Go Tell It on the Mountain discussion

Hey, so I guess I don't fully understand how this website works, but I feel like there should be a forum for every book, where anyone who's read the book can discuss their opinions and interpretations. So if forums like that exist and I just can't find them, sorry for making another one. This one is just about Go Tell It on The Mountain, so people who've read this book, or are currently reading this book, can bounce ideas off one another, ask questions or share viewpoints.

I was confused by this one. Was Baldwin christian? I know he or his father had a back ground in the church. It seems like he was trying to work out his issues in this book and came out on the side of the church.

I was compelled to read this for a college course on African American literature, otherwise I would never have completed it. There is a story (or plot) in this novel, but it sometimes becomes hard to identify. It is more like one autobiographical fragment after another loosely connected together. I have read other books by Baldwin. This one won him accolades, but it is really one of his weakest.

Fletcher wrote: "I was confused by this one. Was Baldwin christian? I know he or his father had a back ground in the church. It seems like he was trying to work out his issues in this book and came out on the side ..."

No he is not christian but he faces a very controversial problem in the story, he despises the christian belief and realizes that his religion experiences were way more emotional than spiritual how his family was. Considering the fact his step father was a strict preacher. His family was christian but he was not he believes the christian churches are meaningless and a social club rather than spiritual place.

Dominique wrote: "Fletcher wrote: "I was confused by this one. Was Baldwin christian? I know he or his father had a back ground in the church. It seems like he was trying to work out his issues in this book and came..."

I would have to disagree with the previous response, that Baldwin was not a Christian. For my understanding and reaching, he was a young preacher but left the faith due to his
homosexual lifestyles.

It was obvious he had issues with faith or how people subverted it. Can anyone recommend another Baldwin?

Just Above my Head (5-stars)
The Fire Next Time (4-stars)

A room for Giovanni. As for his homosexuality, I recall seeing him on TV in conversation with the poetess Nikki Giovanni and it looked as if he was coming on to her and she was overtly rejecting him.

I found the book worked best as a series of loosely connected short stories. It's been a long time since I read Go Tell It, but I still think it's his best fiction.

Go Tell it on a Mountain is an American classic but his best fiction is Above my Head.

This book royalty! It tells multiple stories from multiple perspectives using a child's slight coming of age as a narrative throughway. His technique seems so simple but so many writers try to replicate it and fall flat, in my opinion. I am so happy t his was my first longer work by Baldwin that I read, because it got me used to his language and the possibility in this writing.

Go Tell It On the Mountain reminded me of James Joyce's Ulyssees. It was difficult to follow and took me more than one read to somewhat understand. I think James Baldwin was struggling with coming of age - his family's expectations of him and how he could make his way as a black boy with all the sexual confusion of a young person.