Published in 1962, this is an emotionally intense novel of love, hatred, race, and America in the 1950s.
Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and France, among other locales, Another Country tells the story of the suicide of jazz musician Rufus Scott and the friends who search for an understanding of his life and death, discovering uncomfortable truths about themselves along the way. It is a novel of passions—sexual, racial, political, artistic—that is stunning for its emotional intensity and haunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their masks of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublime. In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal America in the 1950s.
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"Of the four Baldwin novels I've read, this is so far my least favorite. I admit that the character's brutal flaws may have something to do with this, they were largely unlikeable. As does how disturbing I found Baldwin's bold and honest take of racial tension mixed up with gender and sexual tension was bold, honest, and disturbing. But also nagging at me is the feeling that his writing felt more difficult, like he wanted to make such a strong statement and these is so much to say and he wanted to get it all into this book, and, well, that is a daunting task for any writer, including Baldwin. Also, I don't know whether it was intentional, but there was an aura of superficiality hovering over what was presented as close friendship it made most of the character's relationships unbelievable. I don't know if this was intentional on Baldwin's part. Probably. But for me, it seemed a flaw."
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Mmars (4 out of 5 stars)