Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin My rating: 3 of 5 stars James Baldwin is today so universally beloved, so piously received, that it almost comes as a relief to find this, his generally acclaimed second novel, so uncongenial to contemporary sensibilities as to be positively disturbing. On the back cover, Michael Ondaatje proclaims Baldwin a … Continue reading James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
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The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin My rating: 4 of 5 stars The two essays collected in this book—both structured as letters, one to Baldwin's nephew and one "from a Region in [His] Mind"—assess the racial situation in America at midcentury. The second is the more historically interesting, as it is built around Baldwin's … Continue reading James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
