Review: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

This contains some spoilers.

This is one of the diverse classics that I needed to knock off my list and August was the perfect opportunity to do so since the movie will be coming out within a couple of months. I absolutely loved this young love story. This is my second James Baldwin book and it pleasantly took me by surprise. My first book by Baldwin was The Fire Next Time, the more serious side of him so I was fun to see his mind wander.

I loved how in love Tish and Fonny were. Broke my heart to see Fonny in jail and how badly he wanted to be there with Tish, his now pregnant girlfriend. He was yet another black male convicted of a crime he did not do and everyone around him was suffering for it. He was very well supported by Tisha and her family but aside from Fonny’s father, he had very little support from his own. So fascinating to see how these two young adults held on to hope because it was all they had left.

I rated this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I just wish we got to know how their story ended and whether or not Fonny ever got out of jail to be with his family.