Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Dell Publishing (1974), Mass Market Paperback, 221 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. HTML: James Baldwin's stunning first novel is now an American classic. With startling realism that brings Harlem and the black experience vividly to life, this is a work that touches the heart with emotion while it stimulates the mind with its narrative style, symbolism, and excoriating vision of racism in America. Moving through time from the rural South to the northern ghetto, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Go Tell it on the Mountain is an unsurpassed portrayal of human beings caught up in a dramatic struggle and of a society confronting inevitable change..
User reviews
LibraryThing member JanetinLondon
[Go Tell it on the Mountain] is a beautifully written book, with interesting and complex characters and good stories, and it gave me an understanding of a life and culture very different from my own. What more could one want from a book?
John is 14, the son of a preacher, and is being brought up in
The rest of the book takes place during a long night of prayer, alternating between John’s desperate struggle to find his salvation, and the inner thoughts of his family as they and the other church members support him. Three long sections exploring the thoughts of his aunt, father and mother are punctuated occasionally by John’s progress – first he prays, then he sings, he cries, and finally he falls into a religious trance. The final section depicts John’s religious experience during the trance, and his subsequent rebirth in the church.
The writing in this book is amazing, the style reflecting the situation or actions being described. When characters think about religion, or when they are taking part in religious ceremonies, or even just when speaking to each other in that sort of sanctimonious way some churches have, the language is very biblical – they are constantly saying things like “the Lord shall provide”, or “Praise the Lord”. John thinks about another young man in the church who has been “saved” – “The Lord had lifted him up, and turned him around, and set his feet on the shining way.” But when the characters are thinking about their past lives and guilty secrets, or for characters such as John’s brother, who isn’t religious, the language is very different, shorter, punchier, slangier, sadder (because generally sad things happened to them). In the intro to my edition, Andrew O’Hagan suggests this is the language of the blues. In the final section, though, describing John’s journey to “the depths” and back, I felt the language was much weaker, which was a shame.
Overall, I was left with a real feeling of why a young man like John might freely choose such a restrictive, self-denying, even abusive way of life. No matter how unfriendly the world outside, in here they can find solace, redemption, friendship, peace, at no matter what the cost. On balance, then, a really fascinating and moving book even if, like me, you have no experience and little empathy with this type of religion.
John is 14, the son of a preacher, and is being brought up in
Show More
a strict evangelical Christian community in Harlem in the 1930’s. The community expects great things of him, and he himself hopes desperately for a religious epiphany so he can become “saved” and devote himself wholeheartedly to the church. His path is complicated, though, by his hatred for his autocratic, bullying, aggressive and uncompromising father, who is all mixed up with God, authority, acceptance, forgiveness, redemption, etc., in John’s mind. The first section of the book describes John’s daily life – his family, outwardly righteous but with violence and hypocrisy at its heart, his daily struggles at school and on the streets, and his church, whose rituals are described in great detail. The poverty, racism and frustration of the community’s everyday existence is clear, and goes a long way towards understanding why the church gives them such solace.The rest of the book takes place during a long night of prayer, alternating between John’s desperate struggle to find his salvation, and the inner thoughts of his family as they and the other church members support him. Three long sections exploring the thoughts of his aunt, father and mother are punctuated occasionally by John’s progress – first he prays, then he sings, he cries, and finally he falls into a religious trance. The final section depicts John’s religious experience during the trance, and his subsequent rebirth in the church.
The writing in this book is amazing, the style reflecting the situation or actions being described. When characters think about religion, or when they are taking part in religious ceremonies, or even just when speaking to each other in that sort of sanctimonious way some churches have, the language is very biblical – they are constantly saying things like “the Lord shall provide”, or “Praise the Lord”. John thinks about another young man in the church who has been “saved” – “The Lord had lifted him up, and turned him around, and set his feet on the shining way.” But when the characters are thinking about their past lives and guilty secrets, or for characters such as John’s brother, who isn’t religious, the language is very different, shorter, punchier, slangier, sadder (because generally sad things happened to them). In the intro to my edition, Andrew O’Hagan suggests this is the language of the blues. In the final section, though, describing John’s journey to “the depths” and back, I felt the language was much weaker, which was a shame.
Overall, I was left with a real feeling of why a young man like John might freely choose such a restrictive, self-denying, even abusive way of life. No matter how unfriendly the world outside, in here they can find solace, redemption, friendship, peace, at no matter what the cost. On balance, then, a really fascinating and moving book even if, like me, you have no experience and little empathy with this type of religion.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kambrogi
This American literary classic has the capacity to blow your mind as thoroughly today as it did in 1952. Told alternately through the eyes of 14-year-old John, his father, his mother and his aunt, Baldwin sketches in a brutal and uplifting family tale that is so much more than the sum of its parts.
