Starry Starry Night: Provincetown's Response to the AIDS Crisis [Paperback]

Jeanne Braham (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1571290583 | ISBN-13: 978-1571290588 | Publication Date: January 26, 1999

Contains first-person accounts from activists, community artists, doctors and couple whose lives have been directly affected.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Like panels in the famous AIDS quilt, but restricted in scope to one small town, these interviews with residents of Provincetown, Mass., tell yet more stories of those afflicted by HIV. Braham, a writer, and Peterson, a psychologist, conducted the interviews over the course of five separate visits they made to Provincetown in 1996. Those interviewed include local nurses, counselors, clergy, social-service administrators, and volunteers. Among the mix of men and women interviewed, many are HIV-positive. What distinguishes this social-psychological account of AIDS from others are the particular features of Provincetown: its small size (permanent population of 3,300), large percentage of gay and lesbian residents, and stunning geography. The authors set the personal interviews with the HIV-infected and their caretakers against the backdrop of the town's natural land- and seascapes, which alternately both alarm and calm the human spirit. Indicated, but not elaborated, are conflicts between different segments of the HIV-affected community over philosophies and politics of health care, and between recently arrived, relatively affluent gay men and older, often poorer residents. Though every story of battering by AIDS merits telling, the authors' claims for the ``extraordinary . . . communal response to the crisis'' of AIDS in Provincetown, and the ``astonishing degree of trust'' they, as interviewers, received, will strike seasoned AIDS workers as grandiose. In the inverse universe of AIDS, the astonishing and extraordinary come to set the norm, whether for good or ill. In light of that, the authors' tone could be less self-congratulatory, and the reaching for weighty metaphors less labored. Must a beach setting for cremation ceremonies be described as ``gilded with ashes,'' or a star-lit night as ``the skin of solitude''? AIDS weighs enough already--please, dear authors, lighten up! The heavy-handed touch of the writing notwithstanding, this book does its part to meet the persisting need for both memorials and tributes to all affected by HIV. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Brookline Books/Lumen Editions (January 26, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571290583
• ISBN-13: 978-1571290588
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,164,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, poignant, worthwhile!, July 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Starry Starry Night: Provincetown's Response to the AIDS Crisis (Paperback)

A preliminary aside: take the whiny tone of the Kirkus Reviewer's comments (above) with a very large grain of salt. Then read this book. It goes far beyond the depth of others with similar goals. Its power resides not only in its subject matter but also in its empathetic and thoughtful treatment of those who have provided the interviews on which the book is based. Fine, fine work indeed.

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful account of the spiritual triumph over AIDS., June 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Starry Starry Night: Provincetown's Response to the AIDS Crisis (Paperback)

In recording the stories of one community's response to the AIDS pandemic, the authors have captured the essense of the human spirit as it faces catestrophic circumstances. Starry Night is not just the record of Provincetown's response to AIDS; it is a wonderfully written account of how people embrace people when confronted by adversity. It is a story of place and of people and it transcends both of these to chronical something much larger than one community on a 'spit of land' at the edge of America.