Review: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

If Beale Street Could Talk is my first James Baldwin book. The movie inspired me to finally get it. Over the years, I’ve so many great things about the amazing James Baldwin, but never picked up his work.

The story was very true to its time which is heartbreaking in a sense. And honestly a lot of what happened in the setting’s era still occurs today. Injustice for our young black men.

Alfonzo (Fonny) and Clementine’s (Tish) love story was a beautiful one. They were two young people who loved each other without ever saying until it almost hit them that love was the feeling between them, if that makes sense. With the little that both families had, love was the driving force throughout this book.

Tish’s family was my favorite. They loved each other and held each other together. While Fonny’s family were the opposite. Not much between them besides biological relation, but his dad loved him. Some people seemed to settle for misery instead of doing something about it and Fonny came from that but was nothing like his family.

I loved the way Baldwin allowed the reader to see everything through Tish’s eyes, but still gave us an insight into the other characters. Well, the important ones.

The timeline jumps back and forth but in a seamless way. We got to see the current issue of a black man in trouble with the law, wrongfully of course. The role that racism played in the struggle of the young characters’ fight for justice is too familiar.

It was what I expected in reality and not what I expected in fiction. All that means is that the story was so real that it hurt. It’s worth the read even though it’s frustrating to get through. The happy moments warmed my heart, and the bad ones were hard to swallow. It was a genuine and authentic story to tell, and Baldwin did it well.

James Baldwin is an author we should all explore if we haven’t already. Again, his work speaks the truth of the times back then and are unfortunately still relevant today.

Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2TBoaR2

Or at a local bookstore. I found mine at Barnes & Noble. I guess I can see the movie now 😉