Customer Reviews

If Beale Street Could Talk

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I have been on a quest to read James Baldwin's book-reread those I read in the 70s and search out those I have missed. And what a fruitful treasure hunt it has been. The man was prolific and was a bonafide genius. I have always listed him as among my favorite authors but in the new millennium I have gained a new appreciation. I will venture to say he is my favorite writer of all time.

If Beale Street Could Talk is a lesson in the injustices of America that existed in the 70s In New York and is still indicative of that great city today. Trish and Fonny are young lovers who believe in the American dream of marriage and family. Best friends since they were young children, they are aware of the racism that surrounds them as being black in America but nevertheless believe they have what it takes to make it, their love.

That is until the day Fonny is arrested and thrown in jail for rape. What follows is a horror that tears at the reader's soul as we go through the pain and frustration with these characters of trying to prove a young black male's innocence, a near impossibility at this time period in our history. Trish is pregnant and working at a dead-end job but has the full support of her Renaissance family. Fonny, on the other hand, only has the support of his wearied father, who once owned a neighborhood business and now is subject to working at a job where he is made to feel less than a man. His wife is self-righteous and unapproachable while his grown daughters are frustrated "old maids" who with their imagined bourgeois airs have tried and convicted their brother.

This story is a testament to the human spirit, of how a people prevail against all odds, telling a story that is so familiar to the Blues the title of the book symbolizes. Another James Baldwin classic, another American classic, not to be missed.

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub

It is always a great disappointment and a tremendous joy to read Baldwin. The author's ability to bring the experiences of African American life and the circumstances under which those lives are lived here in America is a joyful, although difficult, reading experience. The disappointment comes in realizing that although Baldwin's canon of work spanned the late 1960's through 1970's, many of the conditions that he writes about so candidly still exist in 2003. The novel is, at its core, a beautiful love story. Not the kind where man meets woman, they fall in love, marry, have children and move into their lovely suburban home adorned with white picket fence and a two car garage. For that American dream was rarely the experience of many African Americans during the period in which the novel is set. In this depiction of the American dream, Tish and Fonny meet as children, grow up and in love, all the while aspiring to create a life together. Their hopes for the future are destroyed when Fonny is jailed for a rape he did not commit.

With classic Baldwin insight, the novel reveals how individual, systematic and internalized racial hatred ruined the lives of two lovers and their families. From the white cop that set Fonny up, to the court system that held him down (although he had an alibi) to the family that turned their backs on him, all contributed to his destruction. When Baldwin isn't rendering a scathing critique of America's racial injustices, he's rebuking the unquestioning manner that many African American's cling to religion in hopes of obtaining freedom here on earth.

Although at times it is difficult to distinguish the characters' voice from the author's, the novel truthfully depicts a fictional account of the realities of America's racism. I thought the ending was a bit fatalistic but decided that is exactly the point that Baldwin was making about the future of America in the absence of full equality for all of her citizens. "If Beale Street Could Talk" is as tragic as it is loving. It's a great read that serves to remind and encourage. Highly Recommended.

Langston Hughes wrote, "Folks, I'm telling you/Living is hard/Birthing is mean/So get yourselves/a little loving/in between." Hughes's poem kind of captures If Beale Street Could Talk.

The novel is told by Tish, a nineteen-year-old African American in Harlem in the 1970's. She is deeply in love with Fonny and is pregnant by him, but just about everything has gone wrong for the couple. Fonny is in jail because he has been falsely accussed of rape because he is black. Fonny, Tish, and Tish's family (plus Fonny's father) all love each other, and the family rallies behind Fonny to get him free. They must steal to raise money and even go on a trip to Puerto Rico to confront the woman accussing Fonny.

The characterizations in the novel are marvelous, and the storytelling is superb. Baldwin tells If Beale Street Could Talk in the most beautiful prose. It is almost musical. I also love his many allusions to music. If Beale Street Could Talk is an outstanding novel which can stand with almost any of the twentieth century. It can really be an important novel for teaching young adults about racism and the power of love between a family. If Beale Street Could Talk is a true classic.

