For starters, I'll admit that I long to read more fiction set during the days of the AIDS crisis. There's so much inherent drama and tragedy in a time period when many thought that the deaths of young, gay men were a sign of God's wrath. The stakes were so high, the tension easy to draw upon. Still, it takes a skilled writer to craft a compelling story arc with diverse characters.
The Prettiest Star (Hub City Press, 2020) begins in New York City and I settled in, looking forward to reading about gay life in The Big Apple as AIDS crashes the party. Thus, I was startled when things soon shifted to small town Ohio, the story moving forward from the perspective of young Brian's mother, Sharon, and his fourteen-year-old sister, Jess. Sharon is deeply religious and the town is a conservative place where people rarely venture too far afield. (Sharon's never been on a plane.)
After a six-year absence, Brian writes a letter to his parents, saying he has AIDS and wants to come home—for how long, it's unclear. Neither Sharon nor Brian's dad, Travis, is keen on the idea. What will the rest of the family think? What will the town think? AIDS?! Is it even safe?
Author Carter Sickels does a masterful job in capturing the sentiment of the time—the fear, the ignorance and the sobering reality that being gay was still a source of great shame and hatred. He also shows that he has done his research on AIDS, describing how it overtakes Brian with specific symptoms and pride-busting humiliations.
Lettie, his grandmother who has always adored Brian (and who isn't given enough credit about things she knows), is a vital force, diving in and supporting Brian and offering a model of love and acceptance for the more tentative (and more torn) Sharon and Jess while also standing up to the hate from the people of her church and town. This isn't her story (nor is it that of Brian's brash NYC friend, Annie). Lettie and Annie are 100% Team Brian. They don't have much growing to to.
Brian though must come to terms with the death of his partner and his own full acceptance of being gay—it was so much easier in the city—while now having AIDS. Jess, a self-conscious teen, is often embarrassed by her brother whom she used to adore and follow like a puppy dog. It's hard for her to be noticed much less heard. Sharon, a preacher's daughter, has the most growing to do. She's got a husband who can't accept what Brian's become and who can't stand up to his loud, homophobic brother. Travis is basically AWOL. Sharon could lean on Lettie, but there's an undercurrent of jealousy there, Brian always seeming to have an easier relationship with his grandmother; she could confide in Annie, but Annie's just too out there, nothing like what anyone's used to in small town Ohio.
At times, I wanted more of Brian's voice. I suppose I hoped for more direct conversations between him and his mother, but Sickels opts for more realism than drama. Much of the ongoing tension within any family comes from all that remains unsaid. It's a challenge to write from three points of view (Brian, Sharon and Jess) and Jess's perspective feels a little too insightful for her age. Sure, many teens are "wise beyond their years," but even the way things are phrased doesn't sound like a teen's voice. It's a minor criticism when the story is so well told.
The Prettiest Star brings back to mind so many things I had forgotten about AIDS in the 1980s. To be sure, for a long time, I wanted to forget. Now, however, I need to remember and this novel helps to do just that in a compelling way.
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