Giovanni's Room

A Novel

By: James Baldwin, Kevin Young - introduction

Narrated by: Matt Bomer, Kevin Young

James Baldwin's groundbreaking novel with a new introduction.

Giovanni's Room is set in the Paris of the 1950s, where a young American expatriate finds himself caught between his repressed desires and conventional morality. David has just proposed marriage to his American girlfriend, but while she is away on a trip he becomes involved in a doomed affair with a bartender named Giovanni. With sharp, probing insight, James Baldwin's classic narrative delves into the mystery of love and tells a deeply moving story that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.

Critic reviews

"If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one."
--Michael Ondaatje

"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."
--The New York Times

"Absorbing...[with] immediate emotional impact."
--The Washington Post

"Mr. Baldwin has taken a very special theme and treated it with great artistry and restraint."
--Saturday Review

"Exciting...a book that belongs in the top rank of fiction."
--The Atlantic

"Violent, excruciating beauty."
--San Francisco Chronicle

Heartbreaking

One hundred years ago and so little has changed. I want to read it again and savor the language

How much queerness has not changed.

Amazing, and powerful! Such a profound and insightful read. James Baldwin is prophetic, and always timely.

Heartbreaking

For this book to be nearly 70 years old, a lot of these problems are still relevant to this day. Such a heartbreaking and tragic story. Hats off to Baldwin!

Metaphor

James Baldwin does a remarkable job in creating metaphors throughout this saga of homo and heterosexuality. Powerful book.

The story was concise. It was visual but not overly so. I really liked that it was a short story.

It was the first time I heard or read anything by James Baldwin. I understand now why he is considered one of the greatest writers of our time.