Go Tell It on the Mountain | James Baldwin

Go Tell It on the Mountain | James Baldwin | Powerful

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Go Tell It on the ...

	Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2000 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 86 reviews view larger image
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Pretty Strong Stuff

The members of the family in James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain suffer because of their color, their poverty, and the conflicts and disappointments that are part of any life. Most of all they suffer because of the demands that their intense, dogmatic religion places on them. While they love and fear God, they have little appreciation for God's creation. For them, everyone and everything in this world is carnal and corrupt. They aspire to an otherworldly existence but their nature leads them to defy God and suffer terrible guilt. They think and speak in the language of fundamentalist Christian religion: "witness," "wandering," "wilderness," "wickedness." In James Baldwin's hands, this language is beautiful but it's disturbing, too, and this short novel will not be forgotten easily.

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Powerful

I was required to read this book for an English class and I thought that this book was great but the transitions from past to present were not handled well and I would often have to go and re-read the text again to help comprehend the situation. Go Tell it on the Mountain is a wonderful book about self-discovery and familial & religious duty. The characters in this novel are wonderfully full: imperfect, but hopeful. I do disagree with anyone who feels that an extensive knowledge of the Bible is required to appreciate or enjoy this book.

Redemption, Flaws and All

The great truth of the Christian faith is that you are accepted just as you are... flaws and all.
Many of the great narratives in the bible include flawed but teachable people. From: Adam to Abraham to Jacob to King David, God inspired the writing of these accounts to show us he uses people just as they are and he does the work not us.
This is just the case in James Baldwin's story, Go Tell it on the Mountain.
The main character is John, a young boy just turned 14 struggling to develop his identity and to get to know God.
During the course of the story we see his family history revealed and get to know the truth that his mother and step father are very imperfect people but redeemed nonetheless.
That is what John must come to terms with. Baldwin's rendering of this internal spiritual stuggle is masterful.
The way that Baldwin reveals the truth of the family little by little is extremely well done. This story is short and packed with punch. It is a moving and thought provoking book.

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praise the lord

James Baldwin makes the pages sing in the vernacular of Harlem in the 50's! I enjoyed this book very much, I recommend it

Overrated; A bit overwrought with detail

1. Succintness-- Overall, the book was sufficiently succint. The descriptions of certain things rambled on, such as the dirt in the kitchen being in "delirious communion" with dirt someplace else. The author's attempt at being cerebral seemed a bit...... labored.

2. Themes-- He doesn't spare any of his hostility toward the church, which has not been *all* bad in the black community.

3. This book is a great example of characterization. The reader is almost left with more questions going out that coming in. For example: What is evil? John was not certain of his holiness at the beginning of the book, but after his experience on the threshing-floor decided to join it. This is after we have found out about all the misdeeds of several of the members present at the service. So are we to conclude that John is just as disturbed as the others? Or are we to conclude that some characters were really better than we thought they were after all the details about the relationships come to light?

The author went a bit too far trying to find profound descriptions and metaphors. The book would have been much lighter and easier reading without them.

I hadn't picked up a fiction book in a number of years. This book reminds me why: It is so difficult to speculate as to the author's lines of reasoning when people describe abstractions. At least in a book about some real historical subject, less is left to the imagination.

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