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A review by jsncnrd
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
5.0
This book destroyed me. I finished it 10 minutes ago and I am still crying. But it was one of the best I've read all year.
My heart aches for the thousands that lost their lives to AIDS while a government stood idly by in apathy. For the people whose existence was an inconvenience. For Brian, living in a world where even the most simple and trivial of actions - entering a pool, sitting in a diner, crossing the street - became politicized. Where getting in a pool equates to “shoving his homosexuality in our faces.”
Carter Sickels went for the emotional jugular with this book, and it worked -- to brutal effect. One of the saddest parts of this story was the way that 90% of the characters thought first about how a 24-year-old boy with a terminal, destructive illness affects THEM and their own image. The suffering of their own son, brother, etc. was an afterthought - if that, even. The book perfectly depicted how homophobic people center everything around themselves and display blatant and delusional ego-centrism.
I wish I could say that perhaps the treatment of Brian in the book was “exaggerated” for effect -- but it was not. It was 110% genuine. Brian was such a selfless and lovable character, which made the looming sense of dread throughout the book -- knowing fully well what would inevitably happen -- even more affecting.
The image I had in my mind throughout this book of this beautiful young boy trying his hardest to be unaffected by the pure evil afflicted upon him as he fell apart both physically and emotionally will stick with me for a long time. Maybe even more so because this is an authentic portrayal of the lives of some, if not even an outright biography of an AIDS patient in the 80’s.
This book took place in Ohio, which made it hit even harder (I also live in Columbus) -- because it is a FACT that people who live in small towns in Ohio treat people like this.
If you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community or you consider yourself an ally, I say that this is required reading.
My heart aches for the thousands that lost their lives to AIDS while a government stood idly by in apathy. For the people whose existence was an inconvenience. For Brian, living in a world where even the most simple and trivial of actions - entering a pool, sitting in a diner, crossing the street - became politicized. Where getting in a pool equates to “shoving his homosexuality in our faces.”
Carter Sickels went for the emotional jugular with this book, and it worked -- to brutal effect. One of the saddest parts of this story was the way that 90% of the characters thought first about how a 24-year-old boy with a terminal, destructive illness affects THEM and their own image. The suffering of their own son, brother, etc. was an afterthought - if that, even. The book perfectly depicted how homophobic people center everything around themselves and display blatant and delusional ego-centrism.
I wish I could say that perhaps the treatment of Brian in the book was “exaggerated” for effect -- but it was not. It was 110% genuine. Brian was such a selfless and lovable character, which made the looming sense of dread throughout the book -- knowing fully well what would inevitably happen -- even more affecting.
The image I had in my mind throughout this book of this beautiful young boy trying his hardest to be unaffected by the pure evil afflicted upon him as he fell apart both physically and emotionally will stick with me for a long time. Maybe even more so because this is an authentic portrayal of the lives of some, if not even an outright biography of an AIDS patient in the 80’s.
This book took place in Ohio, which made it hit even harder (I also live in Columbus) -- because it is a FACT that people who live in small towns in Ohio treat people like this.
If you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community or you consider yourself an ally, I say that this is required reading.