Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (EPUB)

Description

Go back to where you started, or as far back as you can, examine all of it, travel your road again and tell the truth about it. Sing or shout or testify or keep it to yourself: but know whence you came.’ 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 that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, 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 his protagonist’s spiritual, sexual and moral struggle towards self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understood themselves.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I came to James Baldwin late, long after I had read great African-American novelists like Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and Ralph Ellison. I’m glad I saved him for my maturity, given the wisdom and richness of his prose. I was reading “Go Tell It on the Mountain” today while alternating the book with the coverage of George Floyd’s funeral in my own home town (as well as Mr. Floyd’s) of Houston. How the novel and the service meshed! Baldwin, in this story set in Harlem in the mid-30’s, so powerfully conveys the centrality of the church in black lives, the incredible tradition of pastoral oratory, the promises and perils of the Great Migration to the North in the interwar period (continued much later when George Floyd moved from Houston to Minneapolis to begin a new life), and the dignity and strength of black women. More than one young black man in “Go Tell it on the Mountain” dies from violence. And just as in Baldwin’s “If Beale Street Could Talk,” New York cops arrest black men on the flimsiest of suspicions and brutalize them in custody. How little has changed in the better part of a century since the author’s own Harlem childhood in the Depression!This book is rightly a classic. I wish that Baldwin were required reading not just in every college but in every police academy in this country. His is exactly the kind of loving honesty about the black experience that our society desperately needs.

⭐Okay, maybe not write like this gifted writer and author, but having the ability to write with such sensitivity, poetic prowess, and a tenderness from the soul.This book “Go Tell It on the Mountain” as of now, is one of my favorites by James Baldwin. The story depicts a family from Harlem with unwavering, Christian values, and yet bears the inner- demons of their past. Seeking redemption is never easy, and especially for the patriarch, Reverend Gabriel Grimes.Yet the main character, a boy named John from the same family, shakes and fights for redemption. Even though his temptations were benign compared to other characters as told brilliantly by Baldwin.And speaking of “brilliance”, Baldwin’s dialogue is superb! The utterance of their words through the book with the vernacular tone that remind me of my Grandmother and her Southern upbringing. The writing overall, however, is purely exceptional.I give this book 4.7 stars, rounding to a deserving five stars, not because of James Baldwin, or his gritty prose, or the timeless content, but it’s one hell of a book!

⭐so at age 52 and having come from a mother who owned her personal library I thought I had read this book. I know the title well, but a month ago my youngest son 26 passed away. And I started reading again to clear my heart n ease my fury. What I can say now is this time reading this book meant so much more. I found myself struggling to understand the flow of the author but I couldn’t stop reading. Determined to understand why something was pulling me to remember the story. Then as the story closed and the pages fell into place in my mind, my heart lifted and I understood why this book is so special. Even as I write this I know I have seen this in my dreams and for the1st time since I kisses my son a final goodbye do I feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be in time n the loss of my son is not a burden I cannot carry, and my son is where he was destined to be. In the months before he passed he was shot and became a paralyzed, a fate he took on with the heart of a lion and a courage that made me stronger. As I completed the book I have a feeling that it was intended so I could understand, the words written so long ago found me and crazy as it sounds helped me to smile and see the pain fear darkness in my sons heart that changed to a place so full of faith that he defied the impact of his injury and did everything that “they” said he wouldn’t do and when he was tired and needed to put his burden down he said his goodbyes closed his eyes and called for his father to take him home. I am forever charged but I am not as broken as I was before I read this book.Excellent and steady work Mr. Baldwin Thank you

