Has anyone heard of/read this book? Or maybe seen the play? It's an autobiography that tells about how the author met the love of his life at a Catholic boys school in Melbourne in the 70s, and then details their relationship and subsequent struggles with AIDS. It's funny, interesting and (you've been warned!) EXTREMELY heartwrenching. I absolutely bawled my eyes out for the last 50 pages or so...I was a wreck. And I woke up this morning still feeling sad. Of course I knew how terrible HIV/AIDS was, but having no close experience with it the real tragedy wasn't brought home until I read this. It also surprised me (pleasantly) that this book about a gay couple with AIDS has been a bestseller and is often featured in Top 100 reading lists...in fact the version I have is a Penguin Classics edition that was next to War and Peace on the shelf! Strongly recommended! It's an Aussie book, but I know it's available in the US at least, and the play was staged in San Francisco a while ago too. http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Man-T...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248575154&sr=1-1
yeh.. I'm reading it at the moment. its certainly well written and is as you say emotionally involving
Last night went to the closing night of the play...great. Tho didn't cry as much as I thought I would. I had read the book the week before. Had got to near the end and was having a good cry when I thought, jeez I hope this isn't a true story. So I went back to the inside front cover to read about the author. And of course its true and what made it worst Tim (the author) died not long after completing the book. Made it very hard to continue.....The next few days all I could think about was these two men, their love, and ulitmate loss. Some of the slang terms in the book are particularlary Australian so were a little hard to understand. This book has really made me think. One, about how precious love is. And two, how we need to make the most of everyday. Also makes me a little sad that I've reached 40 not having found a love like that...
