Customer Reviews

To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life (High Risk Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Guibert's autobiographical novel is in a class of its own in handling the frightening reality of aids in the late 80s from the perspective a young celebrity, himself, who witnesses the loss of his famous friend (Michel Foucault in real life), and then his own sense of being. But along with the suspense there is also disarming honesty, courage, and humor. Despite the praise it received, too many people have missed the experience of this book. And amazingly almost no one has read its sequel, a lesser work technically--understandably because it was written in his last months--a dazzingly farewell called The Compassion Protocol.

"In a series of diary-like chapters, reminiscent of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year, the narrator, a homosexual writer in his early 30s, records his own first response to AIDS, as well as the way the disease insidiously begins to affect a whole community. He notes how friendships, families, and affections are tested, and sometimes--though rarely--found wanting."--© zebraz