Go Tell It on the Mountain
Ratings73
Average rating3.9
Beautiful. I read this like I was possessed frankly. Things started picking up after Florence's story , and I loved Elizabeth so much and so deeply that I cried when she did.
Le premier roman de James Baldwin nous parle d'un adolescent afro-américain et de sa famille, dont son père pasteur. A travers les pensées de John et les souvenirs de son père, de sa mère, et de sa tante, nous suivons le destin des afro-américains dans la première moitié du XXe siècle, et le rôle essentiel que joue la religion dans leur vie.
Le récit est lent, certains diront qu'il ne s'y passe pas grand chose, mais c'est une plongée subtile et riche dans l'âme humaine, avec les contradictions qui nous animent sans doute tous. Un beau roman, assurément.
Short Thoughts. I need to read this again. This feels much more like Flannery O'Connor's ‘shouting when people are hard of hearing' than the other book of fiction I have read by Baldwin Giovanni's Room. Like O'Connor I mostly didn't like the characters and while I can understand motivation and the situation, it mostly makes me that harmed people harm others.
Baldwin is an incredible writer though. I am continually amazed at how he layers meaning and allusions. Here it is almost all biblical. I don't know how you would read this book without being very biblically literate.
This is just a book that requires more than one reading.
My longer thoughts are on my blog at http://bookwi.se/go-tell-it-on-the-mountain/
Beautifully heavy book. There was an air of doom around all the characters throughout the book, like everyone is living until that one mistake that would ruin them, and it didn't feel like the exception, but the rule of Black Americans during Jim Crow. Instead of the shackles of slavery, there was the shackles of family, of race, of the police, of white America, and of God. I felt like they were a people cursed, most probably because it was written in a way mimicking the language of the Bible. I don't know what to get from the ending though, it felt optimistic, but also delusional.
Will need to read up more on the book, and James Baldwin, it is after all semi-autobiographical. And I will definitely read his other books.
This is a fantastic story of love and faith and the challenges that come with them. While just a narrow glimpse into a few characters lives, Go Tell It On the Mountain is deep and cutting and leaves so much room for considering the counterfactual. What should/would he/she/you have done in the same situation. What is right? What is beautiful? What is love?
I'll admit that I've tried to read this book before, but I didn't get absorbed. The audiobook is something wholly other. The narrator does such a fantastic job breathing life into the characters and giving them the voices that I wanted but did not quite get right in my head for reading.
Literally can't get through a paragraph/a few sentences without encountering a heavy biblical reference. That made this a heavy and close(in the personal sense) read, but it was certainly worth wading through its depths.
Two hundred and fifteen monotonous pages of sermons, hymns, and Praise-Jesusing, and forty-seven compelling pages called “Elizabeth's Prayer”. Deeply unsatisfactory balance, that.
No doubt, James Baldwin had a mastery of the English language. There is a lilt to his words that echoes the classics of literature. With its religious theme, Go Tell It on the Mountain nearly comes across seamlessly as another testament of the Bible. I believe this was Baldwin's intention, but if not he succeeded without trying. Though the tone emulates the best of the Biblical narrative, it rarely gets bogged down by the parts that are best skimmed. There is poetry in these pages, though the format is strictly narrative.
As a reader, however, my attention was lost in the massive section of backstory placed in the middle of the story; backstory that takes up over half of the entire novel. Now, I'm not a flashback hater. I have no issue with backstory if it is implemented well. But the backstory in Go Tell It on the Mountain goes on much too long and isn't completely necessary for the story of young John. Sure, it gives some indication of what John was born into and how he's been shaped, but it doesn't forward his story; it only sets the foundation. The story of John is packed so deeply in the story of his family and buried beneath Biblical allegory that I felt, in the end, I didn't know John. And that's unfortunate because John seemed like he might have been an interesting individual.
I hate not enjoying a classic, especially one with so much of importance to say, but I failed to find the story here. Go Tell It on the Mountain is a beautiful hymn that is likely a prelude to a compilation of many wonderful works. I recognize Baldwin's talent, but I think he spent too much time in the past with this novel. I want to see a more forward-thinking Baldwin. Judging by his life, I know he had it in him; I just need to find the work that exemplifies this character.
If you are religious, or ever have been, read this book. It's the story of a pentecostal family and their relationship with our good friend Human Nature. The conflict between onset righteousness brought on by experiences of religious euphoria and our tendency to act on our base desires is richly and fairly represented on both sides of the spectrum. The fluid way the story spans places and generations and the biblical rhythm it's in told in draws you in and holds your attention. It is layered enough to easily merit re-reading.
I was so impressed by how the layers of this family unfolded through the book, and how the perspective of each family member brought more depth and new insight into their history.
Goodreads says I read this book in 2011, but honestly, I have no recollection of it. I might have found it too difficult–the religion makes it kind of a slog–but this time I listened to the audiobook and also consulted the physical copy I still have. But I'm upgrading my reaction from Meh to Wow. It's clear at the outset that this is John's story–the boy who is turning 14–but we also have long sections focusing on the stories of his mother, aunt, and step-father, all of which are revealing of the racism in the south during this period. Eventually the narrative circles back to John. Beautiful. (The narration of the audiobook by Adam Lazarre-White is a little slow-paced for me, but otherwise excellent.)