love and appreciate others, while Giovanni inexplicably goes from being a popular outgoing bartender to a whiny house-husband at the same time that Hella goes from being a free-spirited tourist to a stick-in-the-mud "Miss Clueless." But our biggest discussion, however, surrounded the period when the novel was written. The novel is not dated (any more than Shakespeare or Dickens is dated) but "Giovanni's Room" is definitely a product of when it was written. The only sex scene is an anonymous "straight" pick-up between David and Sue, a woman from Philadelphia, which goes bad almost immediately but continues until everyone is unhappy. None of the gay characters are happy and, as the period demanded, a few of the obvious characters are old queens in the bar, one unhappy gay man is a murderer, another abusive gay man is murdered, and all the others are left lonely and unhappy.

This is a little book, but it is anything but small. James Baldwin needs no introduction, and having finally read him was a literary treat. His reputation, I was unsurprised to learn, is earned. Some writers just exude experience, and Baldwin is one such. This is a man who has lived life. He has had playful conversations late at night and early in the morning. He has loved people he should have left alone, hated people he should have loved; and hated himself for both. His writing is a conversation with the reader, one from which you walk away understanding that here is a person who has run the gamut of the human experience, and come away from it observant enough to make others feel, and understand. Giovanni's Room is a story of love and death in 1950's Paris. It is brilliant commentary; on life, on love, on sexuality, on women, and men. Reading this in 1956... I mean, it had to be revelatory, for those who allowed it to be. A powerful read then, as it is now, and an empowering one. The story is as beautiful as it is tragic, and the narrator, David, is wonderfully complex. It's that age-old thing, I guess. The reader's inherent desire to identify with, relate to, and make justifications for the protagonist. Until you realize that you shouldn't be doing so, and that's where the practice of empathy comes in. Which, of course, is what reading does for you. That's what reading is.

“Nobody can stay in the garden of Eden… I wonder why”. This was said by James Baldwin in his semi-autobiography, Giovanni’s Room. Giovanni’s Room can be known as a controversial novel which is the case with most of Baldwin’s books. Although the book may seem difficult, it is a mind changing book to read since it touches up on a subject that was not widely accepted at its time. Baldwin completed Giovanni’s Room in 1956, but there was a supposed issue. The main problem that Baldwin’s publisher had with the novel was that its focus on the main character’s romantic relationship with a man. Baldwin continued with the story line that was inspired by his personal life and had the book published. In doing so Giovanni’s Room later inspired many readers who related to the author. “But this time when I touched him something happened in him and in me which made this touch different from any touch either of us had ever known.” (Baldwin 7) This shows that the main character, David, was experiencing his first infatuation with his friend Joey. That was the first time David had ever felt something towards a boy that he including Joey have never felt before. Baldwin gives the idea that David thinks his affection toward men is shameful and reckless, but at this moment it seems that he isn’t as one-sided as he believes. Another big focus was the masculinity and how men were seen. In David’s own eyes he did not see himself as a homosexual and that his love affairs didn’t mean anything, but this was not true. Therefore, he believed he still had a sense in manliness. "I was not suggesting that you jeopardize, even for a moment, that… immaculate manhood which is your pride and joy." (Baldwin 30) This was said by one of David’s older friends Jacques, who is described to be 40-50 years old. Jacques’ diction is interesting because of the word “immaculate”. He says this because he asks David to invite the bartender over with them but makes fun saying, he wouldn’t want David to “jeopardize” or risk his manhood. He’s making fun because Jacques and David are alike and that he knows how David sees his sexuality as immoral and a loss of masculinity. At the time it would’ve been considered just that, but it is now it is mostly widely accepted. In conclusion, Giovanni’s Room is a controversial but insightful novel by James Baldwin that should be read and talked about by more. It goes through the life of David and his sexuality in his life and the 50’s but it is also based on the life of Baldwin which makes it a semi-autobiography.

One of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. The book is a very easy read and written the only way Baldwin can do. The fact that this was written in the 1950's it follows the pattern of an unhappy ending as most novels of this subject matter did. Many novels of that era were a warning to gay people not to pursue their homosexual desires as it will surely end in tragedy. I don't know if this was Baldwin's intention or he was pressured into doing so by the publisher to tear the lovers apart. The novel centers on David an American and Giovanni an Italian living in Paris.David is taking a break from his relationship with girlfriend Hella when he meets the handsome bartender Giovanni unexpectedly at a bar one night. They are immediately attracted to each other with unspoken lust. Giovanni then makes it his mission to seduce David with endless flirtation. Of course no one is seduce without being a willing partner and David has been preparing for this moment his whole life. Both of these men are repressing long held desires. Giovanni's is starving for affection and being held prisoner so to speak by Guillaume his employer. David is afraid of himself but can't help being aroused in everyway by Giovanni and no lie he tells himself can change that. The affair explodes with all the passion of two souls in love. Now David and Giovanni have to figure out where to go from there. This is a classic and needs to be on everyone's list of great romance novels of all time. It certainly is on mine.