Show More
It takes us all the way from the Middle Passage to the Great Migration, the two most important journeys of the African American people, by gathering together the small events and massive secrets that are carried in the hearts of its characters. As we read our way through an evangelical church service that moves each of its members, we are enlightened again and again by their travels back in time. We discover why the father seems so cold, what the aunt has lost, when the mother found herself so bereft, and ultimately how John can be saved. In only 226 pages, Baldwin’s first novel tells a story as huge as America, and every American inclined to meditate on who we are should read it. Show Less
LibraryThing member brenzi
So many good books, amazing books, recommended by people here on LT whose judgment I trust, sit neglected for years on my shelves. This is one such book. James Baldwin, a prolific writer whose 20th century prose brought him well-deserved fame and glory, published this, his first novel, which is
Baldwin explores the history of John’s father’s (Gabriel) life as well as his mother’s (Elizabeth) and Gabriel’s sister Florence. All three have come north to Harlem as part of the Great Migration and Baldwin’s poetic yet brutal prose brings to life the lives of John and his family. As Elizabeth’s story is being revealed she admits that the escape from the South may not have been all she had hoped:
”There was not, after all, a great difference between the world of the North and that of the South which she had fled; there was only this difference: the North promised more. And this similarity: what it promised it did not give and what it gave, at length and grudgingly with one hand, it took back with the other.” (Page 164)
Baldwin hones his themes of identity, religion, race and coming of age beautifully and gracefully and I found myself turning pages late into the night. Very highly recommended.
Show More
semi-autobiographical, in 1952. It is the story of John Grimes, a fourteen year old black boy who is struggling because of the abusive treatment by his father and the religious awakening actually brought on by his father’s insistence on the Bible as a way of life for the family with many hours a week spent in church.Baldwin explores the history of John’s father’s (Gabriel) life as well as his mother’s (Elizabeth) and Gabriel’s sister Florence. All three have come north to Harlem as part of the Great Migration and Baldwin’s poetic yet brutal prose brings to life the lives of John and his family. As Elizabeth’s story is being revealed she admits that the escape from the South may not have been all she had hoped:
”There was not, after all, a great difference between the world of the North and that of the South which she had fled; there was only this difference: the North promised more. And this similarity: what it promised it did not give and what it gave, at length and grudgingly with one hand, it took back with the other.” (Page 164)
Baldwin hones his themes of identity, religion, race and coming of age beautifully and gracefully and I found myself turning pages late into the night. Very highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
"Go Tell It On the Mountain" is a difficult novel to read and a difficult novel to write about. I came to it, I suppose, expecting something like Richard Wright's "Native Son" or Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," explicitly political mid-century novels by black Americans which pressaged the civil
Baldwin is also a thrillingly good writer, delivering his narrative in spare, forceful, hard-edged prose, but he's not your average short-sentence minimalist. He's also capable of borrowing the sway and power of biblical language without making his prose seem stuffy or grandiose, a feat only the best writers are able to pull off. I'm not surprised that Norman Mailer saw fit to call Baldwin one of America's few real writers. Baldwin's almost unbelievably ambitious, too, taking on the impossible job of describing a mystical experience at length -- and perhaps even succeeding -- while at the same time questioning religion's central role in the lives of his characters. "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is a slow, difficult book; I had to double-back several times while reading it and knew before I finished it that it deserved a re-reading. Still, Baldwin leaves no doubt that he can write rings around most of the authors on your bookshelf. I've certainly read more enjoyable novels than this one, but the combination of talent and skill that Baldwin displays in "Go Tell It On the Mountain" left me impressed, almost awestruck. Highly recommended.
Show More
rights movement. "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is something else, a more personal, inward-looking book that spends more time looking at the ways in which poverty and social injustice grind people down than describing the social injustice itself. There are, in a other words, very few white people and a whole lot of sadness to be found in this novel's pages. Most of Baldwin's characters have been through the worst that life can offer, and, Baldwin bucks modern literary expectations by showing that these experiences haven't made all of his characters wiser or stronger. Many of the people we meet in "Go Tell It On the Mountain" lead small, sorrowful, or tortured existences, stuck on the periphery of the communities that are supposed to support them. Baldwin is also a thrillingly good writer, delivering his narrative in spare, forceful, hard-edged prose, but he's not your average short-sentence minimalist. He's also capable of borrowing the sway and power of biblical language without making his prose seem stuffy or grandiose, a feat only the best writers are able to pull off. I'm not surprised that Norman Mailer saw fit to call Baldwin one of America's few real writers. Baldwin's almost unbelievably ambitious, too, taking on the impossible job of describing a mystical experience at length -- and perhaps even succeeding -- while at the same time questioning religion's central role in the lives of his characters. "Go Tell It On the Mountain" is a slow, difficult book; I had to double-back several times while reading it and knew before I finished it that it deserved a re-reading. Still, Baldwin leaves no doubt that he can write rings around most of the authors on your bookshelf. I've certainly read more enjoyable novels than this one, but the combination of talent and skill that Baldwin displays in "Go Tell It On the Mountain" left me impressed, almost awestruck. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
This book is purportedly the story of 14-year-old John on his birthday but I found the flashbacks telling the stories of John's aunt, father and mother were the most interesting parts of the book. In particular, I found the final section in which John is "saved" during a church service bewildering
Show More
-- are the type of hallucinations John has normal for a spiritual rebirth? Show Less
LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
When I was vacationing in Chicago recently, I went to a used bookstore and saw some James Baldwin books. I've heard many good things about him, so I decided to get this book... an old paperback edition (not the white one pictured above) for $5.
