Giovanni's Room

A Novel (Vintage International)

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.

©1956 James Baldwin (P)2024 Random House Audio

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

Heartbreaking

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

Beautiful writing.

I adore reading this type of thoughtful, deliberate writing. It's so fluid and eloquent. Matt Bomer did a bang up job. I haven't enjoyed a title this much in a long, long while.

beautiful read

this book was so eloquently written and is one of his best pieces of work

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.

Beautiful language and pacing - I couldn’t stop till it was done

This is a beautiful book, written in 1956. Never before have I understood the strength of desire and the impossible place society demands of us.

Not what I expected (no spoilers)

Started out in one direction and took a sharp turn. Really amazing book and Matt Bomer did a great job.

Finally got to it.

This has been in my wishlist for quite some time. I held off as many books from this era, especially those centered around love and relationships I find daunting to read. To my surprise I found this quite good. Having lived in Europe for a number of years I found the setting quite familiar and relatable. Characters came to life as they though they could be contemporary characters for the most part. given the books historical notoriety in the community I'm very pleased it's aged as well as it has.

Beautiful yet gut-wrenching story that dives headfirst into the complexities of love & sexuality.

This is book is a love letter, apology, vulnerable statement, and a warning.. all at once and without compromise ..not even compromising its "roughness" for the sake of likability or closure. I love this story even if David never loved himself.

Moving narrative told beautifully and spoken with skill.

A towering book. I so glad I read this. The characters are not always likable but they are uncomfortably honest. A well constructed short novel. The narrator is brilliant at moving through the characters with their many accents and personalities .