If Beale Street Could Talk
Sep 2013 · Sold by Vintage
4.5star
31 reviews
Ebook
208
Pages
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About this ebook
From one of the most important writers of the twentieth century comes a stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime—"a moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless" (The New York Times Book Review).
"One of the best books Baldwin has ever written—perhaps the best of all." —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin’s story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions—affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.
"One of the best books Baldwin has ever written—perhaps the best of all." —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin’s story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions—affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
31 reviews
KMc Powell
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April 6, 2019
Mr. Baldwin paints a bleak picture of young black love immersed in a society that is primarily viscous when faced with true beauty. How many innocent lives have been lost in our society due to hate? In this tale,surprisingly a love story as I see it, our principle characters deal with their personal inner conflicts and do their very best to deal with a society that truly was not intended for them to thrive in but to be damned by.
7 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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January 14, 2019
Awesome development of story & characters. I love Baldwin's "use of vocabulary".
2 people found this review helpful
RoseMarie Williams
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March 22, 2019
It has transcend time. It's just as revelant today as when it was written in qour.
About the author
JAMES BALDWIN was born in 1924 and educated in New York. He is the author of more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Go Tell It on the Mountain; Notes of a Native Son; Giovanni’s Room; Nobody Knows My Name; Another Country; The Fire Next Time; Nothing Personal; Blues for Mister Charlie; Going to Meet the Man; The Amen Corner; Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone; One Day When I Was Lost; If Beale Street Could Talk; The Devil Finds Work; Little Man, Little Man; Just Above My Head; The Evidence of Things Not Seen; Jimmy’s Blues; and The Price of the Ticket. Among the awards he has received are a Eugene F. Saxon Memorial Trust Award, a Rosenwald Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Partisan Review Fellowship, and a Ford Foundation grant. He was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1986. He died in 1987.
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