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Ok folks, let's begin the discussion! If anyone isn't quite finished, feel free to stop later this week.

What did everyone think?

Thanks for this pick Amal. Not sure I would have gotten to reading Baldwin otherwise.

I'm wondering how progressive this novel was for its time.

This book was filled with great characters. He tied the characters story lines together in a way that made sense yet still reflected the individual struggles they were faced with. The characters introspection about themselves and their relationships was interesting though occasionally he would lose me when they become a little too rambling.

Several issues were touched on without being preachy, race, sexuality and mental health.

Baldwin's descriptions of New York through Rufus' eyes was exactly as I imagine it. There was a good sense of the atmosphere and time period.

Overall I thought this was great and left me with no real questions other than how the book was received when it was first published.

Has anyone else read any of Baldwin's books? Anyone see If Beale Street Could Talk? I haven't but look forward to watching even more now.

Can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts.

I liked this book too and thought it was a really different perspective from what I normally read and what the club normally reads although those arent always the same thing lol.

This book felt a lot like a good tv show. I'd totally watch it on Netflix! I did see If Beale Street Could Talk and I liked it too, but I liked this more. Maybe now that it was successful they can make this into a netflix show? I didn't realize they were written by the same author until you asked that Gretchen.

I think what I liked best was that I never knew anything about this world. I've never read anything or seen anything that takes place in that time and setting. I like historical stories because it's really fun to see the world other people lived in even though this story wasn't very fun. That sounds bad lol I mean that I enjoy the history even if the story isn't a happy one.

I think you right Amy this would make a good series.

I read the synopsis of this book and prepared to hate it. Much of the subject matter doesn't fall in line with my beliefs and I expected a preachy, shove-it-down-your-throat narrative. I was surprised that I didn't find it tremendously distasteful. I am a Catholic and I take the tenants of my religion seriously. Adultery, drug abuse, and homosexuality are sins in my religion and I was worried this novel was written to push an agenda. I was mistaken.

What I found instead was a story of flawed, troubled people living their lives. Like you, Gretchen, I didn't feel like this story tried to preach anything to me. I didn't feel like I was being sold anything.I was uncomfortable in parts, but I made it through.

I think Amy and Gretchen have the right idea that this would be a good TV show. I don't think I would watch it, but I think it would be very successful.

Amy, I understand what you mean. This time/place isn't new to me, but this subculture in that time/setting is. In fact, one of the club books was Sleepers, set 20 minutes north and 5-7 years in the future.

As far as reception of this novel goes, I wasn't able to find much other than it had mixed reviews.

Ryan, I'm so glad you were able to get through the uncomfortable parts. I appreciate your ability to give this book a chance.

I think you put it so well "flawed, troubled people living their lives". I feel like this is one of the things literature should do. Not push an agenda but show us different lives and perspectives in ways that can be viewed with compassion or an objective point of view. Creating discussion about the human condition .

I did find some stuff about Another County and James Baldwin. He started writing this in 1948 and he received a grant to support his work on the book. I also read somewhere but can't remember where that he received some criticism from the black community about his portrayal of African Americans. I wish I knew where I'd read that because I feel that's not exactly what was said...

Amal, I'm curious what made you choose this book?

Looks like we are off to a good start in this discussion! Awesome.

It looks like I may be the only one who felt this way, but I was not a fan of this book. To be honest, I couldn't finish it. I really, REALLY tried. I made it about 60% of the way through and found myself dreading returning to this novel. I don't recall ever having done this before, but I even skipped ahead a couple hours (I listen to audiobooks while working/commuting) and found that new characters had been introduced and new events had unfolded, but it just wasn't working for me.

I gravitate to sci-fi, horror, and fantasy; and I read to get a break from the struggles of life. Another Country was a deep dive into the struggles of life. There is no enemy to defeat, no journey to make, no goal to reach.

I couldn't root for any of the characters, I didn't even like them. Ryan, you said they were flawed, troubled people, but that's at their best. At their worst, they were abusive, cruel, terrible people. I wouldn't want to spend any length of time around any of them.

I don't have your moral qualms, Ryan, so the elements of gay/bisexual sex don't bother me at all (I'm a fan of Clive Barker. Half of his novels include gay sex at some point), but the dishonesty and adultery do. Regardless of their sexual preference, these people were shitty.

I did not like this book, at all (in case that was unclear, haha) but I do think it was a GOOD book. I don't like it because I don't like reading about real people in real, average situations. This book felt very real to me, very genuine and the fact that I couldn't get into it has nothing to do with the quality of the writing (which was great). Sadly, the subject matter just wasn't right for me right now.

I think my negative reaction to this would have been far less pronounced had the book been a poorly written daytime TV drama. I don't know, I feel like I need to come back to this book at a different time and place and try again. I really want to give it a fair shake. I am happy to have been introduced to this novel, even if I didn't like it.

With that being said, I too did not realize this and Beale Street were written by the same author. I have not seen that movie, but it's been suggested to me a few times.

Gretchen, I enjoy the research you bring to these discussions. The idea that Baldwin received a grant to work on this blows my mind. Does that happen at all anymore? Do authors get grants to write? Beyond that, a black man in the 40's got a grant to write fiction? Now and then I come across little rays of sunshine in history, stories that warm it up just a bit here and there.

Amy, this was a change of pace from our more typical books and I am glad you liked it. I support your Netflix idea, although this might be better on HBO. They can get away with more. I think I would watch a miniseries about this book. With music, accurate costumes, and some good acting I think I could get into it.

Ryan, I feel like I need to go back and finish the book since you powered through it for the sake of the club discussion. That's some interesting trivia about the proximity to the time and location of Sleepers. It's interesting to imagine they were so close, yet so far away culturally.

Jordan even though I liked this book I did have a hard time liking some of the characters at times and the things they did. Ida rubbed me the wrong way at times. She was so angry but she had some real basis for that anger. I thought it was terrible that Rufus was so abusive. However, he was mentally ill. Not that it excuses behavior just gives me an understanding of it.

Then there is Cass and her husband. I wanted them take a moment and talk about what was going on.

The fact that all these characters struggled but couldn't navigate them in healthier way may be in part to the times they were in. Some of these themes are very relevant today but are more openly talked about.

I think I also was thinking about the things that weren't said and might have made these people seem more flawed than awful to me. I'm assuming that they were all making bad choices but at some point they will grow and learn from those choices.

How we all have such different reactions to the same story is fascinating. How our personal experiences form the way we respond.

For me, the biggest factor in my response is that I read to get away from the bitter parts of reality, not to dig into them.

Here is a quote from an interview with Baldwin:

"You know when I was working it out, because it's you blot out of your memory, I think. People think -- seem to think of it as a very harsh and bitter book and in some ways it is. But, umm, in my own mind anyway, it's a very affirmative book and if I may be corny about it, you know, it's meant to be bitter when it's bitter the way medicine is bitter. I'm trying to excavate, if I can use that word, something about what is really happening in America, according to me and from my very limited point of view, my limited vision, which is hardly ever expressed and it's really a book about the nature of the American loneliness and the -- and how dangerous that is. How hard it is here for people to establish any real communion with each other and the chances they have to take in order to do it."



He says his goal was to excavate, and I think he accomplished that very well.

I think if I were to have read this in the summer, when I had spare serotonin, I might have found the story more digestible.

Thank you for sharing that. To hear how exact his intentions were and how well he communicated them in this book makes me want to read more by him.

That interview gave me some perspective. I didn't really know what the author's goal was in writing this. As I mentioned, I worried it would be to promote an agenda, but now I understand that he was trying to give the world a glimpse into a culture that he felt hadn't been represented before.