If Beale Street Could Talk

Product Description <br/>Harlem, the black soul of New York City, in the era of Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. The narrator of Baldwin's novel is Tish nineteen, and pregnant. Her lover Fonny, father of her child, is in jail accused of rape. Flashbacks from their love affair are woven into the compelling struggle of two families to win justice for Fonny. To this love story James Baldwin brings a spare and impassioned intensity, charging it with universal resonance and power.<br/> Review <br/>" One of the best books Baldwin has ever written- perhaps the best of all." - "The Philadelphia Inquirer" " A moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless." - "Joyce Carol Oates" " If Van Gogh was our nineteenth-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our twentiethth-century one." "- Michael Ondaatje" " Striking and particularly haunting. . . . A beauty, especially in its rendering of youthful passion." - "Cosmopolitan" " A major work of black American fiction... His best novel yet, even Baldwin's most devoted readers are due to be stunned by it." - "The New Republic" " 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"<br/> From the Publisher <br/>Like the blues -- sweet, sad and full of truth -- this masterly work of fiction rocks us with powerful emotions. In it are anger and pain, but above all, love -- affirmative love of a woman for her man, the sustaining love of a black family. Fonny, a talented young artist, finds himself unjustly arrested and locked in New York's infamous tombs. But his girlfriend, Tish, is determined to free him, and to have his baby, in this starkly realisitic tale... a powerful endictment of American concepts of justice and punishment in our time.<br/> From the Inside Flap <br/>Like the blues -- sweet, sad and full of truth --  this masterly work of fiction rocks us with  powerful emotions. In it are anger and pain, but above  all, love -- affirmative love of a woman for her  man, the sustaining love of a black family. Fonny, a  talented young artist, finds himself unjustly  arrested and locked in New York's infamous tombs. But  his girlfriend, Tish, is determined to free him,  and to have his baby, in this starkly realisitic  tale... a powerful endictment of American concepts of  justice and punishment in our time.<br/> From the Back Cover <br/>"If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one."<br/>--Michael Ondaatje<br/><br/>"A major work of black American fiction... His best novel yet, even Baldwin's most devoted readers are due to be stunned by it."<br/>--<br/>The New Republic<br/><br/>"Emotional dynamite... a powerful assault upon the cynicism that seems today to drain our determination to confront deep social problems."<br/>--<br/>Library Journal<br/><br/>"A moving, painful story, so vividly human and so obviously based on reality that it strikes us as timeless."<br/>--<br/>The New York Times Book Review<br/><br/><br/> About the Author <br/>Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin was a novelist, essayist, play-wright, poet, social critic, and the author of more than twenty books. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay col-lection The Fire Next Time was a bestseller that made him an influential figure in the civil rights movement. Baldwin spent many years in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in 1987.<br/> Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. <br/>Troubled About My Soul<br/><br/>I look at myself in the mirror. I know that I was christened Clementine, and so it would make sense if people called me Clem, or even, come to think of it, Clementine, since that's my name: but they don't. People