I will not just add a link to go to my Goodreads page today. Today, I am sharing with you the entirety of this review. As an LGBTQI+ ally, this book resonated with me. I am with you. Always.
I am not even sure I have the words to explain how incredible and heart wrenching this novel was. I wasn’t even born when Yale’s story begins, and then was only just out of college a few years when we read Fiona’s tale begins. The ending? Soul crushing. Heart breaking. Hopeful. Uplifting. Bittersweet.
I wasn’t sure, really, what I was getting into with this novel. I knew it was going to be about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80’s. I also knew that it was going to go forward in time and be about a mother/daughter relationship gone awry. What I didn’t know was that I would root for Yale the entire time, that I would mourn the losses with him and Fiona, the triumphs. That I would get angry on their behalf, wanting to be their friends in real life. Then realizing that I am so lucky to actually have my own friends the way Yale had his.
Yale, a young, vibrant gay man in Chicago, coming to the peak of his career at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, is who we are introduced to first. He takes us on a journey of sorrow right off the bat: his friend, Nico, has just died of AIDS. Nico’s boyfriend, Terrance, not allowed to be with him because Nico’s parents, who disowned him but have come back for the hospital rights, have forbade it. Nico’s sister, Fiona, is inconsolable. This is how we meet her: crying but trying in every way she can, to let Nico’s gay friends and boyfriend have the ability to say goodbye. This loss, and everyone after, shapes her into the woman she becomes – but her story will come later. Yale, meanwhile, is coping with the loss and after the funeral of many of his friends, comes to find out that his boyfriend, Charlie, cheated on him. Multiple times. It’s shocking because, as we have learned, Charlie was always accusing Yale of doing the same, only for it to have never been true. This is just another loss that Yale has to deal with. So he pours himself into his work – and his young intern, Roman. Yale has just bagged what could possibly be the biggest thing to happen to an art gallery: unknown works of an artist from long ago, from Fiona’s aunt Nora. The man was her great love of her life and is a relative unknown in the art world, but her dying wish is to see his works displayed. This becomes Yale’s priority. Until it isn’t
Fiona, young, vibrant and yet jaded by the horrific death of her brother, is also the young mother hen and power of attorney for many of the young men in Boystown, as it is known. This shapes her in ways that she doesn’t realize until she is much older: marriage ruined by infidelity on her part, and an estranged daughter, who first joined a cult then later runs off to Paris. It’s this search for her daughter that we meed Fiona, in 2015, after hiring a private investigator aid in the search. She travels to Paris, and stays with Richard Campo, famous artist – and old friend. He was there, documenting every moment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Chicago, documenting the riots, the marches and his friends. He is getting ready for a big show, one that will showcase all of that work from then, and wants Fiona to see it all. But she isn’t sure she is ready. Not only is she trying to repair her relationship with her daughter, but she is trying to find herself again and the past is haunting her in ways that are challenging her very soul.
This whole book. From cover to cover, all I had were feelings. The whole time. It was just so overwhelming and so poignant. Many times, my emotions would overcome me and I would have to put it down, only to pick it right back up because I couldn’t just leave those boys there. It was a very visceral reaction. I don’t get that very much. This was absolutely worth the $2 in late fines I now have at the library since it’s 2 weeks overdue. Now, on to the next. To those who passed on from this horrid disease, RIP. To those dealing with it, stay strong.
Lupe's Book Nook 