Ground Zero [Mass Market Paperback]

Andrew Holleran (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Holleran (Dancer from the Dance) has expanded and rereleased his classic collection of 1988 Christopher Street essays for a generation for whom the 1980s New York AIDS epidemic may seem as exotic as ancient Egypt. Holleran recreates that vanished time and place: gay New York, when no one knew the way out in his tender elegies for his dead and dying friends, in masterfully rendered imagery—a polluted Fire Island shore mirrors a sea of potentially diseased partners—and in examining the paradoxes of survival—a French journalist transcends the mediocrity and materialism of his previous life by writing an internationally renowned novel on the very disease that's killing him. Confusion and terror radiate from these pages, and humor of the blackest variety predominates (a young man endows a rubber in his pants pocket with the talismanic quality of a crucifix in a land of vampires). While Holleran may be correct that the only thing anyone wants to read about AIDS is CURE FOUND, his essays—originally titled Ground Zero—stunningly illuminate New Yorkers coping with modern tragedy. (June)
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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Plume; 1st Plume Printing, 1989 edition (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452262364
• ISBN-13: 978-0452262362
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,312,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Evocative essays on AIDS, January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ground Zero (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is at times stunning, at times difficult to read, always worthwhile. It can be compared to David Feinberg's brilliant, scathing "Queer and Loathing: Rants and Raves of a Raging AIDS Clone," especially in the hard-hitting gallows humor of the essay "Fashion 1985."

These essays are similar to Holleran's effort in the late John Preston's anthology "Personal Dispatches." Although Holleran is most famous for his short stories, and the novels "Dancer from the Dance" and "The Beauty of Men," this may turn out as his most enduring work -- witty, angry, heartbreaking.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great essays/stories on AIDS, January 21, 2003

By 

DonMac "butchm" (Lynn, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ground Zero (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a great collection from Holleran. I think it's first printing was limited as it was even a little hard to get a first edition when it was published. Anyway, this collection is both funny and heartbreaking. Similar to Feinberg's collection, but I think he says more with laughter and tears than Feinberg did with anger. Highly recommended.