I think it sure would help our world if more people would read James Baldwin. He tells stories about parts of life (real life) and places in this world (in our country) that existed a long, long time without a reporter's voice. He wrote this book in the 1970's but it is still pertinent today. His talent is to turn into literature a reality that we might well prefer to hide from. His talent is not to be underestimated. He was a trained preacher and his cadence and language use are beautiful and compelling. There is hard well-honed anger fueling this story -- you can taste it as you read. But it is equally love that spurs Baldwin: the immense and enduring love he sees that holds people together in the corners where he's throwing his light for us to see. And, maybe more important, I contend that it is a bigger love and faith that moves his stories. Ultimately his faith is that in the possibility of our society waking up and responding out of love to the anger/stories/ reality he reports on. Why else would he tell us these stories if he didn't believe we could be moved and change? This book is a marvelous story of young love (Tish & Fonny) and mature love (Tish's parents/family) and distorted love (Fonny's parents) caught in a world that is cruel and arbitrary. It is the story of families holding together and falling apart as they cope and struggle with false accusations that tear their lives apart. It is about ways people: contend with / find resolve in the face of / are crushed by / survive and can be destroyed by / racism --as individuals; as families; as a society. And the nuisances of how racism works and the nicks and scrapes and deep cuts it wields along the way are everywhere, woven into the story not as didactic pounding away but as a subtle landscape in which the story's characters (and we) must find a way to survive. You can't read this story and not care. And where Baldwin leaves the reader in the end is exactly where we have to be left. Love can kill you - or maybe it can save us all. Baldwin was right to be angry and to make his anger known--and he was right to believe in love and to trust that the good in people can rise up--all people regardless of race--and make a difference. If only more people would read him and look at / think about the costs we all pay for letting racism survive we might find our selves on a path to a better future. Baldwin's left us these books. He did his part. We might all make a contribution by telling other people to read what her wrote.

If Beale Street Could Talk written by James Baldwin, was a great novel that portrayed many things nicely. It showed the horrors of "white" society, the undeniable love between the two main characters, Fonny and Tish, and last but not least, it showed the bond between family members during hard times. It is a book that many can relate to and I really enjoyed it.

The love shown throughout the novel was magnificent. I mean, how many people are so head over heals for each other that they can laugh and make love at the same time, very few. The fact that Fonny and Tish know they both have each other to count on is the only thing that helps then survive. Fonny would crumble in jail if he didn't see Tish's beautiful face coming to visit him everyday. The only reason that Tish is able to see Fonny is because her family cares for his well being. After reading this book, I realized that I have never really seen so much love and care in one piece of literature.

Despite all this love and emotions, there is a dark side to the novel. This "dark side" is what makes all the characters that much stronger. The evil, racist society seems to be set against Fonny and Tish and all of their dreams. However, it must be remembered that "what can get worst can get better," pg.132. The book shows that the American society is not exactly up to pan. In fact one lady in the book says she has been in America a long time and she hopes she does not die in America. Tish's mother also says, "whoever discovered America deserves to be dragged home in chains to die."

Inspite of the evil in the book, it was still really good and interesting. The book makes you want to read on and find out what is going to happen next. The ending is left like an open book, which means the reader can interpret the ending in whichever way they chose. One can view it as pessimistic, optimistic or both. The novel itself is extremely well written and makes for a good read. If Beale Street Could Talk is by far one of the best books I've read this year.

"If Beale Street Could Talk" is the probably the worst novel by this very important writer. Baldwin was so gifted that none of his books is a total waste of time; the scenes here that are set in church are exquisitely detailed and evocative (Baldwin had no peer when it came to writing about the black church). But the novel is wildly uneven, and one scene in particular, in which Tish and Fonny's families confront each other, reads like the script from a very bad TV show. Also, as the book progresses, Tish-- the narrator-- sounds less and less like a 19-year-old girl and more and more like a certain famous black male writer. Those seeking an introduction to Baldwin's fiction should start with "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Another Country," "Giovanni's Room," or the vastly underrated "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone"; for nonfiction, check out "Notes of a Native Son," "The Fire Next Time, "No Name in the Street," or "Nobody Knows My Name" -- all rewarding works.

Back covers are and always have been a nightmare for Baldwin-lovers.

My 1974 edition gurgles: "It is a magnificent, life-affirming triumph by one of our greatest writers - a masterful tale of two people, so profoundly realized you will come to love them as deeply as they love each other."

(Shudder). At least the publishers didn't use an exclamation point.

I'm not at all sure that James Baldwin knew anything, anything about the love between a man and a woman. What he did know was the intimate secrets of people: men, women, old, young, black, white, Latino. Baldwin knows what Beale Street does...that is, if Beale Street could talk.

He knows what love is - or really, what it isn't. How far it can take you and when the hammer slams down to cut the ties. How much a person can take, a family can take; what a family can and can't do to hold itself together.

If James Baldwin were alive today, I would want to thank him. Many authors entertain me; many amuse me; and still others enlighten me. But James Baldwin does all those things, and more. James Baldwin makes me feel.

After finishing if Beale Street Could Talk today, I wondered how to write a review of it; what event, what character would spark my creative thoughts enough to build upon. But Beale Street isn't about a person, or an event. At least not to me. Beale Street is about love.

Tish and Fonny feel love, love for one another. Love that is made up of passion, and trust, and longing. Love that creeps up on you and then settles into your heart like a foot going into an old, broken-in slipper. Love so powerful that life springs from it, when Tish finds herself pregnant. Love that keeps Fonny hopeful when he is put in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and keeps Tish going back to the jail day after day to see Fonny and keep his spirits up.

Joseph and Frank feel love. Love for their wives; love for their children; love for one another and the bond their families now share that is symbolized by the baby Tish carries. Love strong enough to blame themselves for their childrens' shortcomings; love strong enough to band together to do whatever is necessary to keep their children together to raise the baby they have made.

