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A review by leahtylerthewriter
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
5.0
"If she had been beautiful, and if God had not given her a spirit so demure, she might, with ironic gusto, have acted out that rape in the fields forever. Since she could not be considered a woman, she could only be looked on as a harlot, a source of delight more beastial, and mysteries more shaking, than any a proper woman could provide."
One day in the life of a 1930s pentecostal family in Harlem, centered around the eldest son, John, and how the perseverance of the Grimes family is knitted together by pain, loss, shame, sin, and an absolute need to bury the ugliness of their truth in God.
Can I give a book six ⭐?
Baldwin's manipulation of the English language is nothing short of exquisite. I read half this book and immediately started it over. The words are so rich, the prose so powerful, the exploration of the human condition so intense, to not allow it to wash over me again would've been to deny myself the remarkable experience of being baptized in Baldwin. A sin.
To encounter a man who writes women with such agency, such complexity, such individuality is not just a rarity but a present gifted without expectation of compensation in return. As I watched the truth of Baldwin's women unfold, a deep disdain towards the misogyny of his white male contemporaries started brewing inside me. Ernest Hemingway, Philip Roth, Henry Miller, this 21st century female sees you and all that your tropey, trite women failed to capture.
For the bulk of this novel we are sitting in a church service and each of the principles are dipping into their own history, through varying timelines, and back to the Baptist revival occurring on stage before them. A similar structure (a day in the life replete with flashbacks) in Mrs. Dalloway confused, bored, and irritated me. But because each character in GTIOTM is given so much depth, and the backstory is revealed with such unflinching honesty, I was captivated. Riveted. Paralyzed. I can see where many have tried to emulate, but have failed to duplicate, the power of this story. If I read another novel packed with this much punch in 2021 it will be a stellar reading year indeed.
One day in the life of a 1930s pentecostal family in Harlem, centered around the eldest son, John, and how the perseverance of the Grimes family is knitted together by pain, loss, shame, sin, and an absolute need to bury the ugliness of their truth in God.
Can I give a book six ⭐?
Baldwin's manipulation of the English language is nothing short of exquisite. I read half this book and immediately started it over. The words are so rich, the prose so powerful, the exploration of the human condition so intense, to not allow it to wash over me again would've been to deny myself the remarkable experience of being baptized in Baldwin. A sin.
To encounter a man who writes women with such agency, such complexity, such individuality is not just a rarity but a present gifted without expectation of compensation in return. As I watched the truth of Baldwin's women unfold, a deep disdain towards the misogyny of his white male contemporaries started brewing inside me. Ernest Hemingway, Philip Roth, Henry Miller, this 21st century female sees you and all that your tropey, trite women failed to capture.
For the bulk of this novel we are sitting in a church service and each of the principles are dipping into their own history, through varying timelines, and back to the Baptist revival occurring on stage before them. A similar structure (a day in the life replete with flashbacks) in Mrs. Dalloway confused, bored, and irritated me. But because each character in GTIOTM is given so much depth, and the backstory is revealed with such unflinching honesty, I was captivated. Riveted. Paralyzed. I can see where many have tried to emulate, but have failed to duplicate, the power of this story. If I read another novel packed with this much punch in 2021 it will be a stellar reading year indeed.