The writing in [a:James Baldwin|10427|James Baldwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1343346341p2/10427.jpg]'s 1953 [b:Go Tell It on the Mountain|18920654|Go Tell It on the Mountain|James Baldwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1624056316l/18920654.SY75.jpg|1027995] is as good as writing gets, but this book wasn't for me. It's told through the filter of the Christian religion and while that may hold much sociological interest to many, none of it was new to me, though it is fascinating to think about it: A Middle Eastern religion, transformed in Europe, exported from there to America and then forced on unwilling slaves from Africa. But growing up in a fairly diverse East Coast city and having been raised going to church until I was no longer required to, the religious aspects of this book didn't interest me. The only part of it I found compelling was Part Three in which that element was least present, which the section that described the main character's origin story.
Excerpt:
 If you're interested and don't know a lot about the influence of the church on American Blacks, this book—its working title was "Crying Holy"—is for you. Otherwise, you might be more interested in Baldwin's other works.

 On a bright, summer day, bright in her memory forever, she came into the store alone, wearing her best white summer dress and with her hair, newly straightened and curled at the ends, tied with a scarlet ribbon. She was going to a great church picnic with her aunt, and had come in to buy some lemons. She passed the owner of the store, who was a very fat man, sitting out on the sidewalk, fanning himself; he asked her, as she passed, if it was hot enough for her, and she said something and walked into the dark, heavy-smelling store, where flies buzzed and where Richard sat on the counter reading a book.
 She felt immediately guilty about having disturbed him, and muttered apologetically that she only wanted to buy some lemons. She expected him to get them for her in his sullen fashion and go back to his book, but he smiled and said:
 "Is that all you want? You better think now. You sure you ain't forgot nothing?"