What do you think?
Rate this book
My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure
I was destined for a life of medical drama from day one," begins this comic memoir with a mission. "I was born in the month of July, and my horoscope sign is a disease (Cancer). The symbol for Cancer? A crab (the sexually transmitted critter). Not only that, my parents named me Shawn Timothy Decker, which makes my initials S.T.D.
Shawn Decker isn't quite the all-American boy. Sure, he gets caught shoplifting copies of Penthouse, is crazy about pro wrestling, especially "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, and never has a problem getting dates. But he's also a hemophiliac who discovers, at age eleven, that he has contracted HIV from tainted blood products.
Instead of becoming self-pitying and dying (as first predicted), Shawn develops a twisted sense of humor, meets Depeche Mode through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and writes on blogs and in Poz magazine about what it's like being hetero and HIV-positive in rural Virginia. He also turns to gay men for advice on dating women and, almost twenty years after getting HIV, marries Gwenn Barringer, who is HIV-negative and a former competitor for the title of Miss Virginia. Together Shawn and Gwenn travel the country, speaking to high school and college kids about how to live and love with HIV (and how to avoid getting it).
Shawn Decker isn't quite the all-American boy. Sure, he gets caught shoplifting copies of Penthouse, is crazy about pro wrestling, especially "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, and never has a problem getting dates. But he's also a hemophiliac who discovers, at age eleven, that he has contracted HIV from tainted blood products.
Instead of becoming self-pitying and dying (as first predicted), Shawn develops a twisted sense of humor, meets Depeche Mode through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and writes on blogs and in Poz magazine about what it's like being hetero and HIV-positive in rural Virginia. He also turns to gay men for advice on dating women and, almost twenty years after getting HIV, marries Gwenn Barringer, who is HIV-negative and a former competitor for the title of Miss Virginia. Together Shawn and Gwenn travel the country, speaking to high school and college kids about how to live and love with HIV (and how to avoid getting it).
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
July 2, 2007
This is a touching book about one person's struggle with hemophilia and HIV. Decker and his wife use their experiences to educate others--a valuable service. However, Decker--like many folks who move from blog (or Web sites) to books--is just not a good writer--at least in long form. His metaphors are strained, his attempts at humor mostly fall flat, and much of his prose is rather forced. One wishes he had a good editor or a competent ghost writer to help him share his important life story.
August 2, 2007
Loved this book! I devoured it in one day, it was that good. An easy (and surprisingly light) story about a hemophiliac man who gets infected with HIV when he’s young. This is his story about growing up with the virus and how it forms his life. He keeps it light and even inspirational at times. He seems like the kind of guy you’d like to hang out with.
July 31, 2009
This is not a classic, but I think other people need to read it! Several people I know have read the book and were not impressed by it. Perhaps I have a "But the grace of God I go" attitude, and I'm not in that pack. Like the main character, I have a bleeding disorder. Unlike him, I am not reliant on human derived products. Mainly, because of technology that wasn't available to Shawn in the 80s and also because unlike some people with bleeding disorders today, I respond to synthetic factor.
Shawn is one of many people, that my generation and generations after me should get down on our knees and thank. His generation learned a lot of hard lessons and they are paying with the most costly thing they have to give; their life. Because of the insidious viruses people were infected with in the 80s, a time when I should have been receiving treatment for my bleeding disorder, regulations on the products we receive in the bleeding disorder community have been made very strict.
If I had been diagnosed sooner, I may be in his shoes. So hats off to Shawn and his wife Gwenn for sharing their story and working to alleviate some of the social stigmas people I personally know face every day.
With all that social commentary out of the way, the book was easy to read. I laughed and found the book enjoyable to read.
Shawn is one of many people, that my generation and generations after me should get down on our knees and thank. His generation learned a lot of hard lessons and they are paying with the most costly thing they have to give; their life. Because of the insidious viruses people were infected with in the 80s, a time when I should have been receiving treatment for my bleeding disorder, regulations on the products we receive in the bleeding disorder community have been made very strict.
If I had been diagnosed sooner, I may be in his shoes. So hats off to Shawn and his wife Gwenn for sharing their story and working to alleviate some of the social stigmas people I personally know face every day.
With all that social commentary out of the way, the book was easy to read. I laughed and found the book enjoyable to read.
