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Sarah1984
May 06, 2016Sarah1984 rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
11/12 - The sight of drag queens in full drag is as grotesque as monkeys eating their own poo? I think David might be projecting some of his own self-hatred onto these undeserving drag queens. I would suggest he needs to see a therapist about his latent anger, but I don't think a therapist would have been of much help in 1956. They would probably try to pull a 'Clockwork Orange' on him, and he'd end worse than ever. To be continued... 17/12 - I was surprised to learn France was still practicing execution by guillotine during the 60s, when Giovanni's Room was set. I think the main reason I kept reading this, past the point where I would normally have quit due to a loss of interest, was because it was just so short and the language was normal (and therefore easy to read, not counting all the untranslated French that I couldn't be bothered looking up), the secondary reason was that I did want to know exactly what Guillame had done to earn the guillotine. After the first 70 pages, or so, I did find this less than riveting - I couldn't garner much sympathy for David, stringing both Hella and Giovanni along because he can't make up his mind about what/who he really wants, and I found Giovanni's clinginess pathetic. I can't stand people who use emotional blackmail to force people/significant others into staying with them, threatening to hurt or kill themselves if they try to leave. That's not love, that's emotional abuse, and that's what Giovanni was threatening would happen if David left him. While none of that absolves David's behaviour, it does go some way toward explaining it.