'MO - June 2008 - (Page 30)

p/reviews BOOK REVIEW Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited By Andrew Holleran Reviewed by Terri Schlichenmeyer Today’s 25-year-olds never knew a world without internet or cell phone. They say they’ll “dial your number”, but they don’t know why. For them, David Letterman has always been on late-night TV and there has always been conﬂict in the Middle East. John Belushi was gone before they were born. So were Bob Marley, John Lennon, and Freddy Mercury. Today’s 25-year-olds weren’t around at the beginning of AIDS. In the new book Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited by Andrew Holleran, you’ll read about the start of the AIDS epidemic from one who watched it happen. Several months ago, Andrew Holleran was in a library, browsing books written about AIDS, and he saw his book there, collecting dust. He says it’s never easy for an author to know his work is out of print. It’s especially hard when the subject is still relevant. Despite medical advances, disease control, and preventative measures, people are still dying of AIDS. Friends urged him to have it reprinted, and an editor agreed. This book, most of which appeared previously, is the result. It was hard to believe that everyone went about their lives as the AIDS virus took hold in the gay community. Holleran says that denial was rampant. A friend said the germs “didn’t need” him; if they did, he said, he would be more worried. Hospital visits were common occurrences. Seeing twenty-ﬁve year old men shufﬂe along the street as if their bones were decades older, that was another. Lesions on legs, gaunt faces on formerly-exuberant people, funerals that brought friends back to New York, still more common. And yet, life went on as if a cure was near. Holleran writes of fear, and a plague that categorized men in columns marked Negative and Positive. He tells about a friend who carried a condom as a sort of mascot, always sure he should use it but never certain how to bring it up. He tells of friends who died alone, those who went out loudly and publicly, and those who left too quickly. It’s easy to tell that Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited was written pre-2000 because many of the essays in it are somewhat dated. That, and the fact that it’s almost entirely set in New York makes it difﬁcult to follow at times, particularly if you’ve never visited the places Holleran writes about. On the other hand, the feelings, the fear, the emotion in this book make it hard not to read: the pathos of bringing Life magazine to a dying man. The horror of yet another funeral and weariness at knowing there will be more. Astonishment at men who knowingly carry the virus but don’t tell potential partners until it’s too late. Trust that has holes punched in it. The fact that AIDS still isn’t curable. Whether you remember The Beginning or you were too young, Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited is an important book to have by your bedside. It’s a good reminder to be careful, and an unsettling look at how far we haven’t come. Terri has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. P ER SON OF TH E Vik Livingston Assistant Sales Manager vlivingston@downtownharley.com 13001 48th Ave S. Tukwila, WA 98168 (800) 474-HOGS T: 206-243-5000 F: 206-241-4918 YE AR SA LE S 30 celebrating seattle’s gay community http://www.martinsoffmadison.com http://downtownhd.com/Default.asp

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - June 2008

'MO Seattle - June 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices Instant Activist Pet Project: Do You Dream About Your Pet? ’mo-BIZ: Anne Levison, Co-owner of the Seattle Storm Legally Speaking: Real Estate Buying Basics The Things We Do: Getting “Out”doors this Summer Seattle Pride Events Calendar ’mo Magazine Interview with Sandra Bernhard Anatomy of a Myth Form & Function: Turn Up the Heat on Your Triceps Gay City: National HIV Testing Day San Francisco: If Gay Had a Headquarters Book Review: Chronicle of a Plague, Revisited by Andrew Holleran Augusten Burroughs Coming to Showtime Network Sex and the City Romances the Big Screen SceneOut: People@Places Capitol Hill Guide

'MO - June 2008

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