The next morning, flipping through my stack of newly
('For Jimmy or be that James: Peace, James Baldwin')
So I felt like it was fate that brought this book into my hands, this book which had as its subject matter: fate. So what could it mean? What is the universe trying to tell me? Am I looking at a double fucking rainbow? ;) "The distant gramophone stuck now, suddenly, on a grinding, wailing, sardonic trumpet-note; this blind, ugly crying swelled the moment and filled the room. She looked down at John. A hand somewhere struck the gramophone arm and sent the silver needle on its way through the whirling, black grooves, like something bobbing, anchorless, in the middle of the sea." p. 219.What I love about this book, and what I feel a lot of people reviewing this book on Goodreads have misinterpreted about it, is that this book does not have an agenda on race, religion, class, violence, or sexuality. This book is about these things, but they are never in the driver's seat, because the characters are. The characters are the glue between the interconnectedness of race and religion and class and violence and sexuality, and they show how out of these things arises an insurmountable complexity, an ambiguous amorphous blob of feelings. It is precisely the ability to live within the complexity of these feelings instead of reducing it into the simplicity of judgement that great writers are great. By the end of this book, the reader feels just as ambiguous about God as the characters do. Is the (thing that happens at the end) a good or a bad thing? It is neither, rather it is a complicated mess of feelings that cannot be untied into good or bad.
If you understand how complex things are in the real world, it is hard not to feel empathy for those who must live it. That is why the characters are also neither good nor bad. They are human, and thus, imperfect. Baldwin is a master at inhabiting their headspaces, filling out the history of each character so completely and humanely that it is hard not to feel empathy for each character, even the ones that have done awful things. In fact, the whole book is an exercise in empathy, and that is, in my opinion, the highest aim for any artist.
Of course, I haven't even touched on the attention and quality of the actual words that make up his sentences. Here is a sample excerpt. Note how the lyrical rhythm drives the narrative and vice versa. Also note how he tells more than shows, thus dismantling the "show don't tell" adage (which was never a good rule anyway, except for those aiming for mediocrity, which seems to be all we're willing to aim for these days):God was everywhere, terrible, the living God; and so high, the song said, you couldn't get over Him; so low you couldn't get under Him; so wide you couldn't get around Him; but must come in at the door.
And she, she knew today that door; a living, wrathful gate. She knew through what fires the soul must crawl, and with what weeping one passed over. Men spoke of how the heart broke up, but never spoke of how the soul hung speechless in the pause, the void, the terror between the living and the dead; how, all garments rent and cast aside, the naked soul passed over the very mouth of Hell. Once there, there was no turning back; once there, the soul remembered, though the heart sometimes forgot. For the world called to the heart, which stammered to reply; life, and love, and revelry, and, most falsely, hope, called the forgetful, the human heart. Only the soul, obsessed with the journey it had made, and had still to make, pursued its mysterious and dreadful end; and carried heavy with weeping and bitterness, the heart along.
And therefore there was war in Heaven, and weeping before the throne: the heart chained to the soul, and the soul imprisoned within the flesh--a weeping, a confusion, and a weight unendurable filled all the earth. Only the love of God could establish order in this chaos; to Him the soul must turn to be delivered.
But what a turning! How could she fail to pray that He would have mercy on her son, and spare him the sin-born anguish of his father and his mother. And that his heart might know a little joy before the long bitterness descended.
SPOILER ALERT:
For those who criticize the end of the book for its convenience/believability: I think what Baldwin is getting at here is that the conversion is not a willful choice. Johnny does not choose to be converted. Of course, the conversion is hard to believe for skeptics of religion, but I think you have to go in with the attitude that Baldwin himself is skeptical of religion, but he is also a believer, at least on some level, i.e. he might not believe religion is always a force for good, but he damn well believes that it is a force. Whether you believe it is the holy spirit or the atmosphere or voodoo does not matter, things like this do happen, and the fact that Johnny's whole life has been steered in this direction doesn't help. It is almost like his own reluctance is no match for the fate of all the history that has brought him to this point in time.
