Go Tell It on the Mountain (Vintage International)
James Baldwin’s bestselling first novel—a coming-of-age story that depicts incredible resilience in pursuit of self-invention, now hailed as an American classic
“A novel of extraordinary sensitivity and poetry.”—Chicago Tribune
Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was James Baldwin’s first major work, based in part on his own childhood in Harlem. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage born of compassion, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal storefront church in Harlem. Baldwin’s rendering of a young person’s spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understood themselves.
“A novel of extraordinary sensitivity and poetry.”—Chicago Tribune
Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was James Baldwin’s first major work, based in part on his own childhood in Harlem. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage born of compassion, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal storefront church in Harlem. Baldwin’s rendering of a young person’s spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understood themselves.
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Community Reviews
Wow!
The book is a semi-autobiographical novel that deals with so much. The main thrust of the story concerns a black church in Harlem. In the novel it is portrayed as s source of hypocrisy and also a source of strength.
Baldwin weaves his story by focusing on different people in his novel.
The prose is excellent.
Racism is a constantly in the background. There are no good white people in this novel.
I think this is an important book. Many of the problems Baldwin mentions are still present today - e.g. racism, the moral failings of the church, and the irresponsibility and dishonesty of many men when it concerns their chlldren and the women they sleep with.
The book is a semi-autobiographical novel that deals with so much. The main thrust of the story concerns a black church in Harlem. In the novel it is portrayed as s source of hypocrisy and also a source of strength.
Baldwin weaves his story by focusing on different people in his novel.
The prose is excellent.
Racism is a constantly in the background. There are no good white people in this novel.
I think this is an important book. Many of the problems Baldwin mentions are still present today - e.g. racism, the moral failings of the church, and the irresponsibility and dishonesty of many men when it concerns their chlldren and the women they sleep with.
After Giovanni’s Room, I never intended to read another piece of long fiction from James Baldwin. I despised that book so much, it convinced me that he just wasn’t cut out for this medium. Man, am I glad I didn’t stick with that vow. Go Tell It on the Mountain is a really, really solid piece of writing. The characters are, for the most part, fully developed, complex, and interesting. And though it’s not a plot-driven novel, the inflection points of the plot did hold some real stakes for me as a reader. Moments like John’s ecstatic rebirth, Florence’s long-awaited confrontation of her brother, Gabriel’s fall from grace (in his own eyes, at least), the story of Elizabeth & Richard, etc.—they’re each so poignant, and so well written. I was captivated, time and again. I have a feeling I’ll be re-reading this, rare as that is for me, and I kind of can’t wait.
Read this a few months ago. I loved how Baldwin introduced each of his characters and how he went into the back stories of all the major characters to reveal their thoughts and motives behind their actions. Most parts of the novel were beautifully written but some parts I did have a hard time following. It is always a good choice to sit down with some of Baldwin's writing.
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