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A review by theeuphoriczat
People in Trouble by Sarah Schulman
4.0
Just could not put this book down last night and ended up finishing it at about 1am this morning. I will just highlight here the general plot and what I have taken from it and a few reflections.
It is quite rare to find books with not just queer history but a w/w adult relationship. Sure like a lot of literary fiction these days, Kate is cheating on her husband by sleeping with Molly, but if heterosexual couples are doing it, why not the queers (and that on equality). Jokes aside, while we do follow a range of POV's including that of Kate's husband Peter, the book itself provide a humane view of the AIDS Crisis. This diverse view points allows readers to experience a range of perspectives, including the activism, 'stigma' and lackadaisical attitudes that a lot of people had towards the AIDS Crisis.
Of particular interest to me was how, corporations and large investment funds benefited from the crisis; and I am talking in terms of housing right now. Sure I could go into how the whole issue was framed in the media as a gay person disease, reducing research funding etc. until it became a problem for people who were heterosexual. However, that part of the crisis is not new to me, I focused a bit more on how the crisis allowed for the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods, allowed developers to push out dying people, increase the wealth & income gap, and increase the cost of living. This is the side of the crisis that we don't see often talked about.
This speaks a lot on how we view certain problems in general. It's the same thing with the monkey pox, rather than take it seriously, people seem to be a bit too comfortable hearing that it is majorly affecting queer men. Not gonna go into it right now. Only when it hurts the general public bottom line, will people speak up and then will the government do something about it. Big Corps, are counting on the general public lackadaisical attitude towards minority groups. It is the divide and conquer strategy!!
It is quite rare to find books with not just queer history but a w/w adult relationship. Sure like a lot of literary fiction these days, Kate is cheating on her husband by sleeping with Molly, but if heterosexual couples are doing it, why not the queers (and that on equality). Jokes aside, while we do follow a range of POV's including that of Kate's husband Peter, the book itself provide a humane view of the AIDS Crisis. This diverse view points allows readers to experience a range of perspectives, including the activism, 'stigma' and lackadaisical attitudes that a lot of people had towards the AIDS Crisis.
Of particular interest to me was how, corporations and large investment funds benefited from the crisis; and I am talking in terms of housing right now. Sure I could go into how the whole issue was framed in the media as a gay person disease, reducing research funding etc. until it became a problem for people who were heterosexual. However, that part of the crisis is not new to me, I focused a bit more on how the crisis allowed for the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods, allowed developers to push out dying people, increase the wealth & income gap, and increase the cost of living. This is the side of the crisis that we don't see often talked about.
This speaks a lot on how we view certain problems in general. It's the same thing with the monkey pox, rather than take it seriously, people seem to be a bit too comfortable hearing that it is majorly affecting queer men. Not gonna go into it right now. Only when it hurts the general public bottom line, will people speak up and then will the government do something about it. Big Corps, are counting on the general public lackadaisical attitude towards minority groups. It is the divide and conquer strategy!!