Sharon feels love for her daughter; a love that takes her to Puerto Rico, looking for the woman who has accused Fonny of raping her, to clear his name and get him out of jail so that he can be with Tish when the baby is born. Love that keeps her going back again and again to get at the truth, no matter what danger it puts her in.

Beale Street is brief, but complex in its dissection of the loves that encompass us all our lives; love for parents, children, siblings, lovers, and families. Baldwin's eloquent and elegant prose sings from each page, examining love from all angles, and its components.

James Baldwin was an amazing author. Though his novels were written about African-Americans, his words speak to everyone. I highly recommend Beale Street. It is more than a novel; it is a work of art.

There isn't enough that I can say about "If Beale Street Could Talk." It was one of the most captivating, loving, and pure novels ever written. I was moved by the love of Tish and Fonny, how their love grew naturally from childhood and blossomed into adulthood. That love transcends the prison which Fonny can't escape; that same love will set him free. I also appreciated the strong bond of Tish's family and Fonny's father, who work tirelessly to help this young man out of prison. It's refreshing to see a Black family come together in a dire time of need. This was a excellent novel for all Black readers and especially for all others who want to understand the Black experience.

Although Beale Street was the fabled center of African American life and music in Memphis, this 1974 novel by James Baldwin (1924 -- 1987), with Beale Street as its namesake, is set in Harlem. The title is apt as Baldwin celebrates black life together with a great deal of black music. The themes of the novel include racism, family, and religion. But this book primarily is a love story.

The story is narrated by a 19 year old woman, Tish (Clementine) Rivers. Tish is in love with 22 year old Fonny (Alonzo) Hunt and Fonny is in love with her. Tish and Fonny have been sweethearts since childhood and have been called "Romeo and Juliet" by their neighbors and friends. As the story opens, Fonny is languishing in jail, the notorious "Tombs" in New York City, spuriously charged with the rape of a young Puerto Rican woman. Fonny's dream is to be a sculptor. Before his arrest, he had moved into a tiny "pad" near Grenwich Village where he tries to live the life of a young artist, working in wood and metal. Tish is pregnant with Fonny's child. Baldwin's story centers upon Tish's and Fonny's relationship in this difficult circumstance with throwbacks to the development of their love for each other.

The story involves the relationship of the two families as well. Tish comes from a happy family. Her father, Joe, was a sailor before he settled down and took work on the docks. Her mother, Sharon, once aspired to be a singer. Tish has an older sister, Ernestine, who works helping troubled children. Ernestine finds a lawyer, a white man in his mid-30s named Hayward, to represent Fonny.

Fonny's family life is much less happy. His father, Frank, was a tailor but loses his shop and takes work in the garment district. Fonny's two sisters are college-educated and don't get along with Fonny. His mother, Helen, is member of a sanctified, evangelical black church.Baldwin shows a great deal of cynicism in this book about religion. Frank and Helen don't get along.

When Tish discovers her pregnancy, her family is supportive. In addition, Tish's family works tirelessly to free her fiance Fonny from jail. Frank, Fonny's father, is also shown positively in his support for the young couple and for his son. Helen and the daughters are sanctimonious and hostile because the couple have had sex before marriage and are having a child out of wedlock.

Baldwin's story is unapologetically romantic in that it urges the possibility of deep and lasting love between two young people. As against what he sees as religious teachings, Baldwin emphasizes the physical, increasingly sexual nature of the young couple's emotional relationship. Baldwin's understanding of man-woman love and its mysteries, which seems to include passion, possessiveness, and strong views of gender roles, does not seem to me fully consistent with the way many people today try to understand gender issues, with the contemporary emphasis on high personal autonomy, independence, and egalitarianism.

The novel is filled with racial anguish and anger as Fonny is set up and knowingly falsely accused by a New York City policeman. The love of the couple is contrasted to the racism of their surroundings and to the loathsome condition of the prison which threatens to deprive Fonny of his character and his manhood.

Baldwin's writing in this novel is uneven. The scenes between Fonny and Tish, the physical consummation of their relationship, and the depictions of the streets of New York are highly effective. When Tish speaks colloquially and toughly, the writing is believable and tight. But there are some windy abstact passages in this book in which the young girl speaks in the not-so-persuasive -- or interesting --language of the adult Baldwin. Also, Tish offers narrations of many scenes in the story which she did not herself witness such as interactions between Frank and Joe at a bar, meetings between Tish's mother and the lawyer, and Tish's mother's trip to Puerto Rico to meet the young Puerto Rican woman that Fonny allegedly raped to try to get her to change her story. The young woman had been sent back home by the district attorney. The book does not adequately expain the source of Tish's knowledge of these incidents. Thus these second-hand reported scenes tend to be unconvincing. The book also comes to a quick and abrupt ending.

Baldwin has written a love story that rewards the telling and an angry criticism of racism. "If Beale Street could Talk" is not the best of Baldwin's books but it is worthwhile. The book made me want to read more of Baldwin.

Robin Friedman