November 14, 2007
It's an interesting book about a guy who was infected with HIV through a blood transfusion back in the 80s before the government decided to actually check people's blood for things like hep C, hep B, and HIV. There were parts of the book (like the guy's obsession with sex during adolescence) that made me go "Uhm, why do I care how he learned about porn movies?" It just seemed irrelevant. I also had a hard time reading the parts where he talked about dating girls but not telling them he was HIV positive and then fooling around with them. I don't like reading about people being irresponsible, especially when it has to do with such a serious topic. The author finally gets over not wanting to talk about AIDs and now he and his wife (they have sex but always use condoms - I wish more teenagers and pre-teens did that these days...sad) travel around and speak about being in their relationship and what's it's like to have HIV.
June 22, 2010
I will freely acknowledge that I probably liked this at least partly for "six degrees" reasons: the author contracted HIV as a child from infected blood products he needs to treat hemophilia (just like my stepdad!) and he did so in a small town (20 minutes from where I now live!) and then moved to a nearby small city (where I now live!) to become a sexuality educator (like me!) But it was also funny and frank and uplifting, so I'm pretty sure people not me will like it too.
December 10, 2008
Diagnosed with hemophilia at eighteen months of age, Shawn Decker’s life was always a little different than most. Tonka toys were replaced by giant foam cars, and nose bleeds were the cause of many trips to the hospital. When your blood can’t clot properly, a good deal of your time is spent trying not to bleed. One very unfortunate aspect of having hemophilia is the need for blood transfusions. Shawn has received hundreds of transfusions, and because they mix many different blood samples for each transfusion, he has literally been exposed to thousands of blood donors. Because of lax blood screening, he contracted hepatitis and HIV as a result of the transfusions. His story, My Pet Virus, chronicles his journey of trying to continue a normal life, fighting the viruses that attempt to thwart that life, deciding whether or not to take dozens of medications, working, falling in love and getting married to someone who is HIV negative, and ultimately becoming an icon of HIV/AIDS awareness.
“You probably don’t know this, but most hemophiliacs hate to be referred to as hemophiliacs. It has to do with not wanting to be defined by an illness. You don’t call someone with cancer a ‘cancerite,’ or someone with multiple sclerosis a ‘multisclerosisist,’ do you? Also, the word ‘hemophiliac’ means ‘one who loves blood.’ Ask any person with a bleeding disorder whether or not they love blood and you’ll probably be served a knuckle sandwich.”
The above paragraph is the opening to Shawn Decker’s memoir, My Pet Virus, and it serves as a terrific example of how the author deals with serious subject matter using a not so serious style. Decker’s use of comedic wit creates an ease for his readers, which is important, because he has to unfortunately cover many grim issues in his life, including hemophilia, hepatitis B and C, HIV and AIDS. Throughout this work, the author delivers sobering descriptions of his life as these conditions worsen over time. One sentence will nearly bring you to tears, but the next will purposely evoke laughter to drive them away. Decker’s writing style of alarm and then disarm provides a great balance between serious subject matter and a joking young man who never takes himself too seriously, and at points in this book it’s easy to forget for a minute that he is sick at all. Not only is Shawn Decker a great role model for those trying to overcome the odds, My Pet Virus shows that he is one heck of an author as well.
If you enjoy My Pet Virus, you may also like:
Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs
Dog Years: A Memoir, by Mark Doty
When You Are Engulfed In Flames, by David Sedaris
“You probably don’t know this, but most hemophiliacs hate to be referred to as hemophiliacs. It has to do with not wanting to be defined by an illness. You don’t call someone with cancer a ‘cancerite,’ or someone with multiple sclerosis a ‘multisclerosisist,’ do you? Also, the word ‘hemophiliac’ means ‘one who loves blood.’ Ask any person with a bleeding disorder whether or not they love blood and you’ll probably be served a knuckle sandwich.”
The above paragraph is the opening to Shawn Decker’s memoir, My Pet Virus, and it serves as a terrific example of how the author deals with serious subject matter using a not so serious style. Decker’s use of comedic wit creates an ease for his readers, which is important, because he has to unfortunately cover many grim issues in his life, including hemophilia, hepatitis B and C, HIV and AIDS. Throughout this work, the author delivers sobering descriptions of his life as these conditions worsen over time. One sentence will nearly bring you to tears, but the next will purposely evoke laughter to drive them away. Decker’s writing style of alarm and then disarm provides a great balance between serious subject matter and a joking young man who never takes himself too seriously, and at points in this book it’s easy to forget for a minute that he is sick at all. Not only is Shawn Decker a great role model for those trying to overcome the odds, My Pet Virus shows that he is one heck of an author as well.
