A review by just_one_more_paige
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 
I got my hands on this book through a used book sale. The cover is so deeply striking (the colors, the contrast, the design, the font, all of it!) and I was drawn right to it. Plus, the title itself is really intriguing: Like a Love Story. Like one, but not actually one? How does that work; what does it mean? And despite not seeing any blog or bookstagram reviews of the book, it seemed like the Goodreads community loved it (super high star rating from a significant number of reviewers). So, I impulse-bought it. And I've been in the car a lot for work this week (like 5 hours a day, ooof), so I grabbed the audiobook from my library and decided to listen (a great choice, as the cast narration was fantastic). 
 
Like a Love Story is told from three perspectives. Reza, Art and Judy all attend a private high school in NYC. Judy and Art have been friends for years, as long as they can remember. Art is the only out gay student at the school, a very big deal, considering the year (1989) - deep into the AIDS crisis and related fear and misinformation and blaming the gay community. He's loud and proud about it, inviting quite a bit of intense bullying from other students. Judy loves designing and makign clothes and is very close with her Uncle Stephen, who is gay, living with AIDS, and deeply involved in activist work with ACT UP.  Reza is new in school, just moved from Canada, and knows he likes boys but is so deeply terrified by the news of gay men dying of AIDS that he does everything he can to push it down and pretend it's not true, including agreeing to date Judy, the first friend he's made at his new school, despite feeling guilty knowing that while his feelings for her are real, they are based only on wanting to be friends, nothing more. At the same time, he's repressing quite a few "more than friends" feelings about Art. And so, the drama of high school friends and crushes, set against a larger backdrop of intense social activism and homophobia, creates the basis of this YA novel. 
 
Phew this story was intense, emotionally and topically, from start to finish. And I mean that in the "it was a great story" way and also in the "be careful because it will make you cry and there are quite a few content warnings" way. Starting with Art, Reza and Judy - wow they were all so well written. Very individual voices for each, which I find doesn't always happen this well with POV-rotating stories (especially when the POVs are youth). The mix of teenage hormones (which were raging in a very on-point way), deep friendship loyalty, the extreme emotions and self-centeredness (phew, a lot of that) that come with puberty and adolescence, the combination of self-consciousness and intense opinions, and the internal acknowledgement of when they mess up juxtaposed with and lack of skill/ability in communicating regret/apology, is all incredibly authentic. And, as I said, the audiobook narrators for each of the three really rocked their performances. 
 
This is all intensified by the societal issues that are adding even more to the list of things these teens are coping with.  And that is where the emotional aspects of the novel really took hold of me as a reader. Nazemian captured the whole generation(s) of queer people dismissed and scared to be who they are and love who they live - and dying and alone and blamed for it - in heartbreaking detail. In fact, after reading his author's note at the end, I realized why he was able to write it with such genuine feeling: he lived it. He talks about his personal experience of what it meant to grow up gay in the "in between" generation, not the front lines of AIDS by pre-treatment availability, and how that informed this novel (Reza's story following his own closely and, from what I can tell, Art standing in as his first boyfriend, who did a lot for him in terms of coming out and accepting who he is). So, yes, the way these youth are forced to confront mortality as the price of love in the face of AIDS is...a lot. And the fact that this vehement and widespread bigotry is so not that long ago (within my own lifetime, in fact) makes it all even worse. The rage and fear (from all three youth, as well as a few of the adults in the story) are so deeply communicated. And that, combined with anti-queer venom on all levels from policy to interpersonal, plus the reality of the feelings of invisibility and powerlessness, makes this a really difficult read. Plus, Nazemian doesn't shy away from other complicating social factors either, like wealth and gender and cultural background, and the way those intersectional identities play into all the other experiences already mentioned is. Included in this, in a variety of ways, is parental/familial support (or lack thereof). There is quite a bit of parents rejecting and denying and failing their children that is truly upsetting to read; so much added rejection and shame based on fear mongering, what things "look like" on the outside, and very skewed ideas of "protecting" their children. (On the flipside, there are a number of other family relationships, especially siblings, that are incredibly supportive and I loved that.) All in all, lots of tough subjects and none of them are softened. 
 
And yet, despite all of that (or perhaps because of it), the narrative voices also had a unique and sometimes really funny vibe, a spot on parallel to the way people survive by joking through the pain and injustice. And Stephen's integration into each character's growth and "coming of age" was marvelous. He was a sort of fairy godfather type character and I loved the device. In particular, his queer history/culture flashcards and the way they were integrataed, was wonderful (and will make you cry in the "overflow of good emotions" way). The bittersweet ending of the story then, centered around Stephen, is that much more emotionally devastating when it happens (and you know that it's coming). It hits in the feels like nobody's business and listening to this while driving turned out to be really questionable because it got hard to see clearly through all the tears. Plus, the way Reza and Art and Judy's relationships all end is bittersweet in exactly the right way and between that and the hefty role Madonna and her music played in the development of the story, I have to say that the title was perfect. 
 
This was just a beautiful and incredibly emotional (all the rage and passion) depiction of the queer rights movement being based deeply in love, the right to have and express it, and how is that possibly wrong? Plus, it's a fantastic homage to the queer activists and history that fought to make today possible, even though there is still so much work to do, is inspiring and should absolutely not be forgotten (even if we likely won't ever see it in textbooks and have to rely on our own ways of telling that history, with stories like this one...and actually, if you're looking for another similiar-ish idea, I recommend Sahsa Masha.) I highly recommend this novel, with the caveat of being ready for it, because it is intense. 
 
“I need to live, and to live, I can't ever be what I know that I am.” (What a horrible choice to be forced to face as a teen!) 
 
“I hate that a moment that should be joyful is filled with so much anguish.” 
 
“If you use God to tell people created by God that they're sinners for who they love, then I give you a great big middle finger and invite you to sit on it.” 
 
“Us. All of us. What we did. What we fought for. Our history. Who we are. They won't teach it in schools. They don't want us to have a history. They don't see us. They don't know we are another country, with invisible borders, that we are a people. You have to make them see. [...] You have to remember it. And to share it. Please. Time passes, and people forget. Don’t let them.” 
 
“The most important four-letter word in our history will always be love. [...] That's what we are fighting for. That's who we are. Love is our legacy.” 
 

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