Go Tell It On the Mountain – James Baldwin
Expectation: A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story.
Reality: A religious-soaked, multi-layered family drama.
My Take:
This was my fourth read by James Baldwin and undoubtedly the most challenging as it required intense focus. While “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” was his debut novel, I don’t think it’s the best introduction to his work.
It’s well-reported that this is semi-autobiographical, and it’s clear that he needed to exercise the demons of his childhood in order to move forward creatively. While lacking the cohesiveness of his later novels, the pages still hum with his trademark emotion and passion.
However, those moments are delivered as sermons rather than dialogue, as this, primarily, is a religious novel.
The structure follows religious text — think non-linear, authoritative and dense — and most of the action takes place at the Pentecostal church where teenager John (the proxy for Baldwin) spends much of his free time to appease his pastor stepfather and preemptively find salvation from his burgeoning same sex attraction.
Through connected but vastly different narratives, Baldwin proves why he is the ultimate raconteur, seamlessly weaving the various plights of the Grimes family of Harlem, circa 1930s — John, mother Elizabeth, stepfather Gabriel and aunt Florence — into a broad exploration of virtues and vices.
Even when my attention waned, there was always a phrase or observation that pulled me back in, but I found the second half to be more crystallized in purpose than the somewhat confusing “Part One.”
As I’ve said before, any time spent with Baldwin is time well spent. And, each book of his I read further reveals another side of a writer I have come to deeply admire. I didn’t understand every theme in “Mountain” but that doesn’t mean I was any less enthralled.
While I read about 30 percent of this, I switched to the audiobook and tried immersion reading for the first time. Listening and reading the text concurrently helped me stay hyper-focused and prevented my mind from wandering during the paragraphs that seemed to have no end.
Adam Lazarre-White, who sometimes gives cringe-worthy, overexaggerated performances, was subdued here and provided compelling characterizations for John and Gabriel.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Format: Hybrid read/listen (personal library/library loan)
Dates read: January 21 – February 10, 2024
Multi-tasking: Not recommended. This book requires the utmost concentration to be appreciated.