If you enjoy My Pet Virus, you may also like:
Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs
Dog Years: A Memoir, by Mark Doty
When You Are Engulfed In Flames, by David Sedaris
July 27, 2008
I associate books with places and events. My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker will always remind me of horses. Decker never mentions horses but I read the first half of his memoir while parked at the start of Bort Meadow Staging Area while three horses were being saddled up for a ride.
My Pet Virus is the memoir inspired by the blog of Shawn and later, his wife, Gwen. Take away the virus, HIV, and it's an up beat memoir. For its humor and tone, it reminds me of Alan Alda's first memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed if Alda had written the book when he was forty years younger.
Decker's memoir is also about hemophilia. His life as a "thin blood" as his calls it an his dependency on blood derived products is how at the age of 11 he was infected with HIV. His infection came at a time when HIV was still a new disease with all the paranoia and prejudice that goes along with something unknown. My Pet Virus addresses that prejudice: both Decker's and how he has been judged by others for being infected by the virus.
Blog to book seems to be a popular subgenre now of memoirs. It's the second one I've read and in both cases, I read the book without having heard of the blog. The other one was Blood, Sweat and Tea by Tom Reynolds.
My Pet Virus is the memoir inspired by the blog of Shawn and later, his wife, Gwen. Take away the virus, HIV, and it's an up beat memoir. For its humor and tone, it reminds me of Alan Alda's first memoir, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed if Alda had written the book when he was forty years younger.
Decker's memoir is also about hemophilia. His life as a "thin blood" as his calls it an his dependency on blood derived products is how at the age of 11 he was infected with HIV. His infection came at a time when HIV was still a new disease with all the paranoia and prejudice that goes along with something unknown. My Pet Virus addresses that prejudice: both Decker's and how he has been judged by others for being infected by the virus.
Blog to book seems to be a popular subgenre now of memoirs. It's the second one I've read and in both cases, I read the book without having heard of the blog. The other one was Blood, Sweat and Tea by Tom Reynolds.
September 24, 2017
An educational and amusing book that I zoomed through and quite enjoyed. I did struggle a bit to relate to Shawn, not because of his virus but because of a sort-of side effect: his lack of ambition. I can understand to some extent how being expected to die before age 18 might interefere with your ability to dream about what you want to be when you grow up. But he seemed to flounder for a lot longer than someone with his obvious talents rightly should have done. I suppose that if he had taken another path, he would not have met his wife, though, so I can see why he would not regret it.
August 2, 2011
An interesting enough story of a man with AIDS and how he met his wife and how their relationship works. The problem is the writing was sub-par and his sense of humor was incredibly basic.
July 2, 2019
I tried to like this book. But I just couldn't push through the tales about Decker's "little fella'". I enjoy learning about the ways people overcome obstacles in their lives, but I really don't enjoy learning the intimate details of people's sex lives. I don't normally quit on books I've started reading, but I quit on this one.
January 26, 2026
This book was written before Prep (descovy/truvada). Reading it with that context, it enrages me the way in which people still discuss HIV today. U=U. We've come a long way from the death sentence that HIV infection used to be but the stigma and ignorance of what it means to LIVE with HIV is still heavily present today.
April 19, 2020
Amazing. Read the whole thing on a flight, leaving me nothing to read on the flight home! Damn you Shawn Decker!
May 10, 2021
Surprisingly hilarious, a great memoir
November 17, 2008
This was a great book for someone like me who could use some teaching on the subjects of HIV/AIDS and the things that come with it. Shawn Decker's sense of humor is OUTSTANDING and I found myself completely enthralled many times that someone who has had so many horrible things thrown into his life is so full of life and full of love.
The book itself is a memoir which I love so if you like memoirs definitely give it a shot. Decker is down to earth and his family members bring their own unique qualities to the story, along with friends and people he met along the way.
