Go Tell It on the Mountain

A Novel

By: James Baldwin, Roxane Gay - introduction

Narrated by: Joe Morton, Roxane Gay

James Baldwin's haunting coming-of-age story, with a new introduction by Roxane Gay.

Originally published in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain was James Baldwin's first major work, based in part on his own childhood in Harlem. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a Pentecostal storefront church in Harlem. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle toward self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understood themselves.

Critic reviews

“With vivid imagery, with lavish attention to details, Mr. Baldwin has told his feverish story.” —The New York Times

“Brutal, objective and compassionate.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“It is written with poetic intensity and great narrative skill.” —Harper’s

“Strong and powerful.” —Commonweal

“A sense of reality and vitality that is truly extraordinary.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“This is a distinctive book, both realistic and brutal, but a novel of extraordinary sensitivity and poetry.” —Chicago Sunday Tribune

Raw honesty, full of heart

The language of the gospel as a mythology, the way he uses this as a scaffolding on which to hang the experiences of the book's family and the African-American experience itself, is brilliant.

A bible in and of itself.

Few literary works, beside the bible, have caused in myself such honest introspection. A true masterpiece.,,,,, A true testament.
MM

Magnificent

I have never heard a narrator tell a story like this. He could be reading the phone book and it would be riveting! Having grown up in a strict Christian home, this was heavy. But so worth it. Thank you Mr Baldwin & Mr Morton.

Truly Incredible..

At risk of writing an essay on this, I’m just going to highly recommend it to anyone interested in great autobiographical fiction, great writing, brilliant narrative, and frankly moving, conflicting, intensely human themes…

I’m not a good enough thinker or writer to put into words all I’m feeling after reading this, but as someone who grew up in similarly religious environments (though white, and 60-70 years later), who struggled to cling to religious fire in hopes it would destroy my teenager (not hetero) lust, who grew up with a hypocritical deacon step father, etc, I really highly related to John’s struggle.. Too much of this is oh so familiar, but also much of it falls far outside my experience, most obviously not being a black man growing up in Harlem while Jim Crow raged at peak power in The South.. Still, I have empathy, and just felt taken on a roller coaster up spiritual heights and valleys, jerked around between the themes of light and darkness, the struggle and ecstasy of the spirit and the carnal. So much intensity packed into a relatively short listen.

Anyway, this is becoming much longer than intended. The last point I really want to emphasize is the brilliance of the performance. This is one of the best narrations I’ve ever listened to, fiction or nonfiction. Brilliant work! 10/10

Amazing Writing

Descriptive, emotional, realistic and honest. Protest literature at its best. My second James Baldwin novel. I'm planning to read more!