Recently, we read a novel called Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. I particulary enjoyed this novel. Throughout all the years that I have been in school, I have been barely passing exams on novels I was supposed to have read but never did. I always found it hard to get into the books I was assigned to read because they were so boring. This novel was different though, I actually found myself not able to put it down. This novel was very interesting but it was also a little sad.

The main character in this book is David and at the opening of the noevl, he is in France and he is in the present. He is speaking to an old friend and thinking of an old lover, Giovanni, who is to be executed that day. David then gets to thinking of how he came to meet Giovanni and how they parted ways.

David starts by telling the reader of his first homosexual encounter with Joey , his former best friend. After he tells us about Joey, he moves on to how he met Giovanni in a bar in France. He also speaks of Jacques, a wealthy, homosexual friend of his, and Guilliame, also wealthy and homosexual in addition to being the owner of the bar in which David met Giovanni.

This book is basically about someone trying desperately to ignore an "urge" they have. From reading this novel, I learned that if I have a problem (either with something I feel or something I have done) I should try to deal with it right away before it gets too out of hand for me to take care of. No problem should ever be ignored, I know this from personal experience. I think that every teenager (you don't have to be a teenager, you don't even have to like to read) who is dealing with some kind of difficult personal problem should read this book, it helped me out a lot, it might do the same for you.