'for nothing is more unbearable, once one has it, than freedom.' - James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room Baldwin is everything. People are too various to be treated so lightly 'Giovanni's Room' is shortish-a manageable length, and I think a beautiful entry into the world of James Baldwin. For another reader, perhaps less of an issue.

He doesn't even pronounce the title character's name correctly sometimes he gets the name 'Guillaume' right but in the next paragraph he'll call the man 'Zhee-yome.' Etc.

I wish he'd taken the time to coach the French and get it right. He's such a believable, sympathetic reader. Sometimes I simply could not figure out what he was saying at all. It's not merely that he has an American accent. There is a lot of French in this book-most of it takes place in Paris, some in the south of France-and Butler has no idea how to pronounce the many, many French phrases. What's the catch? Something that could have been avoided, alas. He has good timing, he finds non-stagy ways to evoke the characters, and he turns Baldwin's novel into a subtle, powerful monologue. Dan Butler is a fine actor, and he doesn't fight the dolefulness of the book. But Baldwin describes everyone with such vivid detail that their dead-ends blaze in Technicolor. Every character is at some kind of impasse. The tone is unrelievedly elegiac the sad ending is announced at the very beginning, and there is precious little joy in the narrative. The writing is filled with beauty, the characters are potent and alive, and Baldwin's ability to evoke time and place (cities, seasons, an entire era) is masterful. I think 'Giovanni's Room' is a good way to get to know this extraordinary author. I'd never read any Baldwin and it was high time to fill in the gap.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin