Rating: 
Summary: Not very good at all
Review: I had heard a lot of hype about this novel, but it just didn't live up to it. I have to say that I agree with the reviewer who said that this book gets praise because the characters are white. While Baldwin does deal with some fundamental relationship issues, his knowledge of audience -to be blunt-- believing that only white gays read books in the 50's- leaves the book hollow at it's core. I was always told that great literature comes from finding the universal in the specific, and Baldwin can't find the specific here because he is too afraid to present inner thoughts that could have lifted this novel up.To the other reviewer, color does have a lot to do with Baldwin's literature, and it does influence his writing. I am an amatuer Baldwin scholar, and I know his workd well, race should have been in this book. The fact that it is absent here, to me, says that his heart was not fully in this novel, only his head. And that's not great literature.
Rating: 
Summary: The First book I've ever read
Review: It moved me beyond belief and I could not set it down. When I was finally forced to I could not wait to find out what might happen next. I give enormous tribute to Mr. Baldwin for such an amazing story that grabbed my heart and still wont let go. (The first book I've EVER read as an 18-year-old male)
Rating:
Summary: The human condition . . .
Review: The grip that Baldwin holds on human truths is staggering and without compare. It kills me to read/hear reviews that clearly miss the intentions of "Giovanni's Room;" this isn't a book that is supposed to be about race or gender or sexual orientation. The only way to truly enjoy this novel is to see past these surface level details to the true message, which simply tells us of passion and pain. The characters and subject matter are practically interchangable; the protagonist could be a black woman in love with a white man or a white woman in love with a black woman or a black man in love with a black woman. Baldwin must have known that love stories of all kinds must battle intolerance, conflict, struggle. And the fact that he was able to tell this particular love story in a "foreign" voice with such authenticity is one more indication of his presence as one of the most important authors of this century.
Rating: 
Summary: "Just Above My Head" is FAR, FAR BETTER!!!
Review: While "Giovanni's Room" is a fine novel, Baldwin does a much better job with the themes presented here (identity, sexuality, place, etc.) in his later novel, "Just Above My Head." My personal opinion is that "Giovanni's Room" has received such positive praise and hype in the gay (white) community becasue the characters are white. "Just Above My Head" is ignored and bastardized because it dares to challenge conventional (racist) white gay norms by showing clearly that black men can and do love other balck men. Because "Giovanni's Room" falls into one of the two acceptable camps (no black gays at all or black gays with white lovers) it is accepted. Baldwin's writing skills are strong here, however, and his use of the European backdrop is excellent. The confusion, anguish, and tension that Baldwin is able to generate in relatively few pages is truly outstanding. A worthwhile read, to be sure, but not the author's best waxing on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A fundamentally dishonest book.
Review: The gay community often praises this book for its treatment of a man coming to terms with himself and his sexuality. Yet in writing this work, Baldwin deliberately ignored one aspect of himself---blackness. The protagonist here is free to espouse his sexuality, but this freedom stems in part from the fact that he is white and does not suffer the burdens that being black *and* gay would create for him. Baldwin's protagonist can roam around Europe with his educated and affluent friends, and he doesn't suffer the condemnation for betraying his race that many black gays face from the black community. He doesn't face rejection from families versed in intolerant Southern Baptist traditions. He doesn't face the racism within the overwhelmingly white gay community that often leaves black gays out as undesireables. In writing a book that gets praised by the (white) gay world, Baldwin chose to ignore the very different pains that confront black gays. In a work thatis purportedly about freedom to be oneself, Baldwin's wilfull ommission of the race issue is dishonest.
Rating: 
Summary: all characters are victims of society
Review: This book is a milestone in writings about gay identity. The story seems to be very sad but at the end one realizes that no characters in the book are positive or negative, all of them are victims of the cruel and hyppocrite society.
Rating:
Summary: boring, gay porn
Review: the book is boring and is a story to make you feel sorry for gays. i am sorry, it dodn't work. we are all the same; act like it.
Rating:
Summary: This book honestly changed my life.
Review: When I picked up "Giovanni's Room" for the first time, I was seeking to get some first hand knowledge of the Harlem renaissance. When I finally put it down , I felt as though Mr. Baldwin had opened up his chest and outstretched his heart to me. This book is a must read for anyone who is struggling with the life they have always seen for themselves and their own trueness to self, regardless of sexual orientation. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who sees life as a journey and not a destination.
Rating:
Summary: Giovanni's Room is a masterpiece
Review: I have just discovered James Baldwin, and, to say the least, I am not disappointed. Please do yourself a favor and buy for yourself this wonderful book. I am looking forward to reading many more of Baldwin's books. He is a flawless writer.
Rating:
Summary: A devastating classic.
Review: It is a beautifully written work filled with powerful imagery. A tragic tale, it is not a 'text book' on the nature of closeted men but it does present one version that will haunt the reader. I would reccomend it not only to any man who has loved another and every woman who's found herself in the middle but to anyone who wanted to explore the complicated nature of sexual attraction and the extremes to which love drives those consumed by it. It is a heartbreaking work.
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