Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin An American man named David is on an extended stay in 1950s Paris, unwilling to return home to his widowed father who is desperately trying to get him to do so and refusing to send any sort of significant financial support. His father wonders what it is he is doing in Paris? What David is doing is hanging out in gay bars and restaurants, pretending he is not gay and looking down on those who so obviously are. All the while, he is lusting after one man or another when, in a bar owned by a man named Guillaume, he meets a new bartender working there named Giovanni. Giovanni is a beautiful Italian man with whom David pretends not to notice and then quickly comes to be enamored with. The two begin to spend time together and Giovanni falls quickly in love with David, who is still afraid to be who he knows he truly is. Instead, David holds himself distant and longs for his friend Hella to return from Spain to save him from what he perceives as his deprav...