Giovanni's Room vs The Souls of Black Folk: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Afro-Americans, Race Relations, African Americans, Fiction
Giovanni's Room
“I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life.”
Considered an 'audacious' second novel, GIOVANNI'S ROOM is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity,…
vs
The Souls of Black Folk
“BETWEEN me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it.”
Du Bois' 1903 collection of essays is a thoughtful, articulate exploration of the moral and intellectual issues surrounding the perception of blacks within American society.
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Giovanni's Room has the widest readership — 294566 ratings behind its score.
- The Souls of Black Folk reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 139 times.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Giovanni's Room | The Souls of Black Folk | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.3 (294566) | 4.3 (45888) |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (1) | — |
| Google Books | — | 4.5 (3) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (509) | 4.5 (137) |
Reception
| Giovanni's Room | The Souls of Black Folk | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 294566 | 45888 |
| Editions | 65 | 412 |
| Citations | 80 | 139 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 533499 | 86733 |
| Reading it now | 17324 | 7561 |
| Written reviews | 43542 | 2580 |
| Wikipedia attention | 35465 | 3479 |
| Pages | 185 | 232 |