It is also brilliant how the conversion is shown in this light… where it wavers between a joyous event and a thing that is inevitable, like a well-set trap… down a long dark road that has no good end. This ominousness goes along with the joy and tempers it, makes it such a great, ambiguous ending. You get a sense that this is just the beginning of a long hard journey for John.
The next morning, flipping through my stack of newly
Show More
purchased books, I noticed to my amazement that this book was signed! And signed "For Jimmy". Unbelievable:('For Jimmy or be that James: Peace, James Baldwin')
So I felt like it was fate that brought this book into my hands, this book which had as its subject matter: fate. So what could it mean? What is the universe trying to tell me? Am I looking at a double fucking rainbow? ;) "The distant gramophone stuck now, suddenly, on a grinding, wailing, sardonic trumpet-note; this blind, ugly crying swelled the moment and filled the room. She looked down at John. A hand somewhere struck the gramophone arm and sent the silver needle on its way through the whirling, black grooves, like something bobbing, anchorless, in the middle of the sea." p. 219.What I love about this book, and what I feel a lot of people reviewing this book on Goodreads have misinterpreted about it, is that this book does not have an agenda on race, religion, class, violence, or sexuality. This book is about these things, but they are never in the driver's seat, because the characters are. The characters are the glue between the interconnectedness of race and religion and class and violence and sexuality, and they show how out of these things arises an insurmountable complexity, an ambiguous amorphous blob of feelings. It is precisely the ability to live within the complexity of these feelings instead of reducing it into the simplicity of judgement that great writers are great. By the end of this book, the reader feels just as ambiguous about God as the characters do. Is the (thing that happens at the end) a good or a bad thing? It is neither, rather it is a complicated mess of feelings that cannot be untied into good or bad.
If you understand how complex things are in the real world, it is hard not to feel empathy for those who must live it. That is why the characters are also neither good nor bad. They are human, and thus, imperfect. Baldwin is a master at inhabiting their headspaces, filling out the history of each character so completely and humanely that it is hard not to feel empathy for each character, even the ones that have done awful things. In fact, the whole book is an exercise in empathy, and that is, in my opinion, the highest aim for any artist.
Of course, I haven't even touched on the attention and quality of the actual words that make up his sentences. Here is a sample excerpt. Note how the lyrical rhythm drives the narrative and vice versa. Also note how he tells more than shows, thus dismantling the "show don't tell" adage (which was never a good rule anyway, except for those aiming for mediocrity, which seems to be all we're willing to aim for these days):God was everywhere, terrible, the living God; and so high, the song said, you couldn't get over Him; so low you couldn't get under Him; so wide you couldn't get around Him; but must come in at the door.
And she, she knew today that door; a living, wrathful gate. She knew through what fires the soul must crawl, and with what weeping one passed over. Men spoke of how the heart broke up, but never spoke of how the soul hung speechless in the pause, the void, the terror between the living and the dead; how, all garments rent and cast aside, the naked soul passed over the very mouth of Hell. Once there, there was no turning back; once there, the soul remembered, though the heart sometimes forgot. For the world called to the heart, which stammered to reply; life, and love, and revelry, and, most falsely, hope, called the forgetful, the human heart. Only the soul, obsessed with the journey it had made, and had still to make, pursued its mysterious and dreadful end; and carried heavy with weeping and bitterness, the heart along.
And therefore there was war in Heaven, and weeping before the throne: the heart chained to the soul, and the soul imprisoned within the flesh--a weeping, a confusion, and a weight unendurable filled all the earth. Only the love of God could establish order in this chaos; to Him the soul must turn to be delivered.
But what a turning! How could she fail to pray that He would have mercy on her son, and spare him the sin-born anguish of his father and his mother. And that his heart might know a little joy before the long bitterness descended.
SPOILER ALERT:
For those who criticize the end of the book for its convenience/believability: I think what Baldwin is getting at here is that the conversion is not a willful choice. Johnny does not choose to be converted. Of course, the conversion is hard to believe for skeptics of religion, but I think you have to go in with the attitude that Baldwin himself is skeptical of religion, but he is also a believer, at least on some level, i.e. he might not believe religion is always a force for good, but he damn well believes that it is a force. Whether you believe it is the holy spirit or the atmosphere or voodoo does not matter, things like this do happen, and the fact that Johnny's whole life has been steered in this direction doesn't help. It is almost like his own reluctance is no match for the fate of all the history that has brought him to this point in time.
