Like A Love Story

Art, Judy and Reza are friends. Reza has recently moved to New York from Toronto via Iran, the year is 1989. Reza’s father has been killed in the revolution. Reza thinks that he is Gay and he is incredibly scared of this because, in Iran, if it were discovered, he would be executed. He doesn’t feel safe in America either, because it is the height of the Aids crisis.

Judy is Art’s best friend, and they have been best friends for many years. She is a straight, plus-sized girl who really wants to be a fashion designer and who is extremely close to her uncle, Stephen, who is dying of Aids.

Art is the school’s only fully disclosed Gay pupil and he has a big crush on Reza. How will these three teens navigate their lives together and apart?

In this outstanding and often heart-breaking novel, the reader is treated to three, first person narrators. This can take a little time to get used to, but its value is in the immediacy and intimacy it gives readers, in relation to their emotions especially when the three friends are arguing.

The other major character is Uncle Stephen. His wisdom, knowledge and kindness, to all three teens, both together and separately, hold the narrative together and moves it on. He also provides an insight into Gay history prior to the 1980s. His death scene from Aids, which is unflinching, much like his character, is deeply moving and could be triggering for anyone who has experienced grief.

The author does not flinch from describing in detail some deeply homophobic responses of the period.

This title is not suitable for anyone under fourteen but will give huge hope to those who have just found their place in the Gay community. It should also be read by allies who want to understand the lengths to which activists went to secure health care for those affected.