Geography of the Heart [Hardcover]

Fenton Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

The author of Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock presents a poignant memoir of love, coming of age, illness, and tragic loss in the time of AIDS. 20,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1990, Larry Rose, the partner of novelist Fenton Johnson, died of complications from AIDS. In Geography of the Heart, Fenton, author of Scissors, Paper, Rock, Songs of the Soil, and Crossing the River, honors Rose with a beautifully written memoir. Alternating between his own story and Rose's as far back as childhood, Johnson fashions a moving portrait of the man who was "a teacher, [who] taught me how to love."

From Publishers Weekly

Novelist Johnson (Scissors, Paper, Rock) watched his lover, San Francisco high-school teacher Larry Rose, die of AIDS in a Paris hospital in 1990 after an intense three-year relationship. Rose was HIV-positive but asymptomatic when they met, and while their lovemaking was haunted by fear of contagion, the author remains HIV-negative. Rose, the only child of German Jewish Holocaust survivors?his father, Leo, was imprisoned and beaten by the Nazis in Holland, escaped and hid for three years with broken vertebrae?had a very different background from that of Johnson, who grew up Catholic and the youngest of nine in an isolated Appalachian town in Kentucky. Johnson writes with crystal clarity of his gradual acceptance by his lover's emigrant parents, of coming out to his own widowed mother at 31, of Rose's gradual physical deterioration and of his working through grief toward emotional renewal. This is a remarkable memoir, touching, funny, searing, eloquent, beautifully alive.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Printing, FEP Missing edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068481417X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684814179
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What is Love?, February 2, 2002

By 

Michael S. Waren "schoeder" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Geography of the Heart (Hardcover)

If you want to know the true meaning of "Love", read this book! Mr. Johnson has written a highly moving and emotional account of his life's journey with his (now deceased) partner-Larry Rose. Two men who came together from two extremely different upbringings shared a life a love together that few of us ever have a chance to have, yet we all yearn for. Their individual families histories alone are worth reading! The writing is strong and effective, although I did have a few problems with it in spots. I cannot deny feeling nothing but joy at having the opportunity to read this excellent book! In an age where the AIDS crisis seems to be forgotten this is an all to important account of how all lives have changed and is a great testament and history lesson to remind us all. Highly recommended!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dissection of a heart, June 26, 2002

By 

"d_moi" (Karachi, Sindh Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Geography Of The Heart (Paperback)

Rarely does a book come along which changes the way you see things. Johnson writes with such command and passion that you are immediatly drawn into his world. I started this book when I was in low spirits and the book quickly made me see the brighter sides of life. Although, its about the death of the loved one the way Johnson writes it doesnt make it fall into the catergory of a b-rate tear jerker. Its more about coming to terms with love, death and life. The reasons to live are the central plot rather then the reasons to die.

I weeped at times but at times inwardily smiled because Johnsons perceptions and fears are so human, just like the rest of us!

I suggest this book strongly for all those who want to get a little closer to reality.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than an AIDS memoir, November 15, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Geography of the Heart (Hardcover)

Two very dissimilar men meet in San Francisco, fall in love, and one cares for the other as he dies of AIDS in Paris in 1990. That's it, on the surface. But Fenton Johnson's exquisite memoir goes much deeper to explore the depths of a relationship that didn't stand much chance when it began. Rose, HIV+ but aware of his status, was asymptomatic when he met Fenton. Rose was the only child of Holocaust survivors whose father escaped the Nazis and hid for three years with broken vertebrae. Fenton, OTOH, grew up the youngest of nine in a Catholic family in isolated Appalachia.
Johnson writes with crystal clarity of his working through fear, toward grief and into eventual emotional renewal.
Beautiful.