Customer Reviews

Geography Of The Heart

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4 star:		(2)
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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!

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.

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.

I read a review of this when it first came out and felt that I had to read it. The emotion is so true and heartfelt. I felt the sadness as Fenton and Larry realized they would eventually lose each other because of AIDS. The story of their relationship is a testimony to the strength found in relationships of all kinds. This book helped me appreciate love and my sexuality. It's a must read for all who love life and want to feel how true homosexual love can be.

Fenton Johnson has done, in Geography of the Heart, something that I have failed to see in memoirs that sold more and had a higher profile upon publication. He has brought us on a journey, yes, but with a purpose larger than exploring strange characters or landscapes. Through the death -- and the life -- of his partner, Larry Rose, he learned what it was to be human within a world of others. How to share, to cherish, to give, and to need. This memoir is both an act of redemption for Johnson, but even more so, he shares the possibility of redemption with his readers. All we have to do is be available to the possibilities around us. Available to what Larry Rose, in his particular case, had to give. This is a timeless and BEAUTIFULLY written book. It is what memoir should seek to be. More than story. Transcendent.

Fenton Johnson's memoir of his partner's death is one of the most touching and honest accounts of love I have ever read. And it is Johnson's tremendous talent as a writer that enables him to convey such powerful and enduring feelings without being the slightest bit sentimental.

It is rare that I consider a book to be a true work of art...Fenton Johnson has made that happen and I congratulate him on his tremendous work. It is a story 'from-the-heart' and as a reader it is a treasure and a privilege to be given the opportunity to 'participate' in a love story such as this. I could not lay it down, even for coffee!!...I laughed, I cried, I was warmed inside...I could smell the hush puppies..it was a wonderful experience for me...I will remember!

Fenton Johnson shared a universal journey of love that crosses color, sex, religions...any and all boundaries. It's a blessing to find love. I thank him with all my heart for writing this book and know that when he was able to get on with his life he discovered a new strength that is a reward of love given in such a manner.

AIDS memoirs became a rather popular genre in the 1990s. Geography of the Heart fits well into this genre, yet transcends the majority of these books, largely because of Fenton Johnson's deep, faith based observations and beautiful prose. The book is, of course, sad, yet the prose moves us to an understanding of the meaning of love and the factors which discourage us from entering into this most vulnerable state. It also talks about the deep transformation that occurs when we let down our guard and allows us to love, in spite of risks involved in all relationships. This is challenging as well as encouraging. I found Geography of the Heart to be well worth reading.

Larry Rose was one of the great teachers of our time.

In English classes at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, Calif., he challenged his students first to see clearly and then to describe, in writing, what they saw, and what they thought about it. He once made a student go for a month with only comments and no grades on assignments, until the student started reading the comments and taking them to heart.

Fenton Johnson, an accomplished novelist, fell in love with Larry Rose, and Rose fell in love with him; Geography of the Heart is the story of how their lives were transformed by their love for each other.

"Larry, a smart man, called himself lucky," Johnson writes. "He brought me to describe myself that way. How could we come to call ourselves lucky--he who was infected [with HIV] and would die, I who was not, but who would lose the love of my life?" Exploring this question in all of its dimensions, Johnson proves himself Rose's greatest student. Answering it, he crafts a beautiful and lasting tribute to Rose's memory.

"I'm happy being quiet here with you," Rose told Johnson on a number of occasions. The lesson imparted, Johnson says, involved both the sufficiency and the necessity of human beings being wordlessly present for each other. "There are times when presence is all we can ask for, all we can give," Johnson writes. "At such moments words trivialize. We can only stand together, offering the touching hand, the literal shoulder to cry on, the comfort of our mute presence, company in the dark."

The fate of all humanity expresses itself in each person's death, Johnson observes, writing: "To die in happiness, loved and in love--this is no small miracle, a gift we cannot question but can only accept, in gratefulness and humility." Johnson also writes: "What is of consequence is how we live--how we arrive at our deaths; what we make with what we have been given."

Johnson shows that Rose was given a grateful heart, and that what Rose did with it was this: he made other hearts grateful. "Those who transcend bitterness are our true teachers," Johnson writes.

Johnson and Rose made three trips to Paris together, and on the last of those trips, shortly before Rose died at the American Hospital there, Johnson demonstrated what he had learned from Rose, the teacher: "I'm so lucky," he told Rose. After Rose's death, Johnson learned that grief is never over; it becomes part of who you are. "Speaking is the sacred thing, the gift from the dead to the living," Johnson writes. These days, he says, he takes care to give voice to his good fortune.

Geography of the Heart is an impossibly beautiful book. Johnson dwells in a place of deep reflection, and what he brings to us from that place is worthy of our closest attention.