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From one of the most important writers of the twentieth century comes a stunning love story about a young Black woman whose life is torn apart when her lover is wrongly accused of a crime—"a moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless" (The New York Times Book Review).
Told through the eyes of Tish, a nineteen-year-old girl, in love with Fonny, a young sculptor who is the father of her child, Baldwin's story mixes the sweet and the sad. Tish and Fonny have pledged to get married, but Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions—affection, despair, and hope. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin has created two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.
Have you read any of Baldwin’s other works? If so, which ones, and how does The Devil Finds Work compare?
I have read the novel ,"Go Tell It On the Mountain",and a short story "The Rock Pile" by James Baldwin. I don't think I can compare them except that much of his work is autobiographical, that is greatly influenced by his experience in Harlem as a child and teen- ager's conflict with his repressiv...
-Tonyia_R
What do you think Baldwin would have to say about today’s society if he were alive today? Do you think he’d have seen any improvement in the decade since the book was written? How about representation at major award ceremonies like the Oscar and Emmy’s?
I would think he would pleased there has been some improvements and gains, in general, but still feel the entertainment business is run by white society money and influence. Some films still follow certain stereotypes. Or the Black person(s), while entertaining people, are simultaneously, trying ...
-Tonyia_R
"Emotional dynamite.... A powerful assault upon the cynicism that seems today to drain our determination to confront deep social problems." —Library Journal
"A moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless." —The New York Times Book Review
"One of the best books Baldwin has ever written—perhaps the best of all." —The Philadelphia Inquirer
This information about If Beale Street Could Talk was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
James Baldwin was born in 1924 and educated in New York. He is the author of more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Go Tell It on the Mountain; Notes of a Native Son; Giovanni's Room; Nobody Knows My Name; Another Country; The Fire Next Time; Nothing Personal; Blues for Mister Charlie; Going to Meet the Man; The Amen Corner; Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone; One Day When I Was Lost; If Beale Street Could Talk; The Devil Finds Work; Little Man, Little Man; Just Above My Head; The Evidence of Things Not Seen; Jimmy's Blues; and The Price of the Ticket. Among the awards he has received are a Eugene F. Saxon Memorial Trust Award, a Rosenwald Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Partisan Review Fellowship, and a Ford Foundation grant. He was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1986. He died in 1987.
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