It is also brilliant how the conversion is shown in this light… where it wavers between a joyous event and a thing that is inevitable, like a well-set trap… down a long dark road that has no good end. This ominousness goes along with the joy and tempers it, makes it such a great, ambiguous ending. You get a sense that this is just the beginning of a long hard journey for John.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Narshkite
Gutting, painful, agonizing, true, important and beautifully written. Page after page of perfectly constructed bits of language linked into perfect passages. Language that is haunting and poetic and lovely until it registers that the pretty words are conveying things so horrible and rank and
This addresses all the big subjects. Race is front and center, but the oppression of women is right there next to it tied with the minimization of those who are not heterosexual and on the gender binary. And then there are subjects like love and sex and faith and secrets and the unremitting anger and fear that alter your genetic code. Everyone is in pain, in pain all the damn time until they are so broken they die or lose the capacity to feel. I know things now, after reading this, that I did not know, and they are true. I do not doubt their truth for a moment. Part of me did not want to know what I know now, but I needed to know. Everyone should read this book. I would actually like to strap down the current US President in a sort of Clockwork Orange scenario and make him listen to the audiobook (I am not convinced DJT can read text) over and over because this is transformative writing with the potential to change all whom it touches.
Show More
hideous it hurts to read and understand them. The hand of God is in this writing. Not the shiny happy God, the unforgiving, cruel God. The God who made Abraham drag Isaac up the mountain believing he had to murder he whom he loved most, but this God never stopped that act. This addresses all the big subjects. Race is front and center, but the oppression of women is right there next to it tied with the minimization of those who are not heterosexual and on the gender binary. And then there are subjects like love and sex and faith and secrets and the unremitting anger and fear that alter your genetic code. Everyone is in pain, in pain all the damn time until they are so broken they die or lose the capacity to feel. I know things now, after reading this, that I did not know, and they are true. I do not doubt their truth for a moment. Part of me did not want to know what I know now, but I needed to know. Everyone should read this book. I would actually like to strap down the current US President in a sort of Clockwork Orange scenario and make him listen to the audiobook (I am not convinced DJT can read text) over and over because this is transformative writing with the potential to change all whom it touches.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jscape2000
Fantastic family drama. A family’s history unfurls slowly over the course of a day in the Pentecostal church. Baldwin’s characters speak the Bible fluidly, and weave it through America’s history of racism.
LibraryThing member Sean191
Not every writer has his or her first novel become a classic. James Baldwin is among a select few, with good reason.
Go Tell It on the Mountain is powerful, heartbreaking, heartbreaking powerful and powerfully heartbreaking. It gives a glimpse into a American past that many don't remember, some
Not bad for a first novel.
Go Tell It on the Mountain is powerful, heartbreaking, heartbreaking powerful and powerfully heartbreaking. It gives a glimpse into a American past that many don't remember, some
Show More
can't and others are still living. It gives insight into the hypocrisy of faith, while at the same time reaffirming the power of pure faith. It does the same with love, race and social class. Not bad for a first novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
I found this a really powerful novel. Looks at the life of a young intelligent African American John and his relationship with his father and the church. Simply written but very moving for me.
LibraryThing member roblong
Very intense, and a fascinating insight into a way of life and a point in time. The novel introduces John, a 14-year-old boy supposedly destined to be a preacher, like his father – a man he fears and hates. John’s father Gabriel is a fire and brimstone preacher who beats his sons and spreads
Show More
terror everywhere he goes. Gabriel’s previous life, and that of his wife and his sister, are told in flashbacks that show how the family have got to this point. The book is set in 1935, and the older generation are all escapees of the South, born to parents who had lived in slavery. The first section in particular I thought was amazing, it really grabbed me from page 1, and barely let up until the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member kishields
Beautifully written, psychologically sharp and sociologically perceptive portrait of the coming of age of a young man in the streets of Harlem. Published in 1953, the book captures the oppressive and hypocritical power of religion among the poor black communities of both the South and New York
Show More
City. At the same time, it illustrates why the two communities are drawn to the church, because of the sometimes transformative, even redemptive, power of its community and its practices. The women in the book suffer and bring their pain and shame to the church, hoping for redemption. The men either want nothing to do with religion, or use it to puff themselves up and crush those around them. The children offer the most hope for reconciliation between the church and the world. To avoid spoilers, I won't talk about the ending, but I will say that I admired the book most for the beauty of its style and its vivid portrayal of a number of very different characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
When I was vacationing in Chicago recently, I went to a used bookstore and saw some James Baldwin books. I've heard many good things about him, so I decided to get this book... an old paperback edition (not the white one pictured above) for $5.
