Go Tell It on the Mountain (Vintage International)
One of the most brilliant and provocative American writers of the twentieth century chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention in this “truly extraordinary” novel (Chicago Sun-Times).
Baldwin's classic novel opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Originally published in 1953, Baldwin said of his first novel, "Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else."
Baldwin's classic novel opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin tells the story of the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Originally published in 1953, Baldwin said of his first novel, "Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else."
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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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