If Beale Street could talk

English language

Published July 9, 2006

ISBN:
978-0-307-27593-6
Copied ISBN!

View on Inventaire

5 stars (2 reviews)

If Beale Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by American writer James Baldwin. His fifth novel (and 13th book overall), is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues", named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It was adapted as a film of the same name, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, and it garnered an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Regina King. The film was released theatrically on December 14, 2018.

16 editions

And nothing has changed

5 stars

The aspect of If Beale Street Could Talk which most deeply hit me was realising that James Baldwin's novel was set in the early 1970s - and published in 1974 - yet it appears to be just as illustrative of Black America today as it was then. Nothing has improved with regards to police racism, in fact, from the news reaching me here in the UK, things may even have gotten worse.

Baldwin's sharp prose throughout If Beale Street Could Talk kept me glued to the story from its first page to the last. I loved how deeply he portrayed his characters, within what is a relatively short novel, and how those people interacted so realistically. The young 'Romeo and Juliet' couple at the centre, Tish and Fonny, should be at the happiest point of their lives together - they are planning to get married and Tish is expecting their …

avatar for StephanieJane@ramblingreaders.org

rated it

5 stars