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Reviews
Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between by Joseph Osmundson
hamantha's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.75
I have complicated feelings. A little boring, but better towards the end. This is like getting into someone’s head, reading their journal. Which is interesting. I did audio, so I especially liked hearing interview excerpts. That being said, felt a bit disjointed at times, like it was written then the author tried to make it all tie together after the fact. Still, I did enjoy a good portion of it.
_toristorytime's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.25
greeniezona's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This was so entirely up my alley, I am big into essays that blend medicine and history and social science. I am PARTICULARLY interested in essays that do this around AIDS, and then add trying that all into the current COVID pandemic and of course I was going to need to read this.
This essay collection goes a lot of different paces. If you just want something that is going to discuss COVID in relation to other viral pandemics, this book may stress you out. But if you want something to also think about how communities gather and define themselves, how activism works (and sometimes doesn't) in fighting a pandemic, about the function of writing, both private and public, when going through extraordinary times, about personal relationships, about sex, about employment, about risk, then this might be the book for you.
I read this more or less an essay at a time, taking breaks in between. Certainly some essays worked better for me than others, but I was always interested in what Osmundson had to say.
This essay collection goes a lot of different paces. If you just want something that is going to discuss COVID in relation to other viral pandemics, this book may stress you out. But if you want something to also think about how communities gather and define themselves, how activism works (and sometimes doesn't) in fighting a pandemic, about the function of writing, both private and public, when going through extraordinary times, about personal relationships, about sex, about employment, about risk, then this might be the book for you.
I read this more or less an essay at a time, taking breaks in between. Certainly some essays worked better for me than others, but I was always interested in what Osmundson had to say.
marcytome's review against another edition
5.0
I love the combination of personal reflection and scientific fact! Well-written and i learned so much about viruses!
baileysir's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
patroclusbro's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
People who want to learn more about virology, queer history and cultural studies - buckle up, this one is for you!
Without doubt, Osmundson's undertaking to connect virological basics, an insight on the history and present of HIV/AIDS, the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and his personal experience with each other, is an ambitious one.
Judging an essay collection is always difficult. From the eleven essays, two of which are co-authored, there were some that I found to be very precise and impactful and some I didn't like a lot.
I think that Osmundson's writing is strongest when he uses his expertise as a virologist to create big-hearted metaphors for how human bodies live with viruses. Where he builds upon the ideas of other thinkers (like José Esteban Muñoz, Audre Lorde, Susan Sontag, Alexander Chee, Joan Didion and more) the width of his approach becomes obvious. Where he formulates his own cultural and sociological ideas, I feel he dips too much into a humanistic type of pathos (which is, admittedly, not far-fetched considering the very US-american focus and nature of the book).
I must say that I was disappointed though that a book published in 2022 barely manages to speak about the realities of a presumed "post-covid" - both in regard of living with post/long covid or the tilt that for some people this pandemic is very much over, but for others, it is very much not. The essay "On Endings - Do Plages Ever End?" touched upon this a tiny bit. Drawing some real conclusions from the narrative of the "end of AIDS" would have been possible and needed to make it an impactful chapter. Instead, Osmundson focuses on remembrance of early COVID-19 experience only. There is no mention of the easily to be expected, continued exlusion of chronically ill, sick, immunocomprimised people in spaces that pretend that COVID-19 is no danger any more.
Nevertheless, overall, this is a very readable, very nerdy, very caring book! I learned a lot. It certainly deserves to be nominated for the LGBTQ+ Nonfiction Lambda Literary Award 2023.
Without doubt, Osmundson's undertaking to connect virological basics, an insight on the history and present of HIV/AIDS, the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and his personal experience with each other, is an ambitious one.
Judging an essay collection is always difficult. From the eleven essays, two of which are co-authored, there were some that I found to be very precise and impactful and some I didn't like a lot.
I think that Osmundson's writing is strongest when he uses his expertise as a virologist to create big-hearted metaphors for how human bodies live with viruses. Where he builds upon the ideas of other thinkers (like José Esteban Muñoz, Audre Lorde, Susan Sontag, Alexander Chee, Joan Didion and more) the width of his approach becomes obvious. Where he formulates his own cultural and sociological ideas, I feel he dips too much into a humanistic type of pathos (which is, admittedly, not far-fetched considering the very US-american focus and nature of the book).
I must say that I was disappointed though that a book published in 2022 barely manages to speak about the realities of a presumed "post-covid" - both in regard of living with post/long covid or the tilt that for some people this pandemic is very much over, but for others, it is very much not. The essay "On Endings - Do Plages Ever End?" touched upon this a tiny bit. Drawing some real conclusions from the narrative of the "end of AIDS" would have been possible and needed to make it an impactful chapter. Instead, Osmundson focuses on remembrance of early COVID-19 experience only. There is no mention of the easily to be expected, continued exlusion of chronically ill, sick, immunocomprimised people in spaces that pretend that COVID-19 is no danger any more.
Nevertheless, overall, this is a very readable, very nerdy, very caring book! I learned a lot. It certainly deserves to be nominated for the LGBTQ+ Nonfiction Lambda Literary Award 2023.
hannkelley's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve avoided reading anything pandemic related until now because why would I want to read about the dumpster fire we still can’t seem to put out? This collection of essays made me question why we even need fiction when stories about real life like this exist and are written with such care and tenderness and vulnerability. I don’t want to even try to explain what this book is about because I don’t want to spoil how someone else might experience it. I just know that I saw myself and so many people I love in the pages (and so many people that I knew nothing about). And the ways we cared for each other during literal uncertain times. And how all of that collective care gets replaced with “the kids are so behind!” and “the economy will never recover!”