The next morning, flipping through my stack of newly
So I felt like it was fate that brought this book into my hands, this book which had as its subject matter: fate. So what could it mean? What is the universe trying to tell me? Am I looking at a double fucking rainbow? ;)
"The distant gramophone stuck now, suddenly, on a grinding, wailing, sardonic trumpet-note; this blind, ugly crying swelled the moment and filled the room. She looked down at John. A hand somewhere struck the gramophone arm and sent the silver needle on its way through the whirling, black grooves, like something bobbing, anchorless, in the middle of the sea." p. 219.
What I love about this book, and what I feel a lot of people reviewing this book on Goodreads have misinterpreted about it, is that this book does not have an agenda on race, religion, class, violence, or sexuality. This book is about these things, but they are never in the driver's seat, because the characters are. The characters are the glue between the interconnectedness of race and religion and class and violence and sexuality, and they show how out of these things arises an insurmountable complexity, an ambiguous amorphous blob of feelings. It is precisely the ability to live within the complexity of these feelings instead of reducing it into the simplicity of judgement that great writers are great. By the end of this book, the reader feels just as ambiguous about God as the characters do. Is the (thing that happens at the end) a good or a bad thing? It is neither, rather it is a complicated mess of feelings that cannot be untied into good or bad.
If you understand how complex things are in the real world, it is hard not to feel empathy for those who must live it. That is why the characters are also neither good nor bad. They are human, and thus, imperfect. Baldwin is a master at inhabiting their headspaces, filling out the history of each character so completely and humanely that it is hard not to feel empathy for each character, even the ones that have done awful things. In fact, the whole book is an exercise in empathy, and that is, in my opinion, the highest aim for any artist.
Of course, I haven't even touched on the attention and quality of the actual words that make up his sentences. Here is a sample excerpt. Note how the lyrical rhythm drives the narrative and vice versa. Also note how he tells more than shows, thus dismantling the "show don't tell" adage (which was never a good rule anyway, except for those aiming for mediocrity, which seems to be all we're willing to aim for these days):
"God was everywhere, terrible, the living God; and so high, the song said, you couldn't get over Him; so low you couldn't get under Him; so wide you couldn't get around Him; but must come in at the door.
"And she, she knew today that door; a living, wrathful gate. She knew through what fires the soul must crawl, and with what weeping one passed over. Men spoke of how the heart broke up, but never spoke of how the soul hung speechless in the pause, the void, the terror between the living and the dead; how, all garments rent and cast aside, the naked soul passed over the very mouth of Hell. Once there, there was no turning back; once there, the soul remembered, though the heart sometimes forgot. For the world called to the heart, which stammered to reply; life, and love, and revelry, and, most falsely, hope, called the forgetful, the human heart. Only the soul, obsessed with the journey it had made, and had still to make, pursued its mysterious and dreadful end; and carried heavy with weeping and bitterness, the heart along.
"And therefore there was war in Heaven, and weeping before the throne: the heart chained to the soul, and the soul imprisoned within the flesh--a weeping, a confusion, and a weight unendurable filled all the earth. Only the love of God could establish order in this chaos; to Him the soul must turn to be delivered.
"But what a turning! How could she fail to pray that He would have mercy on her son, and spare him the sin-born anguish of his father and his mother. And that his heart might know a little joy before the long bitterness descended."
SPOILER ALERT:
For those who criticize the end of the book for its convenience/believability: I think what Baldwin is getting at here is that the conversion is not a willful choice. Johnny does not choose to be converted. Of course, the conversion is hard to believe for skeptics of religion, but I think you have to go in with the attitude that Baldwin himself is skeptical of religion, but he is also a believer, at least on some level, i.e. he might not believe religion is always a force for good, but he damn well believes that it is a force. Whether you believe it is the holy spirit or the atmosphere or voodoo does not matter, things like this do happen, and the fact that Johnny's whole life has been steered in this direction doesn't help. It is almost like his own reluctance is no match for the fate of all the history that has brought him to this point in time.
It is also brilliant how the conversion is shown in this light… where it wavers between a joyous event and a thing that is inevitable, like a well-set trap… down a long dark road that has no good end. This ominousness goes along with the joy and tempers it, makes it such a great, ambiguous ending. You get a sense that this is just the beginning of a long hard journey for John.
The next morning, flipping through my stack of newly
Show More
purchased books, I noticed to my amazement that this book was signed! And signed "For Jimmy". Unbelievable.So I felt like it was fate that brought this book into my hands, this book which had as its subject matter: fate. So what could it mean? What is the universe trying to tell me? Am I looking at a double fucking rainbow? ;)
"The distant gramophone stuck now, suddenly, on a grinding, wailing, sardonic trumpet-note; this blind, ugly crying swelled the moment and filled the room. She looked down at John. A hand somewhere struck the gramophone arm and sent the silver needle on its way through the whirling, black grooves, like something bobbing, anchorless, in the middle of the sea." p. 219.
