Giovanni's Room

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Classic / Baldwin, James	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fiction / Baldwin, James	4-week checkout	Due 03-03-2026
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Classic / Baldwin, James	4-week checkout	Due 01-30-2026
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / General / Baldwin, James	4-week checkout	Due 02-27-2026

"Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality"--Page 4 of cover.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Heartrending! A Literary Masterpiece! submitted by sVfGI7Glt2pz7GZgVB90 on July 10, 2020, 6:33am A slim, distressing novel about a young American in Paris who falls into a hopeless affair with an Italian bartender. The prose is incredibly graceful and the storyline as claustrophobic as Giovanni's room, wherein the two men find brief escape from the rest of the world and its expectations, but not from heartbreak.

Without doubt, written in 1956, this is one of the first novels that addresses homosexuality in a mature and intellectual manner.

Important, but not for me submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on July 16, 2024, 10:28pm I know that this book was written in a different time (1956), but I’m going to start right off with naming that it’s transphobic and misogynistic. Neither appealed to me. Add to that that the start of the book was all “tell” and very little “show,” and I had quite a hard time getting into the story line as well. Once there was more dialogue, the story moved along better, and I at least appreciated that. I can see why it was an important book in its time for exploring life as a gay man, and even why it’s important to read now for that historical context, but I didn’t particularly enjoy reading it.

OW submitted by domidio on July 2, 2025, 6:37pm MY HEART. IT HURTS. (seriously please read this book) Read this book for a creative writing class I took last semester. Even though the story was set up from the beginning to be tragic, I was still hurting all the way through. The compulsory heterosexuality addressed in the book had me screaming at the protagonist in disappointment throughout (although of course I understand the context of the time period!). Hurts so good. WILL be forcing my friend to read so I don't have to hurt alone.

Delightful submitted by ihanshue on July 5, 2025, 10:42pm A queer classic