Skip to main content

Review - Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

I’m unable to make up my mind about this book. The way it begins gives you an uncanny feeling. When you are halfway through it, you understand it better. But what happens afterwards grips you. It doesn’t let you move from your place. In the beginning, I was trying to make out what was going on, but in the end, I was shocked. It was not like it wasn’t obvious, yet it gave an eerie feeling thinking about all that happened with The Protagonist, Giovanni and Hella.

Giovanni’s character was straightforward, yet there was so much depth in it. On the other hand, The Protagonist was sharp but a little insensitive. I was rolling my eyes at his replies all the time. The choices he made were not peculiar but weren’t good as well.

But, I guess there are some choices in our life that are difficult. So talking about them is like addressing them, and we might not be in a position to do that at that specific moment. Thus, it makes sense. But nothing good came out for Giovanni in it. He lost everything because of the protagonist. Such is love, I guess, that makes you do unthinkable things. 

The book was published in 1956. So the theme that it revolved around would have made some noise back then, I believe. I would still recommend you to read it because it offered something offbeat. Also, I found similarities in the relationship portrayed in the book with the present scenario. Though the situation might differ, sometimes people are bound because of various reasons and can’t control things. Thus, it leads to furthermore disappointment in both parties. It still happens if you choose to look around yourself. 

Rating - 3/5

Genre - Classics

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review - The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

T here are certain books where you know you will like them even when you have read just 10 pages. There can be reasons behind it though, perhaps you have read the author before, or have found the narrative interesting, maybe the first para hooked you since the beginning or your instinct made you feel so. All these factors sum up what I feel for this story. It was too much to see Rumi long for the alter ego, meanwhile taking part in the worldly things where he used to judge and help people but from a distance. And as Shams entered his life, things changed drastically overnight. Meanwhile, there is a parallel story going about Ella and Aziz Zahara. These two stories intermingle in such a way where you can’t stop comparing one character to another. This book is all about love in different forms, it doesn’t restrict itself to romance but love between father and children, between two friends, between husband and wife, between a teacher and his disciples and between two strangers. There are ...
3 comments
Read more

Review - The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy

There are moments when you just want to ask questions and sit beside your friend. You want someone to answer them for you even if you know the answers yourselves. When the answers come from someone you are close to, they look much easier to deal with than before. They make more sense whenever you fail to convince yourself. Such is the magic of good friends and companionship. This book is all about it. You will read all about love, kindness, tenderness, and courage. The book revolves around The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse, as the title suggests. First, the boy meets the mole, and later they meet Fox. As the journey goes on, they ask each other questions which are simple but thought-provoking. You would want to sit and think about answers that you would have given or hoped for after you are done reading. It will make you wonder how sometimes the simplest of things have the most impact. My favourite quote from the book is when the boy asks, “What is the bravest thing you’ve e...
2 comments
Read more

Productivity & Time

“As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself. – Haruki Murakami” We all have been given this luxury right now to utilise the time at hand as per our needs, but are we able to do it? It seems so easy when we think about it but it isn’t; because if it would have been, we would not have been sitting in our living room wondering about either what to do next or how to get things done without being lazy. This lockdown has solved as well as created many problems for us. Where once we used to crave about the much-needed free time; now, we don’t know what to make of it. On top it, the added pressure of doing something productive is wreaking havoc in our mind. We all want to do something, learn something and some just want to chill (because that is the ultimate goal of their life). I wish I had that luxury too. Yes, I always end up using this statement because after every few ...
4 comments
Read more