Like a Love Story
| Modern Age |
|---|
 Like a Love Story
|
| Content Warning |
|---|
| death, homophobia |
Modern Age > American History > LGBTQ+
Stonewall Honor Book!
“A love letter to queerness, self-expression, and individuality (also Madonna) that never shies away from the ever-present fear within the queer community of late '80s New York, Like a Love Story made me feel so full—of hope, love, courage, pride, and awe for the many people who fought for love and self-expression in the face of discrimination, cruelty, and death."
"A book for warriors, divas, artists, queens, individuals, activists, trendsetters, and anyone searching for the courage to be themselves.”—Mackenzi Lee, New York Times bestselling author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
It’s 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.
Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He’s terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he’s gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media’s images of men dying of AIDS.
Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating.
Art is Judy’s best friend, their school’s only out and proud teen. He’ll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.
As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won’t break Judy’s heart—and destroy the most meaningful friendship he’s ever known.
This is a big-hearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds.
Sarah's Review
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian follows the lives of three American teenagers navigating relationships both romantic and platonic during the height of the AIDS epidemic. One of this novel’s greatest strengths is in how viscerally real it is. This is a very immersive reading experience, forcing you to experience every moment as if you were a character in this story yourself. This makes both the lighter moments - the genuine, realistic depictions of young love and friendship and family, as well as the darker moments of loss and anxiety and anger, all the more impactful.
One of the most important elements of this novel is its depiction of activism. Especially for younger queer readers, this novel is a must-read for how brilliantly it depicts the importance of activism in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights, as well as how far we have come in just a few decades. This novel is set in 1989, which isn’t so far in the past as one might think. We wouldn’t be where we are now if not for those who fought for us back then.
My only major critique would be in the character of Judy, as while I really enjoyed reading about her relationship with her uncle Steven, I felt that she was a missed opportunity to include sapphic representation in this story. Gay men weren’t the only ones affected by the AIDS crisis, though they generally get the most focus when it is depicted in the media. There’s also an unfortunate sprinkling of girl hate and internalized misogyny written into her character that could have easily been skipped over, or at the very least challenged.
Nevertheless, this is still a very beautiful and important novel and one that could very well save lives.
Other Similar Books
Other suggestions on the subject of Immigration.
- This Land Is Our Land (by: Barrett Osborne, Linda, MG, UMG)
- Inside Out and Back Again (by: Lai, Thanhhà, MG)
- It Ain't So Awful, Falafel (by: Dumas, Firoozeh, MG, UMG)
- Out of Hiding (by: Gruener, Ruth, MG)
- Orange for the Sunsets (by: Athaide, Tina, MG, UMG)
- Dream Annie, Dream (by: Brown, Waka T., MG, UMG)
- Ellis Island: An Interactive History Adventure (by: Burgan, Michael, MG)
- Immigrant Kids (by: Freedman, Russell, MG, UMG)
- Cuba in my Pocket (by: Cuevas, Adrianna, MG, UMG)
- The Red Umbrella (by: Diaz Gonzalez, Christina, UMG)
- Broken Song (by: Lasky, Katheryn, UMG)
- The Night Journey (by: Lasky, Katheryn, UMG)
- Before We Were Free (by: Alvarez, Julia, UMG, YA)
- Maggie's Door (by: Reilly Giff, Patricia, UMG)
- 90 Miles to Havana (by: Flores-Galbis, Enrique, UMG)
- The Taste of Ginger: A Novel (by: Shah, Mansi, YA, A)
- Like a Love Story (by: Nazemian, Abdi, YA, A)