What I love about this book, and what I feel a lot of people reviewing this book on Goodreads have misinterpreted about it, is that this book does not have an agenda on race, religion, class, violence, or sexuality. This book is about these things, but they are never in the driver's seat, because the characters are. The characters are the glue between the interconnectedness of race and religion and class and violence and sexuality, and they show how out of these things arises an insurmountable complexity, an ambiguous amorphous blob of feelings. It is precisely the ability to live within the complexity of these feelings instead of reducing it into the simplicity of judgement that great writers are great. By the end of this book, the reader feels just as ambiguous about God as the characters do. Is the (thing that happens at the end) a good or a bad thing? It is neither, rather it is a complicated mess of feelings that cannot be untied into good or bad.
If you understand how complex things are in the real world, it is hard not to feel empathy for those who must live it. That is why the characters are also neither good nor bad. They are human, and thus, imperfect. Baldwin is a master at inhabiting their headspaces, filling out the history of each character so completely and humanely that it is hard not to feel empathy for each character, even the ones that have done awful things. In fact, the whole book is an exercise in empathy, and that is, in my opinion, the highest aim for any artist.
Of course, I haven't even touched on the attention and quality of the actual words that make up his sentences. Here is a sample excerpt. Note how the lyrical rhythm drives the narrative and vice versa. Also note how he tells more than shows, thus dismantling the "show don't tell" adage (which was never a good rule anyway, except for those aiming for mediocrity, which seems to be all we're willing to aim for these days):
"God was everywhere, terrible, the living God; and so high, the song said, you couldn't get over Him; so low you couldn't get under Him; so wide you couldn't get around Him; but must come in at the door.
"And she, she knew today that door; a living, wrathful gate. She knew through what fires the soul must crawl, and with what weeping one passed over. Men spoke of how the heart broke up, but never spoke of how the soul hung speechless in the pause, the void, the terror between the living and the dead; how, all garments rent and cast aside, the naked soul passed over the very mouth of Hell. Once there, there was no turning back; once there, the soul remembered, though the heart sometimes forgot. For the world called to the heart, which stammered to reply; life, and love, and revelry, and, most falsely, hope, called the forgetful, the human heart. Only the soul, obsessed with the journey it had made, and had still to make, pursued its mysterious and dreadful end; and carried heavy with weeping and bitterness, the heart along.
"And therefore there was war in Heaven, and weeping before the throne: the heart chained to the soul, and the soul imprisoned within the flesh--a weeping, a confusion, and a weight unendurable filled all the earth. Only the love of God could establish order in this chaos; to Him the soul must turn to be delivered.
"But what a turning! How could she fail to pray that He would have mercy on her son, and spare him the sin-born anguish of his father and his mother. And that his heart might know a little joy before the long bitterness descended."
SPOILER ALERT:
For those who criticize the end of the book for its convenience/believability: I think what Baldwin is getting at here is that the conversion is not a willful choice. Johnny does not choose to be converted. Of course, the conversion is hard to believe for skeptics of religion, but I think you have to go in with the attitude that Baldwin himself is skeptical of religion, but he is also a believer, at least on some level, i.e. he might not believe religion is always a force for good, but he damn well believes that it is a force. Whether you believe it is the holy spirit or the atmosphere or voodoo does not matter, things like this do happen, and the fact that Johnny's whole life has been steered in this direction doesn't help. It is almost like his own reluctance is no match for the fate of all the history that has brought him to this point in time.
It is also brilliant how the conversion is shown in this light… where it wavers between a joyous event and a thing that is inevitable, like a well-set trap… down a long dark road that has no good end. This ominousness goes along with the joy and tempers it, makes it such a great, ambiguous ending. You get a sense that this is just the beginning of a long hard journey for John.
Show Less
LibraryThing member andreablythe
It's hard to sum up Go Tell it on the Mountain, which is in part about 14 year old John Grimes and his rough home life, how he longs to escape the path his preacher father walked and find another kind of living that still escapes sin. It's also about John's the spiritual awakening one night while
Religion is a major theme of this book; it's at the periphery of every scene and sometimes right out front. It brushes against the Christian faith, sits with it, lives in it, while at the same time showing some of the hypocrisy of those who preach it.
The novel unfolds somewhat like a poem, in that it doesn't follow a straight linear thread. Rather it relies on image, tone, and symbolism as it moves from scene to scene. The language is lyrical and vivid, thick with emotion, and like a poem I had to sit with it for a moment and try to absorb what I could. It's a book I'll return to again, to read and see what else I might discover.
