I just finished reading James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, and there is such complete brilliance in how and what Baldwin writes about.

The book is about an american man and an italian man and their sexual interaction during their time in Paris. It is the only novel Baldwin where all protagonists were white.

It made me think about how whenever we think of characters in american-european fiction, there's an assumption that they are white unless stated otherwise explicitly.

It was also interesting how Baldwin referred to Giovanni, an Italian, from somewhere near the mediterranean, highlighting how he may not be as white as his american counterpart. Upon research, I found that as many as 50 Italian Americans were lynched in the US bw 1890 and 1920.

Throughout the book, the protagonist displays a certain kind of coldness, but also helplessness. It felt like Baldwin was exposing how white male privilege really works, shedding light on perhaps a precursor to what we would call "white guilt".

And despite how subtle it is in the subject matter it explores - the nexus of power in a gay relationship, the book has some of the best flirtation between the characters that I have come across in recent times.

I have not felt so geeky over a book in a very long time ugh.