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A review by abbie_
Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.25
I loved this one! I don’t read a lot of YA, but this one is definitely on the upper age range of YA and the characters are great! Plus it tackles a super important topic - living with HIV in Brazil. We follow three characters, Henrique, Ian and Victor, all at differing stages in life. Henrique has been living with HIV for three years, Ian has just been diagnosed, and Victor has just been tested but received negative results. Their lives all intertwine, and I just loved the found family aspect of this book.
They are young, so they do make mistakes and say stupid things but that just makes the development even better! Where We Go From Here does a great job of balancing the idea that there is still a lot of intolerance and prejudice surrounding HIV positive people with a more hopeful tone. The boys mostly all have excellent support systems, through their friends even if their family are not supportive. Despite the subject matter, it’s got humour and heart while not making light of the seriousness.
It’s not an ownvoices novel, but the author did lots of research and includes so many resources in the author note. I obviously can’t attest to the veracity (not being a gay man, HIV positive, or Brazilian), but I definitely loved it.
They are young, so they do make mistakes and say stupid things but that just makes the development even better! Where We Go From Here does a great job of balancing the idea that there is still a lot of intolerance and prejudice surrounding HIV positive people with a more hopeful tone. The boys mostly all have excellent support systems, through their friends even if their family are not supportive. Despite the subject matter, it’s got humour and heart while not making light of the seriousness.
It’s not an ownvoices novel, but the author did lots of research and includes so many resources in the author note. I obviously can’t attest to the veracity (not being a gay man, HIV positive, or Brazilian), but I definitely loved it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Outing, Medical content, and Homophobia
Outing - a character’s HIV status is revealed publicly without his consent