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Someone You Know: A Friend's Farewell
This is Maria Palotta-Chiarolli's biography of Jon, who is living with AIDS, and the story of their extraordinary friendship. Maria and Jon teach together, hold common views; and share secrets. The threads and entanglements of their lives come together at Jon's final gathering. It is twelve years since Jon died, and nearly ten years since Someone You Know was first published. Some acholars now call it an "historical text documenting a significant socio-cultural time in Australiain relation to cultural and sexual diversity, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic." But it is so much more than that. It is a testament to the enduring power of love and friendship.
200 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
17 people want to read
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August 3, 2022
Widely regarded Australia's first AIDS biography, 'Someone You Know' is an incredible story about Jon and Maria, two teachers in Adelaide from different backgrounds, who become the best of friends.
Jon, a gay man, learns he's HIV-positive. Maria is there every step of the way, but is sworn to secrecy because of the way society fears AIDS sufferers in the 1980s.
It's a loving and tender account of friendship; the love emanating off the pages. It provides insight into gay life, AIDS, and the stigma that surrounded the disease - and homosexuality - at the time. A simple story about friendship that tackles such complex issues. But the lessons are so simple and true: that as long as you have love and friendship, you have everything, and that people are so much more than their sexuality.
I have not stopped weeping since finishing this book. I feel like I made two lifelong friends, and then had a rug ripped from under me.
As Pallotta-Chiarolli writes in the preface, 'Jon has not stopped teaching'. He did not die in vain. May his spirit live on through these pages and continue to inspire many, many more people for decades to come.
Please read this book. Gift it, or suggest it to people you know. Read the story, drink it in, sit with it, and learn from it.
Jon, a gay man, learns he's HIV-positive. Maria is there every step of the way, but is sworn to secrecy because of the way society fears AIDS sufferers in the 1980s.
It's a loving and tender account of friendship; the love emanating off the pages. It provides insight into gay life, AIDS, and the stigma that surrounded the disease - and homosexuality - at the time. A simple story about friendship that tackles such complex issues. But the lessons are so simple and true: that as long as you have love and friendship, you have everything, and that people are so much more than their sexuality.
I have not stopped weeping since finishing this book. I feel like I made two lifelong friends, and then had a rug ripped from under me.
As Pallotta-Chiarolli writes in the preface, 'Jon has not stopped teaching'. He did not die in vain. May his spirit live on through these pages and continue to inspire many, many more people for decades to come.
Please read this book. Gift it, or suggest it to people you know. Read the story, drink it in, sit with it, and learn from it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review