Go Tell it on the Mountain (A Dell Contemporary Classic) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Concerning the book, then, I would like to suggest a couple of things to readers and to those who suggest books for others to read:

1)Don't read this book unless you know your Bible well, particularly the King James version. Without this as your base, I would guess that you'd find the language incredibly dense, and most of Baldwin's allusive power will blow past you.

2)Don't read this book unless you have some experience in life. Again, I would think that the way Baldwin is able to put deep inner struggles and the feelings that rise from hard experience into words will remain lost to you unless you've had some hard experience of your own.

3) If you're not African American, a little pre-reading into the Black experience in America might be helpful first, looking into particularly the Great Migration, the Azusa street revival, and the rise of the storefront church.

4) Practice reading the book out loud!! Many passages were written in an almost oral form, the kind one hears in preaching, with rolling sentences that seem to go on forever. Don't let the long sentences intimidate. Rather let them sweep you along, phrase for phrase, as they're meant to.

Baldwin gives an excellent (I cannot think of another superlative)insight into the lives of these people. Not just their lives, though, but how they think and why they think the things they do, how their thoughts give way to their actions and how their actions give way to the consequences that made (make) their lives what they were. I am inspired by that.

If you are a shallow thinker and only want to be entertained, and can only see that what is only in front of you, then I can imagine you would find Baldwin (or any other) great, thought-provoking writer boring (it almost hurt my hand to type that word in the same sentence as Baldwin). So, we must move ourselves outside our boxes, and see more than just what we know of ourselves.

I'm also sorry to say, O. Wilder, you have it all mixed up, you need to read this story again, to see what it's really saying. I'm not even going to address some of the other ridiculous reviews of this book.

I read this book a long time ago (I was 16) and thought it great, but without quite knowing why. I'm 27 now and I realize it for the great work that it is because of what it made me feel inside.

"The Prayer of The Saints", Part Two of the novel, tells the stories of Florence, Gabriel, and Elizabeth; people all significant in John's life. Interspersed with stories of their pasts, each of these three are vital to John's development as they pray for his salvation. Florence's prayer centers around the anger she feels being a woman in a family dominated by men as well as the anger associated with racism. Although Florence became a very religious women deep in prayer, initially, she could not find any comfort in religion. Gabriel, a man anointed by God to preach first married Deborah, a young woman who was barren, was overtaken by the flesh while talking to a co-worker, Esther. Although he felt guilty and tried to repent for his sin, the conceived child died. After becoming a widower, Gabriel married Elizabeth and promised to provide a good family atmosphere for her and John. As time went by, Gabriel fell short of his promise, and although he and John attempted to work through their differences, they were both overcome by feelings of unworthiness. Although, long Part Two is well written and creative in the sense that the other saints are mentioned in someone else's prayer.

Part Three, "The Threshing Room Floor" tells us how John receives the Holy Ghost, something he has been searching for, and is found in the middle of the "threshing" floor surrounded by saints. The reader is left wonder if, now saved, will John be accepted by Gabriel. Also, Baldwin used an excellent play on words by naming the church "Temple of Fire Baptized" because it is water or the blood of the lamb that baptizes and saves people from sin, not the fires often seen in hell.

Although the book well-written, it was at times difficult to focus. This book is recommended to an avid reader, but not to one who is looking for "a first novel to read". However, I believe that "Go Tell It On The Mountain" is a good book for someone to read if they are fighting with salvation and looking for acceptance in church.