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badbadwolf's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Terminal illness
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Misogyny, Homophobia, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Alcohol, Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Bullying, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
_alias_ali's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Grief, Vomit, and Homophobia
Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Hate crime
Minor: Classism, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cancer, Biphobia, Car accident, Body shaming, Bullying, Addiction, and Child death
bumblemee's review against another edition
5.0
This book will stay with me forever, I think. And with it the names and stories of many men it tells you about, as well as Ruth herself.
I don't even know how to find the right words for this book. I'll start by saying that Ruth is a very impressive person. She just keeps going and going and going, she just does not stop, no matter the obstacles she's presented with. She's really good at reading people and finding out how to approach them - no matter if it's someone whose help she needs or people she wants to inform about safer sex practices when she knows they won't to listen if she doesn't do it right. Her resourcefulness had me stunned more than once.
As someone who wasn't alive during the events of this book, it feels like it's very good at transporting the reader to that time period. - I watched an interview with Ruth on YouTube and she said she thinks people are thankful that she's sort of a vessel for the stories of people that would've been forgotton without her. This is very true for me. I am thankful she let Kevin Carr O'Leary into her life/memories and write them down, because this was an important read for me and I think it is for others, too.
There's a lot of pain within these pages, it hurt a lot to read this book. The way Ruth and especially her guys (as she calls them) were treated was brutal. I know this was the reality then and it therefore didn't shock me, but that didn't take away any of the anger and rage it made me feel. Or any of the sadness. This book made me cry within the first 15 pages and a few times after that. - Because of the contens, of course, but also because the words that transported said contents.
The writing style feels just so appropriate, the voice is so clear. It has beautiful words, but it doesn't sugarcoat anything. Sometimes tragic things are delivered within a short sentence, somewhere among all the other sentences, which makes so much sense, because this new tragic thing was normality for Ruth, it happened all of the time. But this kind of writing does not take away any of the impact, instead adding to it in my opinion.
It isn't all sad though. There's also wholesome moments, drag shows and people with a lot of love for one another. Also, Ruth has a lot of wit and her voice can be very entertaining.
I liked how you get to know different individuals better and how all of them were treated with a lot of love. You get to know them trough Ruth's eyes and can tell how special each of them was, which is why I said in the beginning of this review that some of the names will stay with me.
All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn something about these years of the epidemic in the USA and how it impacted the queer community. In my opinion this book is written with a lot of care. I must say though that it isn't an easy read, at least to me it really wasn't. I would recommend to read this when you're in a good headspace.
Oh, one last thing: This book centers on Ruth and her work and while it does deal with political issues, it doesn't go beyond Ruth's life and perspective. So if you want there to be a broader context and reflection on "the bigger picture", this isn't really the book for you as it stays very personal.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident
shamelesslyash's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Outing, Fire/Fire injury, and Hate crime
bemysea's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
ellievelazquez's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Homophobia, Death, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Car accident
paniquemecanique's review against another edition
4.0
It was a really good memoir, focused on a very specific period of time, telling stories in a factual way while still being heart wrenching. I guess we could reproach her to write in a way that is not full of emotions, but considering it is her real life and it would be to go through so much pain again, it is understandable. Also the events are so tragic that even without a sappy writing style, you will be completely upset.
I am again putting people on pedestals and won't do it here, but i still felt very very inspired by her dedication and how much of a calling this was for her. My favorite chapter is the number 14, where she describes her first experience at a drag show. You could feel her falling I love without meaning to, and I could feel it from where I was. It was magical and horrendous at the same time to feel so close to the gay community at the time.
So, it is a must read, but always to read with a bit of a step back remembering the perspective of the person and the political aspects. But I would definitely always recommend it to anyone.
Graphic: Terminal illness, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Body horror, Dementia, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Death
Moderate: Bullying and Adult/minor relationship
stabilesero's review against another edition
3.0
This has potential; if Burks left out the unnecessary snippets of her life (i.e. relationship with Mitch) and the grating repetitive nature of "I'm short of money" to "oh I know a guy, boom, I have $250".
It had me with mixed feelings because I really felt for the young men she cared for and helped, their stories really hit hard how cruel others were and how discriminated against they were. The desperate need for medical help and the appalling treatment they received.
This book also heavily knelt on religion and church which again, I found boring and tiresome as although I appreciate Burks' involvement with religion; it was another part that was unnecessarily dragged out and could have shortened the novel by qt least 100 pages.
I'm sure there are better novels out there about individuals who helped with the movement towards fairer treatment of HIV and AIDS patients and that's not to dismiss Burks' work, that's just to say I'm hoping there's other stories out there with more focus on the work and less on the religious uproar.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Homophobia, Chronic illness, and Hate crime
cestnicka's review against another edition
4.0
All the young men is a memoir about Ruth Coker burks, who happened to be at the right place at the right time during the aids epidemic in the southern United States. She went into a dying man's hospital room and opened herself up to him when no one else would go near aids patients without a medical spacesuit on. This one act of kindness ended up taking her life into a direction it never would have otherwise. She became a lifeline and spokesperson for people living and dying with aids.
Reading about this from her POV was really interesting. She was a church woman. And I was surprised that she was as open as she was. I am not a huge fan of church and religion due to their treatment of those who are different, so to see her be so kind and and brave really made me open my eyes.
I loved learning about her story, and her kindness, bravery, and compassion will be something I always think about!
Moderate: Death, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia
kyleighwhitsell's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Homophobia