Go tell it on the mountain ( A Corgi Book)

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It's a hit!

James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain is a literary masterpiece. Baldwin's narrative of a young boy in the grips of a spiritual crisis was dee... (show more)

James Baldwin's Go Tell it on the Mountain is a literary masterpiece. Baldwin's narrative of a young boy in the grips of a spiritual crisis was deeply challenging and artfully written. Buried beneath the events of the story is a meaningful dissection of patriarchial social structures, skepticism, religion, racism, and the then burgeoning disintergration of the Black family unit. The wealth of symbolism in the text makes it a work of art that deserves more than one read. Notably, the motifs of pregnancy, John's hatred of his father, and the passing ambulance that carried individuals towards "healing or death" resonated with me the most. Although I began reading this novel upset by the morbid religiousity of the "saints", the rising action of the text -- especially the stunning imagery of the final book titled "The Thresing Floor"--lends deep existential meaning to their individual struggles to make sense of their lives. Overall, this is a great piece of literature that I highly recommend. I look foward to purchasing a book that explains the symbolism as I found this to be the work's most redeeming and interesting attribute. (show less)

 

 

by Xavier Best

No, it's a flop!

This was a good book, but I didn't like it nearly as much as other Baldwin works. It's my least favorite so far. I think because of the content ... (show more)

This was a good book, but I didn't like it nearly as much as other Baldwin works. It's my least favorite so far. I think because of the content being mostly religeous material, it was hard for me to stay interested throughout certain parts. (show less)

 

 

by Alexis Woods

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  I assigned this book as a text on a course I was teaching and am supremely grateful that I did. This book is powerful, honest and profound on several levels. The "cliff notes" reading of Go Tell It On the Mountain is that Baldwin is extremely critical of a church he finds hypocritical, shallow and destructive and that it is a thinly veiled autobiographical statement. While both of these elements may be there, there is much more depth and intricacy to the novel than that. One cou... (show more)

  I assigned this book as a text on a course I was teaching and am supremely grateful that I did. This book is powerful, honest and profound on several levels. The "cliff notes" reading of Go Tell It On the Mountain is that Baldwin is extremely critical of a church he finds hypocritical, shallow and destructive and that it is a thinly veiled autobiographical statement. While both of these elements may be there, there is much more depth and intricacy to the novel than that. One could argue that within the book is a profound defense of religious experience of the holy itself in all its awe and ambiguity. The way in which Baldwin weaves the narrative of Christian scripture with the narrative of the book is important and ignored to the detriment of a fuller understanding of the story. This is a great novel about messy ambiguity inevitably entailed in the encounter between the divine and the human. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on Apr 24, 2009 at 04:29PM

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  Important book? Undoubtedly. Enjoyable read? Not by a long stretch, for me.

  I wanted to like this book; it has so much prestige and history behind it, but I just could not get into the story, nor could I care about any of the characters, even the ones portrayed in a more sympathetic light. While there are a few things that I probably could have done to enhance my understanding of, and ergo the level of my enjoyment, the book, such as reading a great deal of background on the Biblical allu... (show more)

  Important book? Undoubtedly. Enjoyable read? Not by a long stretch, for me.

  I wanted to like this book; it has so much prestige and history behind it, but I just could not get into the story, nor could I care about any of the characters, even the ones portrayed in a more sympathetic light. While there are a few things that I probably could have done to enhance my understanding of, and ergo the level of my enjoyment, the book, such as reading a great deal of background on the Biblical allusion Baldwin makes, I couldn't bring myself to care enough to do so.

  There are a few important themes discussed in the novel - that is indisputable. But I found it to be such a disappointment after so much build-up; it is such a famous novel, such an example of the bildungsroman novel - and it was so abtruse and dull. So as I said before, I'm glad that I read it once, but have no plans to read it again. (show less)

   

   

  by Gina Filo on Dec 12, 2009 at 03:03PM

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