an accepting mother questions her gay son's life style as AIDS looms on the horizon

While this book obviously fits into the realm of protest literature, it's also composed of a powerful narrative with believable characters. The author's strategy of following a single character (for nearly the entire narrative) through a single turbulent day in San Francisco makes for an engaging journey and a flood of cultural context to place the reader into San Francisco in the late seventies/early eighties. Inclusion of various outside texts--a medical pamphlet and others--ground the text in the turmoil surrounding gay and civil rights at that point of the century, and prove a powerful window.

As one of the hallmark novels that began examining illness within gay communities, the text is surprisingly rooted in the psychological worries of the period (as opposed to the physical), but the quick pace Bryant sets up never lags. In the end, it's obvious why this book is remembered as not only protest literature, but an early look at AIDS and surrounding issues; however, this is a strong narrative and piece of literature even without those elements. The grounding in reality only enmeshes the reader in the world more, and proves though-provoking for even those readers who might see themselves as already fairly familiar with the territory explored. Clara's confrontation with her ill son and the culture around her is absolutely worth reading, though I will add that this work is certainly meant for mature readers.

If you're interested, don't doubt whether the book is worth getting your hands on--it's worth it. ( )