What do You think about The Devil Finds Work (2000)?
The Devil Finds Work is impeccably organized: it gets better and better. Everything crescendos: the biting sarcasm, the incisive commentary, the clarity of the summaries, etc. What starts off as a good read (to put it as both a slight and a compliment to Baldwin, sub-par based on the standard to which I hold him) begins to pull harder, to engross more, to elicit more investment. The act is, in a way, four separate images coalescing into focus, and the image that results in his measured act of uniting those elements over time into a singular clarity is beyond splendid. The execution of these essays, and the way in which they bring about this effect of increasing the focus steadily, is remarkable. And what an "image" (a tableau, a lesson, an epiphany that feels like divine inspiration, perhaps) one can behold by the book's end. Great stuff.
—Mike
Baldwin has the gift of being able to tackle complex issues in a lyrical and approachable fashion. I found myself wishing he were alive today so I could read about his insights into today's films and other mass forms of entertainment (among many other issues). He is careful throughout the book to separate the work from the person. He is critical of films and how they are framed but he never criticizes individual actors (as far as I remember). His critiques stem from how films represent/ed society as a whole and what that says about us as people. It's very sad to think that not a lot has changed. No matter how much you think you may know about a topic, Baldwin will always help you see it through a distinct lens, for good and for bad.
—Liz Murray
James Baldwin does not seem to like movies very much, nor does he seem to recognize film as an art form, which I have to say does somewhat weaken his arguments in terms of how much he reads into messaging. It's easier to fully dissect something if you're taking it seriously. All the same, his prose is intelligent and wonderfully sarcastic, a good read if you're head over heels in love with the man as I am. The early sections, with Baldwin discussing being a black child at movie theaters playing thoroughly white films, are powerful.
—Sean Donovan
