James Baldwin

Published in 1962, this is an emotionally intense novel of love, hatred, race and liberal America in the 1960s. Set in Greenwhich Village, Harlem and France, ANOTHER COUNTRY tells the story of the suicide of jazz-musician Rufus Scott and the friends who search for an understanding of his life and death, discovering uncomfortable truths about themselves along the way.

Another Country

Mara D Alo Fonseca

 "I mean, I think you've got to be truthful about the life you have. Otherwise, there's no possibility of achieving the life you want." He paused. Or think you want."

The sky looked, now, like a vast and friendly ocean, in which drowning was forbidden, and the stars seemed stationed there, like beacons. To what country đid this ocean lead?

I wasn’t nothing but a child; with the cold white people and the warm, black people, warm at least for him, and as necessary as the sun which bathed the bodies of himself and his lover now. Lying in this garden now, so warm, covered, and apprehensive, he saw them on the angular, blazing streets of his childhood, and in the shuttered houses, and in the fields. They laughed differently from other people, so it had seemed to him, and moved with more beauty and violence, and they smelled like good things in the oven. 

If you can get through the worst, you'll see the best.

There was a high, driving wind which brightened the eyes and the faces of the people and forced their lips slightly apart, so that they all seemed to be carrying, to some immense encounter, the bright, fragile bubble of a lifetime of expectation.

Only, we've been taught to lie so much, about so many things, that we hardly ever know where we are.

Rufus thought, But it's not possible to forget anybody you were that hung up on, who was that hung up on you. You can't forget anything that hurt so badly, went so deep and changed the world forever. It’s not possible to forget anybody you’ve destroyed.

“I woke up with it this morning and it’s been with me all day”

Clay Carey

“I woke up with it this morning and it’s been with me all day”

Nothing to say besides perfect. 

y✦

anything that has to do with nyc bohemia is always a fascinating, immersive experience for me—real-world, raw emotions surrounding the material, everyone's just trying to get by. 

another country is a hard-to-put-down, harder-to-pick-up novel that i wish i'd love more. baldwin's prose is as brilliant as ever, his characters are all so unbearably human. and i would read for pages and pages at a time, but when i stop, it's days and weeks before i pick it up again.

did this book send me into a reading slump? yes. did i love it anyway? absolutely.

farah farooq

Baldwin you sonofabitch. What a fantastic look into the lives of such an intriguing group of people.

Isabella Chiara Vicco 

very thought provoking. i did not want to stop reading

Gavin

An Important (rather than good) book, formally and lyrically grim. Impossibility of interracial love among racism, impossibility of calm for anyone with any really big plans, impossibility of sexual satisfaction, impossibility of peace for a manly man, impossibility of finishing the damn thing.

DNF 50%

Pola Schwöbel

Ouh I love when you read a classic but it’s captivating and timely and just sucks you in like it’s from this year’s bestseller list. 

Rubi Malik 

Another Country by James Baldwin 

5 stars 

I was recommended this book by a literature graduate after expressing interest in a masters module that I will hopefully be tasking this autumn called ‘Slavery, Empire and Literature’. It explores sexuality, gender, race and the intersectionality of the three by following the story of a group of mismatched friends in 1950s New York City. The topics highlight the implications of interracial relationships over the the love of it, which seems fitting considering the time period it was written- when the topic of race and sexuality carried a constant underlying tension.

I found it an extremely well written book, the writing adopting that of an eloquent yet conversational style. Baldwin’s compelling voice forces the reader to acknowledge the political tensions at play, such as the presence of white supremacy. He shows the internalisation of damaging norms in society, making it an open and brave book considering it was published in 1962

The increasingly relevant topics discussed make this book a timeless classic.

Bravo. 👏

This is such a thought provoking book, as it delves into questions of how can you define love, relationships, success, and culture.


I can see why it made the Great American Read list, as it is definitely a book that transcends a specific time period and tries to gnaw at the roots of humanity.

Another Country

Reviews

Highlights