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jazzy_daveJames Baldwin "If Beale Street Could Talk" (Penguin Books)
This is a harsh indictment of the American criminal justice system, a sad commentary on race relations in the U.S, and a beautiful love story. The novel is told in first person from the point of view of Tish, a 19-year-old woman living in the projects in early 1970’s Harlem. Tish finds she is pregnant with Fonny’s child shortly after he is carted off to jail for a crime he did not commit. The novel jumps back and forth between flashbacks that recount Tish and Fonny’s blossoming romance, and the present day, when Tish and her family are doing everything in their power to get Fonny out of jail, while attempting to manoeuvre in a system where everything is stacked against them– racist cops, crooked judges, expensive and untrustworthy lawyers, etc. While the novel is engaging and powerful (especially towards the end), it is definitely not one of Baldwin’s best. I believe its main flaw is that instead of letting the (very powerful) story do the talking, Tish frequently slips into Baldwin’s voice and pontificates on love, human nature, the American dream, etc. Granted, some of these passages are zingers, but they tend to disrupt the flow of the novel and are clearly coming from Baldwin, rather than the character we are supposed to believe is telling the story. I realize this is a fairly common criticism of Baldwin, but the phenomenon had not bothered me while reading his other novels. However, I found it to be especially pronounced in this one. If you have never read his fiction, please do not make this your first or only James Baldwin novel! It is certainly decent and addresses several very important issues that are still (unfortunately) relevant today.
This is a harsh indictment of the American criminal justice system, a sad commentary on race relations in the U.S, and a beautiful love story. The novel is told in first person from the point of view of Tish, a 19-year-old woman living in the projects in early 1970’s Harlem. Tish finds she is pregnant with Fonny’s child shortly after he is carted off to jail for a crime he did not commit. The novel jumps back and forth between flashbacks that recount Tish and Fonny’s blossoming romance, and the present day, when Tish and her family are doing everything in their power to get Fonny out of jail, while attempting to manoeuvre in a system where everything is stacked against them– racist cops, crooked judges, expensive and untrustworthy lawyers, etc. While the novel is engaging and powerful (especially towards the end), it is definitely not one of Baldwin’s best. I believe its main flaw is that instead of letting the (very powerful) story do the talking, Tish frequently slips into Baldwin’s voice and pontificates on love, human nature, the American dream, etc. Granted, some of these passages are zingers, but they tend to disrupt the flow of the novel and are clearly coming from Baldwin, rather than the character we are supposed to believe is telling the story. I realize this is a fairly common criticism of Baldwin, but the phenomenon had not bothered me while reading his other novels. However, I found it to be especially pronounced in this one. If you have never read his fiction, please do not make this your first or only James Baldwin novel! It is certainly decent and addresses several very important issues that are still (unfortunately) relevant today.
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