Summary
The inability of a young American in Paris to confront his sexuality leads to the end of his romance with a woman he hopes to marry, and to his male lover's tragic downfall. Baldwin's eloquent and powerful novel is interesting for its candid examination of a sexually conflicted man, and also for its suppression of the racial problems a gay black man in Europe might be expected to encounter.
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Media Reviews
"A young American involved with both a woman and a man... Baldwin writes of these matters with unusual candor and yet with such dignity and intensity."
-- New York Times
"Passionate and mature." -- Alfred Kazin
"He has become one of the few writers of our time." -- Norman Mailer
"A book that belongs to the top rank of fiction."
-- Atlantic Monthly
"He is thought-provoking, tantalizing, irritating, abusing and amusing." -- Langston Hughes
"GIOVANNI'S ROOM has a fast-moving plot-rare in Baldwin's fiction. The compression of its prose conveys a sense that the best lines about love have behind them two or more about the pain of love....Of all Baldwin's novels, GIOVANNI'S ROOM, with its theme of the failure of innocence, offers the most straightforward connection to his reading of Henry James." -- Darryl Pinckney
-- New York Review of Books
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2001
Size: 5 x 7.5 inches
Weight: 0.55 pounds
Pages: 185
Publisher's Notes
An American, separated from his fiancGee, becomes involved in an intense relationship with a young Italian bartender while in Paris.
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