⭐“Mountain,” Baldwin said, “is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else.”That is the feel of this book—a story told not out of want but out of need. James Baldwin’s debut has power behind every page; his words resonate, and his prose is among the best I have had the pleasure of reading. There isn’t much in the way of plot, so be aware of that going in. And it doesn’t deliver a knockout ending like I’d hoped, although as I type this, I’m smiling. Because this book is journey, not destination. And if you can get behind that, then you’re in for a good time.I won’t get into detail, but there have been some changes at my work that have left me feeling stressed and distracted. Go Tell It on the Mountain was my escape, even if it was only for a few minutes here and there. I am sure my headspace affected my enjoyment. And perhaps, like with Big Magic, I’ll return to it in a better mood and come away with a better experience.For now, I’m glad to have read this, and to continue reading more James Baldwin in the future. 4/5

⭐This is a fantastic, semi-autobiographical novel of Baldwin’s. Coming to terms with heading toward manhood, his stepfather, Pentecostalism, hypocrisy. I had read Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time before reading Go Tell it on the Mountain. I think now that The Fire Next Time would make for a great follow up reading to Go Tell it on the Mountain. Each is a very important work. Each highly recommended.

⭐Such an amazing book. Such beautiful writing. How could I have missed reading anything by James Baldwin before? His writing is still so relevant and beautiful and takes you inside his head so that the character feels like it is you and you understand better than you ever have how it feels to be black in America.

⭐I really liked this book. As a a non religious person, I’m always interested to see how people with faith analyse their own belief systems and the questions that can arise.Essentially telling the story of a 14 year old boy’s first religious experience, the book sets up a situation where a child has a vision of God in a church. It then goes back in time to examine how various members of his family found their own way to the church.Examining the role of religion in post slavery and pre civil rights USA, the book is funny, engaging and has really well rounded characters. Some of the lines need to be read twice because of the subtle nudges and double meanings of expressions (for example the father character telling one of his sons he was going to be seeing Jesus as a threat), but always told with a sense of humour and heart, Go Tell It To The Mountain is well worth a read, and an interesting time capsule for the attitudes to racism in the 50s from the victims side.One star off because very little happens in the actual “real-time” story line, but a fabulous piece of literature all the same.

⭐GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by JAMES BALDWINObviously James Baldwin is one of the greatest writers of all time so I don’t need to preach about his masterful use of language and pacing and characterisation (although I just have ) but I do want to tell you that even if you are an atheist – as I am – you can still take something from this novel. Yes, there were some dense passages on nothing more than the bible and God, and yes, these were a little tedious at times, but the bigger picture here is this family; John’s family, and how they came to be who and where they are now.I loved how Baldwin took us effortlessly from past to present in order to explore how these characters became what they are in the present day.I felt unsure and disconcerted while reading this because I was thinking about myself and my own life instead of just reading the words Baldwin had given me. I was constantly thinking about this poor young boy who is gay but will never get acceptance for that. And his religious awakening I saw more as a cry for help. One that will never be answered because the era in which he lives is not equipped to give him what he needs. Very sad. But then I feel this way after finishing any Baldwin novel.

⭐This book is recommend, as I feel it is an important piece of literature – not just an important part of black literature. The writer is very gifted and has produced several great pieces of work; including his essays. I purchased the Everyman’s Library Classics Edition of the book, and it is that I would like to recommend. The Everyman’s Library Classics Editions, are really great quality editions, that don’t cost the earth. They feature dust jackets, quality binding, and ribbon page markers; and the pages are quite thick, with good size print.

⭐I read this book for a book club and so came to it with little knowledge. It took a while to get into but the effort is more than worthwhile. The book covers the topics of racism, religion and family tensions so is not exactly an easy read but is very good. Would be an 8.5 or 9 out of 10 book

⭐Masterful storyteller. I loved this book and what Baldwin teaches me from a writer’s perspective. It is my first time reading Baldwin and he did not disappoint me; not one bit. He writing is raw, enlightening and compelling. If you gain from this book consider reading his short story ‘Going to Meet the Man’; it is the most compelling piece of fiction I have read aside from Flannery O’Connor’s short story ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find.’ Both are chilling but Baldwin’s is more so. Be prepared for something like you have never read before.

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