Go Tell It On The Moutain

I have been meaning to read Go Tell It on the Mountain for what feels like ages. The only other book that I've read by James Baldwin is Giovanni's Room and you may remember just how much I loved that.  On top of that, one of my friends adores this book and never misses an opportunity to tell me to read it.  I'm pretty sure he suggested we stay in Harlem when we went to New York because of Go Tell it on Mountain.  What I'm trying to get across is that there was a lot of hype around this book.  Naturally, it didn't live up to it.

Baldwin's first novel is the semi-autobiographical tale of Johnny Grimes, who while growing up in Harlem in the 1930s is expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become a preacher.  This isn't the really interesting part of the book.  The middle of the book's three sections, The Prayers of the Saints, is dedicated to the stories of James's aunt Florence, his father, Gabriel, and his mother, Elizabeth.  They broadly tell the story of Florence's escape from the South to New York, Gabriel's first wife and lovechild from an affair and Elizabeth's life before marrying the much older Gabriel.

Earlier in the book, Florence's distaste for her younger brother is revealed without reason, but Gabriel is slowly built up as a hypocrite.  He is a furious preacher; righteous and terrifying, and desperate to keep hidden his affair with a local girl and the child that results from it.  But Baldwin doesn't let the story stay so simple.  Yes, Gabriel is a flawed man who has no desire to fix his flaws, but he also has a tragic life.  Gabriel's mistress dies in childbirth and he is unable to claim pride in his son- instead he is relegated to the side lines and has to watch him make mistakes.  His marriage to Elizabeth is almost an act of kindness, but he is not kind to his children.  Baldwin makes us understand Gabriel's cruelty without justifying it.

There's a lot about this novel that I am sure I didn't get.  It was another book read on a coach.  And while coach trips are great for the sheer volume of reading I can get done, they're not the best for quality. There is a lot of Bible stuff going on in this book.  The closest thing I've read to (most of) the Bible is Doris Lessing's Shikasta and I'm only about 90% sure that what I think was happening in that book was happening.  My point is, that Go Tell it on the Mountain is one of those books that would so clearly be enhanced by similar experience.  Growing up godless, I don't get the all the allegories Baldwin's going for and I can see that I'm missing out.

Although I mentioned that Go Tell it on the Mountain didn’t live up to the hype, that was only because the hype was so high.  Giovanni’s Room astounded me.  It was revolutionary in ways that very few books are.  And this book is great, but it isn’t saying something that left me gobsmacked that it even got published.  Giovanni’s Room may not be as famous, but to me it’s more important.  And it’s a shame, because if I’d have read this first, I am sure I would have loved it just as much as my friend does.

Next up: more God!  It’s James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Pierre et Jean

Pierre et Jean is brilliant.  The only other work I've read of Guy de Maupassant is Bel Ami and I remember that being good.  Not blow your socks off amazing, but good nonetheless.  I'm not sure if Pierre et Jean just struck a chord with me, reading it as I was going to visit my family.  But I loved it.  It's simple and intriguing and, even after six hours on a coach, gripping.

The book tells the story of two brothers, Pierre and Jean.  When the younger, Jean, is named as the sole beneficiary to a family friend's fortune, Pierre becomes jealous.  This soon leads to suspicions about Jean's true paternity and a little bit of a mental breakdown over his mother's (perceived) loss of honour.  That's pretty much it.  It's a very short story- focusing more on Pierre's various obsessions with success, his brother's good luck and his mother's honour- rather than a complicated plot.  And the story works well for it, much more would have felt unnecessary. 

From the beginning, Pierre is jealous of Jean.  It is not just linked to the money.  Pierre sees his younger brother as a better specimen: more driven, more handsome, loved better.  The family is held together by the fact that neither brother has actually managed to fly the nest.  Pierre’s jealous is benign.  When the money comes into play, Jean scoops up a flat that Pierre has had his eye on.  He is directly stopping Pierre's happiness and so Pierre allows himself to listen to the idle gossip surrounding his mother and the unusualness of his brother's inheritance.  In his view, he is driven to it.

My favourite thing about the novel is its ending.  Pierre confronts Jean with his suspicions about their mother and she overhears the brothers talking.  Instead of confirming or denying it on the spot, she waits for Pierre to leave before revealing the truth to Jean. While she says that this is because she now lives in fear of Pierre, it almost vindicates his jealousy.  He is not the son who is trusted with the truth.  In fact, he is never told it.

Pierre et Jean is good in a way that is a bit clichéd now.  The brothers are polar opposites- Pierre dark haired, impetuous and indecisive about his life; Jean is fair, rational and kind.  Jean has a plan.  But the book feels as though it were written before these things became clichés.  In de Maupassant's hands they feel as though they are natural character traits first, and foreshadowing points second.  Having said that, I was kind of hoping that it would have been the other way around- that Pierre would have been the one to come into a great fortune and for Jean to have to deal with not being the golden boy all of a sudden.  I think there could have been more emotional complexity in that story and it's one I'd like to have read.

I am now onto (okay have already finished) Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin.   After that there are no more coach books.