If Beale Street Could Talk

"I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass."

Tish, a 19-year-old black girl, finds out she's pregnant. Her boyfriend Fonny is falsely accused and in jail, leaving Tish to try to keep his spirits up, fight for him to get justice, and nurture new life inside of her. She narrates the story of how they met, growing up in New York, and how her family bands together to support Tish and attempt to free Fonny.

This spare novel packs a punch, all the more so because not much has changed in the forty-five years since its original printing. The overt racism in the city of New York, which we like to think of as diverse and modern, left me cringing and frustrated, as Tish's family navigates a legal system stacked show more against them. The system, more than an individual, is left as the bad guy, as we see Fonny's accuser also in a terrible situation. As Tish's mother says, "she's not lying." It was an uncomfortable reading experience, but the more I think about the story, the more I find it challenging and compelling. This is the first book I've read by James Baldwin and certainly won't be the last. show less

Digital audiobook performed by Bahni Turpin

The jacket blurb promises “a moving story of love in the face of injustice,” and that’s exactly what Baldwin delivers.

Set in the early 1970s, the novel focuses on two young people, Tish and Fonny, who are deeply in love and planning a future together when Fonny is arrested and jailed for a terrible crime he did not commit. Tish narrates the tale, going back and forth between her visits to Fonny in jail and their present-day trials and tribulations as the couple’s families struggle to raise the money for bail and a good attorney, and flashbacks to how they met and fell in love. When the novel opens, she is visiting Fonny in jail and telling him the news that they are expecting a child. show more

We see families that are together and unified in their fight against not only this terrible injustice, but against all the societal obstacles that challenge them. The fathers both work steady jobs, but still barely eke out a living. The temptation to drown their sorrows in drink is great. The mothers are steadfast in defense of their children and in their efforts to hold their families together. But both sets of parents are not in full agreement with their children’s goals and ambitions. Meanwhile these two young people are eager to strike out on their own.

Tish regularly visits Fonny in jail, helping to keep his spirits up and hope alive. Their unborn child is the focus of many of their dreams and plans, and also propels the families in their search for justice. But, as happens all too often, the system is really against them.

I really loved Baldwin’s writing, especially how he draws the reader into the emotions of his characters. I was angry, giddy with love, sad, frustrated, hopeful, teary, or happy right along with them.

Baldwin includes one more devastating tragedy right at the end of the novel, just as Tish realizes that her child is about to be born. The final paragraph implies hope for the future, but is ambiguous, leaving the reader to choose whether they will make it or whether Fonny will be one more Black man incarcerated for life for a crime he did not commit.

Bahni Turpin has become one of my favorite audiobook narrators. She does a marvelous job with this novel, bringing the characters to life with all their conflicts, passions, joys and sorrows. show less

Tish and Fonny are young, in love, and expecting a baby. They’d like to get married, but Fonny was recently sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. Tish visits him twice a day to keep his spirits up, while their families try everything in their power to free Fonny. The narrative frequently shifts to the past to show Tish and Fonny growing from childhood friends into a couple, and then becoming embroiled in a series of events that led to Fonny’s arrest. Tish’s family rallies around the young couple and are the force behind the multi-faceted plan to free him. Fonny’s family has more difficulty coming to grips with and providing support for the situation.

I loved James Baldwin’s writing, which was scathing in its indictment show more of the societal forces acting on Tish and Fonny, and at the same time, gentle and loving in its depiction of their relationship. Baldwin is also unconventional in his storytelling, ending this novel in a way that is far from cut and dry. I highly recommend this novel. show less

A classic for a reason. Baldwin has such a way with words. This book simultaneously captures a specific moment in time and place yet somehow feels timeless and generalizable to so many Black communities across 100 years.

One note: there is a LOT of casual homophobia in this novel that I found very jarring. I am sure an expert could tell you whether this has some deeper meaning but to me it was simply something that wrenched me out of the narrative a few times. Sigh.

This was the star of the show for me. My third Baldwin and my favorite by far. Lonnie and Tish are in love and looking for a loft apt in 1974 NYC when they cross paths with a racist police officer who vows to make their lives miserable. The next thing you know Lonnie is in jail, Tish is pregnant and life is undone. Beautifully narrated the most frightening thing about this story is that it could've happened today. Or tomorrow. Things have remained pretty much the same for generations with no improvement in sight as far as racism is concerned. Beautifully written, incredible narration, and a sad, lovely, hopeless constant in the U.S. today.

Baldwin is one of those writers I am always meaning to read more of in a vague way. I mean, he is an incredibly powerful writer, but I also know he is going to break my heart. And how often are you in the mood to have your heart broken? Anyway, all the ads for the new movie adaptation were making me feel guilty I hadn't read this one yet, so when I saw this striking paperback in my favorite used bookstore, I had to add it to the stack.

Heartbreak hangs on this one from the very second page. That's when we find out that Fonny, the man Tish loves, is in jail. And Baldwin gives us this: "I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass."

But this book is about more than heartbreak. It's an indictment of racism and show more the prison/policing/bail system. But fundamentally it is a story of love and hope and family and perseverance in the face of unjust systems. It's a profound reminder that the world has long been messed up, but that it is better to be brave and love fiercely than to fold yourself into self-righteous contempt.

An amazing read. show less

The concision of James Baldwin's writing cuts through to your soul and remains there. It loosens, gives a little slack then hauls you back, fist over fist.

In the 2010s, we see the terrible plight of the Black man, woman, and child in America via social media. In reading Beale Street, a white man like me, can experience – albeit fleetingly and far removed – the horror of that struggle that hasn't changed since 1974 and for many, many years before.

Yet it is the overwhelming experience of love that endures in this reading. I sat at the table of Tish and her family, I lived in that household as we fought the system to bring Fonny home. We endured. We loved.

Baldwin pours himself out on the page with such honesty that the connection is show more personal. No less than Toni Morrison described it best in her eulogy: "You knew, didn't you, how I needed your language and the mind that formed it? How I relied on your fierce courage to tame wildernesses for me?" show less