We first meet Rufus – at his lowest – as he allows pride, repressed sexuality, and racial discrimination overcome him. We are introduced to his bohemian friend group, seeing an artist’s New York from each perspective. They are all lost and desperate to be found, destroying themselves – through violence, sex, alcohol – as they attempt to remove the aches that plague them.
Generally, I feel like James Baldwin is a must when it comes to literature. I think it’s wildly important to acknowledge, understand, and empathize with those communities that, at times, have been forced to exist on the fringe. Baldwin explores the buried self-hatred that explodes out of these characters when pushed to the brink. Every one of them is tragic in their own way, and I ended up feeling sad for each of them.
3.75 out of 5 stars. (Deducted points only because, for some reason, I found it difficult to immerse myself in the narrative and it was difficult for me to believe that everyone would sleep with everyone else before simply removing themselves from the friend group. The 50s/60s was a wild time, I guess. That said, we should probably all hope these characters become less and less relatable as time goes on.)
Pair with: straight vodka
Peaches to Apples 