A collection of eight short stories from James Baldwin. Usually with short story collections there are some that are weaker than others, but each of these is beautifully written and emotionally gut wrenching, none more so than the titular tale at the end, Going to Meet the Man. I got absolutely lost in these stories, particularly the ones in first person narrative (Sonny's Blues - a man reflecting on his relationship with the brother he loses to drug addiction; Previous Condition - a man trying to find his feet in New York while hiding that he is Black from his landlady; This Morning, This Evening, So Soon - an American man living in Paris reflects on his time in both places on the eve of taking his family to live in the US) and each time the story ended I felt a jolt back to reality and was disappointed that it ended. This book would be a great entry point to Baldwin's work.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Eight stories, by the man himself, James Baldwin.
This collection is another solid proof that Baldwin is a master of fiction.
This Morning, This Evening, So Soon stood out for me.
I enjoyed the symbolism in Sonny’s Blues.
Man Child and The Rockpile are tragic.
Previous Condition and Come Out the Wilderness tackle discrimination and racism.
I was not entirely engaged with The Outing because of its religious themes.


5 stars for Baldwin’s writing style, 3.5 stars for the plots of the stories.

Possibly the greatest writer who has ever lived. Nobody writes like he does. Such a beautiful and moving story, I savoured every last word on the page. Gorgeous.

A great and entertaining set of short stories. Some of them were fantastic and others I struggled to connect with, but still a well written collection with strong characters and important themes

A mystery: why didn’t he name the collection after the best story, ‘Sonny’s Blues’?

‘The Rockpile’ also has distinction and shows off Baldwin’s talent.

Thanks to NetGalley etc.

I’ve been wanting to read Baldwin for a while now and this was a great opportunity for me to dive in and what an excellent first place to start. Baldwin is an excellent, evocative writer. I so clearly saw the scenes being set around me and felt the emotions entangled with those time periods and the social and political landscape. The writing was so honest and so brutal and so brilliant.

The only reason why I’m not giving it a 5 is sometimes I got lost within the narrative structures of the short stories — I had to reread parts several times trying to figure out what’s going on and how we got to one part from the last bit. That was my only issue,

I can’t wait to read more Baldwin. I think he’s an excellent writer and there’s a lot to be learned from him.