Just for clarification purposes- Decker never writes that he "went around" sleeping with unknowing women. He mentioned when he was a child (he contracted HIV at age 11) and his first two girlfriends were unaware of his disease....AT FIRST. He was not sleeping with these girls, he wasn't even kissing them at first if I remember correctly. That wasn't fair of a reviewer to say that when there is nothing to back that up at all. I wonder how a kid would go about not only dealing with his own immortality but being open about it with a female (or male) that he likes. Adults hide things much more simple everyday but that's neither here nor there.
The book is short which makes it a fast read and his humor makes it even faster because it's hard to put down. His terms like 'thinblood' for hemophiliacs and 'positoid' and 'negatoid' kept me laughing which isn't something I planned on doing when I picked the book up.
Decker lived with his wife Gwenn who is a "negatoid" and they together speak on HIV/AIDS awareness around the country which in itself is admirable. He is also a very friendly person- I messaged him and added him as a friend on MySpace and have since heard from him twice. I got the feeling he actually cares if his message is being picked up.
The book itself is a memoir which I love so if you like memoirs definitely give it a shot. Decker is down to earth and his family members bring their own unique qualities to the story, along with friends and people he met along the way.
Just for clarification purposes- Decker never writes that he "went around" sleeping with unknowing women. He mentioned when he was a child (he contracted HIV at age 11) and his first two girlfriends were unaware of his disease....AT FIRST. He was not sleeping with these girls, he wasn't even kissing them at first if I remember correctly. That wasn't fair of a reviewer to say that when there is nothing to back that up at all. I wonder how a kid would go about not only dealing with his own immortality but being open about it with a female (or male) that he likes. Adults hide things much more simple everyday but that's neither here nor there.
The book is short which makes it a fast read and his humor makes it even faster because it's hard to put down. His terms like 'thinblood' for hemophiliacs and 'positoid' and 'negatoid' kept me laughing which isn't something I planned on doing when I picked the book up.
Decker lived with his wife Gwenn who is a "negatoid" and they together speak on HIV/AIDS awareness around the country which in itself is admirable. He is also a very friendly person- I messaged him and added him as a friend on MySpace and have since heard from him twice. I got the feeling he actually cares if his message is being picked up.
January 17, 2014
I feel badly saying "meh" to a memoir because it feels like saying "meh" to someone's life but, meh. At times I was interested but mostly I was bored. At times, I was offended. For someone whose made the sincere effort to make friends/connect with gay men with HIV/AIDS, I was surprised to see the author write that an aggressive woman is "too bull dykish" (i.e. use bull-dyke as an insult). There's also one chapter that reads like, "I'm not racist but ..."
I was at times bothered by the casually lazy writing style which I imagine is supposed to come off as friendly/breezy/informal but it doesn't when one does things like write "heels" as "heals." Then it just looks like either you don't know what you're doing or you haven't taken the time to carefully edit your work.
My thought is that there are so many other really good memoirs on this topic (living and/or dying with HIV/AIDS) that I can't imagine recommending this one to anyone.
I was at times bothered by the casually lazy writing style which I imagine is supposed to come off as friendly/breezy/informal but it doesn't when one does things like write "heels" as "heals." Then it just looks like either you don't know what you're doing or you haven't taken the time to carefully edit your work.
My thought is that there are so many other really good memoirs on this topic (living and/or dying with HIV/AIDS) that I can't imagine recommending this one to anyone.
July 2, 2007
I LOVED the beginning of this book, when at it's pure memoir-heart Decker recounted growing up with hemophilia and HIV in a small town in VA. Unfortunately, I quickly lost interest once he broke out of childhood. The book went from revelatory ("this is how it felt") to expository-didactic ("I got over my reluctance to speak out and this is what I did as a result"). The challenge of that transition is absent from Decker's retelling. The PW review sums it up well: "Decker's bravery is inarguably admirable, but it distances him; by book's end—when he has married a beauty queen, with whom he tours the country speaking about sex and HIV—we respect him but hardly feel as though we know him."
March 4, 2015
I enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed Decker's gently snarky humor. I don't think I laughed aloud while reading this book, but I did chuckle, at least to myself.
I appreciated the author's honesty and upbeat attitude.
At one point before I finished reading this book, I couldn't find it and thought I had lost it. That made me feel very sad. (Let me tell you, some books I've been reading, I wish I would lose.)I was glad when the book turned up in my room, and I was able to read it to the end.