Highly recommended.
Show More
nearby his father, mother, and aunt each say their own prayers and remember their own lives. Religion is a major theme of this book; it's at the periphery of every scene and sometimes right out front. It brushes against the Christian faith, sits with it, lives in it, while at the same time showing some of the hypocrisy of those who preach it.
The novel unfolds somewhat like a poem, in that it doesn't follow a straight linear thread. Rather it relies on image, tone, and symbolism as it moves from scene to scene. The language is lyrical and vivid, thick with emotion, and like a poem I had to sit with it for a moment and try to absorb what I could. It's a book I'll return to again, to read and see what else I might discover.
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member suesbooks
I really liked the writing in this book and frequently trying to figure out who was the narrator. I also thought the descriptions, especially of hopeless, inner feelings was empathically represented. I so wish we could say this book is not relevant today, but of course it is very relevant.
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
A fascinating intersection of race, family, faith, and sexuality. Baldwin's prose is image-driven and vivid, if a bit abstract.
LibraryThing member AntT
The first Baldwin book I read, and the experience remains with me.
LibraryThing member amerynth
What I liked most about James Baldwins' novel "Go Tell it on the Mountain" was that it had a rawness to it that made it feel like a true story (and after reading, I learned it was indeed semi-autobiographical. The characters are really rich, troubled and vibrant, which made for an interesting
In the novel, John is turning 14 and coming into his own, just as his family hoped by becoming saved and starting down the path toward becoming a preacher. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of his stepfather, a tyrannical man who is physically abusive in the hopes of saving people to being sinners. John is trying to reconcile his relationship with God with his relationship with the imperfect man who brings God to his doorstep each Sunday (and beyond.)
At times this was a tough read because the characters had such a realness to them, and they all were fairly unhappy. Although this is heavy on religion, which isn't typically a favorite topic for me, I liked this book a lot because the characters were so well drawn.
Show More
tale.In the novel, John is turning 14 and coming into his own, just as his family hoped by becoming saved and starting down the path toward becoming a preacher. In doing so, he follows in the footsteps of his stepfather, a tyrannical man who is physically abusive in the hopes of saving people to being sinners. John is trying to reconcile his relationship with God with his relationship with the imperfect man who brings God to his doorstep each Sunday (and beyond.)
At times this was a tough read because the characters had such a realness to them, and they all were fairly unhappy. Although this is heavy on religion, which isn't typically a favorite topic for me, I liked this book a lot because the characters were so well drawn.
Show Less
LibraryThing member gabarito
Amazing book. All of the women in this novel were so real, so alive to me - Florence, Elizabeth, Deborah, Ester. Florence was probably my favorite, I savored her final lines to Gabriel so much. She saw right through him. This novel was so well constructed, letting you learn things slowly, in time.
Show More
Each prayer of the saints made me cry at some point. I had to take breaks from this book because it left me emotionally unsettled, which is rare for me. John's saving was left ambiguous enough that it did not rub me to the wrong way. I'm sure there was a level of richness in bible references that went over my head, but the book was still excellent without it. Show Less
LibraryThing member hbergander
Childhood of an Afro-American boy in Harlem in the times of the big depression and in the shadow of the Baptist Church.
LibraryThing member UmdlotiLover
Important book... Beautifully and fiercely written.
LibraryThing member chicagofreedom
The story is of a day in the life of several members of a Harlem fundamentalist church. Through flashbacks, we witness a saga of three generations of people. John, the central figure, is a fourteen-year-old boy who longs almost equally for salvation and damnation.
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
What a simple concept. The beginning of the story takes place in a church. Fourteen year old John Grimes is praying beside his family - his Aunt Florence and parents, Gabriel and Elizabeth. It is in these prayers that an epic story emerges. Go Tell It On the Mountain is a tale told in three parts:
Show More
The Seventh Day (a day in the life of the Grimes family on a Sunday), The Prayers of the Saints (starting with John's Aunt Florence), and The Threshing-Floor. John Grimes is at a crossroads in his young life. He knows he is destined to be like the father he can barely stand but how much like him? Will he become a preacher man, a servant of god? Will he carry anger and violence like his father? Show Less
LibraryThing member mjennings26
One of my very favorite books.
LibraryThing member julierh
this book is so good. it's one of those you'll want to devote a close reading to, with pencil in hand to make note of its thought-provoking symbolism. it's full of insight, conflict, introspection, wisdom, and feeling. don't miss this harlem-renaissance inspired classic of american literature.
Awards
Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List (73 — 2009)
Language
Original publication date
1953
Other editions
Go Tell It on the Mountain (Vintage International) by James Baldwin (Paperback)