In James Baldwin's words: 
 They said I was a Negro writer and I would reach a very special audience. . . . And I would be dead if I alienated that audience. That, in effect, nobody would accept that book--coming from me. . . . My agent told me to burn it.... [the publishers] told me, 'This new book will ruin your career, ... and we won't publish this book as a favor to you.' 
 Fair enough, James Baldwin wanted to avoid being pigeonholed as a black writer. So made his protagonist here white. So here we have a black writer presenting a gay love story about white people. And this book was published in the mid fifties. I mean, wow. That's fearless. That's reckless. 
 If you look at the constellation of five star reviews and general critical opinion Giovanni's Room is a resounding success. I can see why - this is a novel about a (white) American guy in Paris who's proposed marriage to a woman who's gone off for a few weeks to think about it (she has her issues too) and in the meantime he's swept giddily into a love affair with a very handsome Italian waiter, with whom he ends up living, in the famous room, whilst horrifiedly waiting for The Fiancee to return, at which point he has to figure out what to do. Giovanni has wonderful pecs but can that justify a life of skulking and self-loathing and gradually turning into a porky middle aged fairy which is what, apparently, your fate is if you're a gay man? 
 Because according to our first person narrator, Americans are like this, French people are like that, men are like this, women are like that (he and his pals generalize like crazy), and gay men are either like this or like that, there's nothing in between. So gay men are either middle aged, flabby wealthy fairies (his word) or "knife-thin" waiters and rent boys. One or the other. So many generalisations about so many people amidst this intense prose. Baldwin's great control of place and atmosphere and melodramatic breathlessness pretty much successfully rushes you past all this dubious sexual politics which hardly any reviews mention. 
 This book therefore gets like a million points for being a gay love story and exposing some gay men's strong desire to stay in the closet and (I think) in the end saying that if you deny your own nature you'll be left with less than nothing. But jeez, you could pull all kinds of quotes from here which gay-bashers would just love. It was really uncomfortable reading at times, for a whole number of reasons. 
 Recommended : for Baldwin's tremendous style and because this will really mess your mind.