I wish I were Shawn Decker's friend.
I appreciated the author's honesty and upbeat attitude.
At one point before I finished reading this book, I couldn't find it and thought I had lost it. That made me feel very sad. (Let me tell you, some books I've been reading, I wish I would lose.)I was glad when the book turned up in my room, and I was able to read it to the end.
I wish I were Shawn Decker's friend.
October 9, 2008
I really enjoyed this book, an informative memoir about what it is like to live with a smorgasbord of illnesses, Hemophilia, Hepatitis C, HIV, and AIDS, minus the poor me factor. I felt guilty for enjoying this book as much as I did, but I couldn't help it. It was very funny. I highly recommend this book, a nice heartwarming read, so sad to have to end up with so many illnesses as a result of receiving tainted blood products! I sure hope the screening process for donating blood has improved!
March 24, 2009
This is possibly the best book I've ever read. It shows that you can live your life, even if you're different. It shows that you can make it, even if you're dying. It taught me that no matter what hand I'm delt, I can always make it work. Life is crazy that way, it throws us these crazy twists and turns.. Some we're meant to handle, and some we're meant to go careening off the edge.. But, it's always worth the effort.
September 22, 2009
My Pet Virus tells the story of Shawn Decker, a hemophiliac who contracted HIV as a young child. Interesting read as he chronicles what it was like to grow up and live as a young heterosexual man with a "gay disease." Surprisingly light and funny for a book dealing with such a deep subject manner. It was also fun because Steve Schalchlin, an HIV+ musician who I met through Olympia PFLAG, makes an appearance and it makes me feel a little bit famous to read about people I have met.
February 26, 2016
Overall, I thought this was a pretty good book. I was captured enough by Mr. Decker's story that I had a hard time putting this book down. The only downside was I found him immature in places, and it was hard to not get annoyed with some of the choices he made, but given the serious illnesses he's dealt with, I could forgive him for that. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in reading a story about a person with AIDS.
May 16, 2007
This book is about a man who caught HIV from blood products for a bleeding disorder. It documents how he dealt with this and moved on- he is even married and has lived longer than anyone thought possible. A short book, at times funny, but not a real page-turner and it is important that he is somewhat of an exception among those who are HIV positive.
July 25, 2007
Shawn Decker contracted Hepatitis C and HIV as a child getting blood transfusions to treat hemophilia. He has outlived his original prognosis by 2 decades, is happily married and has created a wonderful career as an AIDS educator. Highly recommend to anyone who like to read about people making lemonade from a pile of lemons.
June 30, 2008
Read it. I love medical memoirs, but that aside, this was well written, engrossing, and educational. I just didn't want it to end. I wanted to know more and more about this man's life. It gives you real perspective on your life and really makes you want to stand up and fight for everything you want and desreve.
March 5, 2012
This was a good book. I loved his humor and candor. I can understand why he did not want to let everybody, including girlfriends, know he was the 'HIV+' kid. Some parents should read this book because it will show them that you can't assume your teenager will do the adult thing even though they know they should.
September 17, 2007
Clear-eyed and wryly hilarious. Decker is an HIV+ hemophiliac, or as he prefers, a positoid thinblood. This memoir is charming and accessible, decorated with almost enough photos. The tone is just exactly right, and Decker never misses a laugh or an opportunity to educate. A delight.
August 21, 2008
I'm not an autobiography person, but Augusten Burroughs was quoted on the back of the book, and I trust him! Although the circumstances are unfortunate for Shawn, he makes such great light of them and is winning his battle in the process. And he got to meet Depeche Mode, awesome!
December 13, 2009
A fantastically funny look into a not-so-funny subject - living with HIV/AIDS and other medical issues. You'll fall in love with Shawn's wit. All I kept thinking the whole time I read this is, "Man, this guy and I so could be friends."
September 10, 2010
interesting book about a boy who is infected with HIV due to hemophilia treatments as a child. I didn't love the author's voice or view on life- but parts of the disease were interesting to read about- as were the reactions/interactions he had growing up with HIV.
February 24, 2011
The major factor that makes this book stand out for me is the author's sense of humor. It's really a testament to the fact that being able to find something to laugh about in virtually any situation is a valuable trait to have. Simply put, that's what truly made this book such an engaging read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews