Reviews

How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France

aquaboi's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

allyjs's review against another edition

5.0

One of the best books I've read in a long time. I couldn't tear myself away from the deftly woven narratives. A must read (or listen in my case) for anyone interested in our history. 

emmy9937's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

4.75

bethany6788's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This is my second documentary of the AIDS crisis and epidemic in the 80s and 90s. The first was about ACT UP specifically. This one followed more than just ACT UP, and was incredibly well-written and researched. I was impressed with the amount of detail surrounding people in this history book. This time period wasn’t that long ago - and the echoes of this are still being felt today. 

One of the things that haunted me most was the desperate measures people took. Trying anything and having their lives slip away. Not only that - but survivors appeared to have difficulty with their survival when so many of their loved ones died. It was incredibly harrowing and I was in tears reading this several times. 

I truly believe we need to know more and learn from the mistakes that were made. I was infuriated many times and in complete shock over the blatant disregard of people’s lives. We can also learn a lot from the activism, the strength of the people with AIDS and their friends, family, lovers, doctors, and the scientists who finally cracked the code of medication that worked. The combination of drugs which was suggested years prior but was not tested up the mid 90s feels like a crime. 

I haven’t stopped reading about the AIDS epidemic and I don’t want to. I want to learn more and continue to immerse myself in it. There are so many stories that haven’t been told yet and I want to make sure people know their voices are heard and their loved ones are remembered forever.

tych3's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

stangre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

teokajlibroj's review against another edition

5.0

This is an incredible book. Not only for the fantastic coverage of the issue or how the focus is on the victims, but also because the author lived through the plague and so witnessed many of the events first hand and knew many of the activists. It's an emotional book and I felt waves of not only pity and sorrow but also anger about the number of people who died young and how slow the effort to help them was.

It's not a pleasant read, but I highly recommend it.

yarnpirate's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

jayevans's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

ammmiiiii's review

emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

2.75

A poignant journey through the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS movement in America. 

Slightly too detailed for my liking at times.