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Fiction, Gay & Lesbian Biographies, Patient Narratives
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir by Paul Monette β€” book cover

Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir

by Paul Monette
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Overview

This "tender and lyrical" memoir (New York Times Book Review) remains one of the most compelling documents of the AIDS era-"searing, shattering, ultimately hope inspiring account of a great love story" (San Francisco Examiner). A National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and the winner of the PEN Center West literary award.

Synopsis

The first personal documentary about AIDS to be published, Borrowed Time remains as vividly detailed as the best novel and as lucidly observed as the fiercest journalism. It is a cry from the heart against AIDS as it was in the early stages of the plague and against the intolerance that surrounded it. In equal parts, it is a supremely moving love story and a chronicle of the deep commitment and devotion that Paul Monette felt for Roger Horwitz from the night of their first meeting in Boston in the mid-1970s to Roger's diagnosis a decade later and through the last two years of his life, when fighting the disease together became a full-time occupation. This is not a book about death but a book about living while dying and the full range of emotions provoked by that transition -- sorrow, fear, anger, among them. It is a document essential to the history of the gay community; vital for anyone reading about AIDS; and one of the most powerful demonstrations of love and partnership to be found in print.

Washington Post Book World

Tragic...intense...a book of terrible beauty.

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Editorials

San Francisco Examiner

A searing, shattering, ultimately hope-inspiring account of a great love story.

Washington Post Book World

Tragic...intense...a book of terrible beauty.

Publishers Weekly

``Wrenching in its detail, this account of the author's final two years with his companion Roger Horwitz, who died of AIDS in 1986, personalizes the epidemic's appalling statistics with heartbreaking clarity,'' wrote PW.

Library Journal

Paul Monette is a part of the first generation to suffer from AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. His friend, Roger Horwitz, died after a long battle with the virus. Monette gave his courage, strength, and love as he helped his friend fight this battle. Borrowed Time is the story of the AIDS roller coaster. The book was highly publicized and well-received in 1988. On tape, Monette's interpretation is heartfelt, for he is not reading, he is reliving his pain. We hear spirits rise with optimism and then anger and frustration cut through his words. Borrowed Time becomes part of Monette's mourning process, but it also serves to bring the AIDS crisis to a human level in a time when much of the available material is cold and clinical. Recommended.-- Debbie Gumulauski, Lake Cty. P.L., Merrillville, Ind.

Book Details

Published
June 1, 1998
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages
354
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780156005814

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