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Like a Love Story

Abdi Nazemian

Start date: February 4, 2022

Finish date: March 4, 2022

Discussion: Buddy Reads 2022

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What Members Thought

Sep 02, 2019 HeatherH rated it it was amazing

Attempting to type a review through the ridiculous amount of tears I'm crying now..

This was going to be a four star read for me - it was good, really good and I adored the three MC's wholeheartedly. Then that last 80 or so pages happened and holy wow! As I sat here, eyes leaking like an old rickety faucet and yet still laughing at the tiny moments of humor Abdi Nazemian sprinkled throughout the heartbreak, I knew it deserved ALL THE STARS. Any book that can move me to tears, any book that breaks ...more

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Dec 22, 2020 Priya rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2020

This book is set in a time when the subject of HIV/AIDS was considered taboo and whispered about, and also thought to affect and be propagated by the gay community leading to more alienation for them.
I recall public service ads on television at the time, trying to educate the audience about this disease, telling how it does not spread by touch or proximity and so those afflicted with it should not be ostracized. There was so much misinformation and overarching fear about all the ways in which it This book is set in a time when the subject of HIV/AIDS was considered taboo and whispered about, and also thought to affect and be propagated by the gay community leading to more alienation for them.
I recall public service ads on television at the time, trying to educate the audience about this disease, telling how it does not spread by touch or proximity and so those afflicted with it should not be ostracized. There was so much misinformation and overarching fear about all the ways in which it could be contracted.

In New York 1989,Art and Judy are best friends, he who has come out to the world and been shunned by his parents, she who is conscious about her looks and fiercely protective of Art. It is the two of them against the world and Art's mentor and a man he considers a second father is Judy's uncle Stephen. A passionate activist, Stephen, who is himself dying of AIDS, is determined to do what he can for the rest of the community. He organizes protests against the church, the health authorities and the pharmacies who not only price life saving drugs too high but only allow straight white men in their clinical trials! Art and Judy are just as involved as him in this movement.
Their lives and friendship change when Reza, an Iranian teen who has just arrived in America, joins them. Confused and scared of his feelings for Art, and worried about what accepting them will do to his mother, her new marriage and everything they have come to New York for, Reza pursues a relationship with Judy instead, causing much chaos to himself and the other two people involved.

The narrative talks about all those famous performers who represented and stood with the gay community as it was then called, including Madonna, Judy Garland etc. Through the medium of Reza and Art, it shows how traumatic it was for teens who knew they were different from others and couldn't find acceptance even from their families. While Art is brash and angry about the rejection, Reza is unsure if he is ready to face whatever will be in his lot if he accepts this truth about himself. And Judy is the kind of evolved teen who calls out bigotry and stands proudly by her friends and her uncle.

A call for inclusion, acceptance and acknowledgement of those different from what society considers to be 'normal',this is a sensitively written, often poignant story that portrays the making of the history that continues to reverberate to this day and illustrates that love is the lasting legacy that everyone wants to be remembered for. ...more

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