Review of If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

*If Beale Street Could Talk* by James Baldwin. Published in 2006 by Vintage.

If Beale Street Could Talk has been one of those books I’ve been wanting to read for years. James Baldwin is one of those writers I could absolutely read his entire bibliography across my lifetime; some writers I don’t think I could read some of their books all the way through, but Baldwin is such a literary and philosophical genius that I want to be the Iranian American equivalent of him.

I could only dream of becoming the writer that James Baldwin became and living such a rich life that exemplifies itself through his gorgeous prose.

Anyways, one of my new big hobbies is that when I am preparing to sit down and do my work for Smithsonian Books—I intern there as a Marketing Intern—I end up pressing play on an audiobook. Listening to books as I work has been one of the many ways I have managed to stay productive as someone who works from home, and

I’m glad I discovered this little hack that works so well for my kind of schedule. I ended up checking out If Beale Street Could Talk through Libby and finished it across two different work days, as it was not that long of a book when it comes to the audiobook.

Onwards with the review!

After Fonny is falsely accused of rape, his pregnant fiancee tries to prove his innocence.

If Beale Street Could Talk is narrated by the female protagonist, Tish, as she recalls the events that led up to the imprisonment of her fiance Fonny. Set in Harlem during the seventies, the two grew up together as childhood friends and when they became older (Fonny especially, as he is older than Tish), they end up becoming romantically linked.

A chunk of the narrative recalls the romance between the two as they slowly got together, and one of the biggest standout passages of the novel for me was when Tish talks about the first time they were intimate with each other.

This is a novel that’s very much about love and devotion between two different people, and that shows in the tenderness in which Tish talks about her beloved. However, the catalyst for all of this happening and Tish remembering their time together is that Fonny is accused of being the man who raped a woman.

However, it is very clearly rigged because he is the only Black man in the lineup. Considering the woman was raped by a Black man and he’s the only one, she picks him out by process of elimination.

When Fonny is arrested for the rape, Tish is pregnant with their child. They have not married yet. Their families’ reactions are vastly different. Tish’s family rallies between them and ends up supporting her in their time of need, which is such a good thing considering what has happened to them is pretty devastating.

It could ruin their lives, especially since Fonny will have a criminal forever if they don’t get this cleared up. Fonny’s mother and sisters however see him as guilty, which is a theme they have persisted about throughout his life.

The only one supportive in Fonny’s life is his father, but throughout the novel, especially at the end, something big ends up happening with him that’s also devastating.

Tish is convinced of Fonny’s innocence and ends up trying to find the girl who was raped, and when they finally find out she’s in Puerto Rico and left New York, it leads to Tish trying to go talk to her about what had happened and seeing if her statement can be modified.

But when the woman in Puerto Rico loses her child, she ends up being driven insane by the trauma that was caused by it. It looks like she will never end up being able to testify the truth of what happened to her, and that makes Tish’s search for what could save Fonny as futile.

This narrative is juxtaposed between the past love and moments between Fonny and Tish, which is what makes this novel especially interesting in Baldwin’s canon. It’s a hetero love, but it also humanizes Fonny, a Black man who will be seen as guilty by the law no matter what he does.

Overall Thoughts

I’m so glad I got the audiobook version of the novel, because I felt like I could literally hear the beat of Baldwin’s prose in whoever was reading the audiobook. There’s a lot of rich prose in this book that makes me really admire Baldwin even more than I already do, and using Tish to tell the story works really well in a way that complements the larger story Baldwin is trying to tell.

I think if I ever stumble across a used copy of the book I will definitely pick it up for my physical collection—it has earned its spot. I don’t buy new books, so I definitely will be hunting this one down at the thrift stores near me.

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