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Giovanni's Room (Penguin Modern Classics)
 
 
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Giovanni's Room (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by James Baldwin (Author), Caryl Phillips (Introduction) "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..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Price For All Three: £19.97

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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (4 Oct 2001)
  • ISBN-10: 0141186356
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141186351
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 1.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 71,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #8 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Baldwin, James

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Product Description

Product Description
Considered an 'audacious' second novel, GIOVANNI'S ROOM is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity, the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity.

About the Author
Born in Harlem in 1924, Baldwin had an early career as a teenage preacher. He lived in Paris from 1948-1956 and his first novels, the autobiographical GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN and GIOVANNI'S ROOM established him as a promising novelist and anticipated some of the themes of his later works, such as racism and sexuality. He became a prominent spokesperson for racial equality, especially during the civil rights movement. He lived in France during his last years. Baldwin died in 1987.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
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. Read the first page
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Giovanni's Room (Penguin Modern Classics)
90% buy the item featured on this page:
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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful novel about human relationships., 27 Oct 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Giovanni's Room (Paperback)
Not often does one encounter a novel that changes the way one thinks, that touches one deeply with its powerful story and realistic characters. 'Giovanni's Room' is one of these novels. It is written beautifully, like a long-lost tale but the pain in the novel reflects real life and human relationships. The selfishness, uncertainty, fears, love and passion of human beings are portrayed here for the reader to identify with them. The poignant way in which Baldwin describes Giovanni trying to better his 'room' for his ungrateful American lover is breath-taking. This novel is not only about sexuality, it digs deep into rifts of culture and class.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, and painful, 25 May 2007
By Andrea Pontiroli (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews
This is an excellent novel, I could not put it down, in spite of the fact that, knowing that it would all go terribly bad, I was always scared of what could happen. It is a sad story, and yet so true, in the way it portrays a city, a historical period, and the realisation (and denial) of one's homosexuality. Yes, the main character is a coward, and yet Baldwin does not push the reader into hating him. We don't like him, we would not behave like him, still we can understand.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My all time favorite book, 26 Sep 2002
By A Customer
If you've never read any James Baldwin before I urge you do so. He is a writer of great power, able to take you into the world of the characers and able to empathise with those characters and understand how they would react to the circumstances in which he places them. As a gay black man in America at the time of the black rights movement he was victimised on both fronts, hence his characters are often black, or gay, or both.

Giovanni's Room remains the best book I have ever read. I have recommended it to many friends, all have whom have loved it, many have been moved by it. If you read this I strongly suspect you will want to read more by this man.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.
I don't even know where to begin from in reviewing this short little book. Well, maybe a good start would certainly be: read it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Francesconi Alessandra

2.0 out of 5 stars I Might Need To Read This Again One Day
I decided that while I was in Paris I would read a book that was based there. I had several hours to kill on the Eurostar and wanted something that wasn't a holiday read and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Simon Savidge "savidgeread...

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Stuff Doesn't Age, It Matures
Although advancing in its fifties, Giovanni's Room is a novel which does not get older, it only gets better. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ford Ka

5.0 out of 5 stars First Love
I found this such an interesting book to read. About a young man, David, who while in Paris, away from his fiance, has a relationship with an italian barman named Giovanni, which... Read more
Published 11 months ago by ADAM

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, emotional and tragic. Worthy of 'classic'
The book set in Paris, and is about an American who due to marry his fiancé upon her return from travelling Spain, but the problem is he is a man who has repressed his... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2006 by H. R. Trigg

5.0 out of 5 stars flawless
What can one say about such a book? It's absorbing, lyrical, interesting, entertaining, intelligent, beautiful, and revealing which confirms it's standing as a work of art.
Published on 29 Aug 2004 by O. F. Thorsteinsson

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical context
The best of this pile of cheap pockets I bought. Dodgy cover, but good story about a man who has a homosexual affair while his fiancee is travelling. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2003 by gerbie7

5.0 out of 5 stars Complusive, Charming, Tragic
Baldwin's style is completely engaging; time and again he seems to hit exactly the right note, choosing that elusive and precise word. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful novel rich in emotion and symbolism
In this novel, Baldwin captures the torment faced by a young man in a foreign city with desires he dare not admit to himself. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful work
This novel is achingly beautiful. It is the sort of book that gets you in the gut. David's rejection of Giovanni is ultimately a rejection of himself. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2001

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