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Take Me to Paris, Johnny
John Foster's moving yet unsentimental account of the life of his partner, Juan Céspedes. In 1981 the young Cuban dancer Juan is a struggling dancer in NYC. There he meets John, an Australian historian. The two live in New York, where Juan tries to make it on Broadway. They cross the globe together, battling the disease taking the lives of gay men everywhere. Until his final days, Juan is captivating, witty, headstrong. First published in 1993, shortly before Foster's own death from AIDS, this a story told with humour and skill, about a radiant love affair in a time of darkness.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
John Foster
3 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Foster (1944-1994)
John Foster (1944-1994)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 15, 2017
Not as well-known as "Holding the Man", but just as good.
April 12, 2018
It is not often that I give 5 stars to a book, this however is one that truly deserves that rating.
Similiar to, but very different to Holding The Man by Timothy Conigrave, this is a loving, touching story of one man's love for another, and how AIDS impacts on this.
This is a beautifully written memoir, that can be splint into two parts, firstly the initial meeting and commencement of the relationship and secondly the tender caring of a dying loved one. This book really brings home the pain, distress, heartache and love of caring for someone with a terminal illness.
This is a true Australian classic and one that I would highly recommend to everyone.
Similiar to, but very different to Holding The Man by Timothy Conigrave, this is a loving, touching story of one man's love for another, and how AIDS impacts on this.
This is a beautifully written memoir, that can be splint into two parts, firstly the initial meeting and commencement of the relationship and secondly the tender caring of a dying loved one. This book really brings home the pain, distress, heartache and love of caring for someone with a terminal illness.
This is a true Australian classic and one that I would highly recommend to everyone.
February 29, 2012
A very understated and beautiful book which a memoir of the life of the author's partner Juan. It's striking for conveying a great deal of character - both Juan's and John Foster's - without actually making that conveyance explicit. Juan's life seems thwarted. As he was dying, Juan said as much. Take Me to Paris, Johnny is Foster's refutation. It reminds us that it's not what we accomplish that makes our lives precious it's who we are, the light we spread and the love we inspire that makes a life successful.
May 11, 2024
This book is so moving and heartbreaking and beautifully written and good.
“He had accomplished nothing, nothing that people would remember, nothing that would cause them to honour in him the name that had been borne by Cuba’s greatest patriot. He had not even finished his quilt, which still lay in a neat pile of patched squares on his sewing table.
There are poets who have written that death itself is a kind of accomplishment. Rainer Maria Rilke said something like that. ‘O Lord, grant to each man his own death, a death that proceeds from his life.’ That was all right for Rilke, with his pretty name and his faith in the great death that each one has within him. It was not what I wanted to say.
What I wanted to say to Juan had nothing to do with greatness. It was simply this: that he had loved me. But somehow it didn’t come out like that. All I could manage, all I could give him, was the remembrance of our togetherness. ‘There has been us,’ I said. And I know that he understood, because somewhere in that night, in the fragments of his dying, he said, ‘We made it, Johnny. Didn’t we?’”
“He had accomplished nothing, nothing that people would remember, nothing that would cause them to honour in him the name that had been borne by Cuba’s greatest patriot. He had not even finished his quilt, which still lay in a neat pile of patched squares on his sewing table.
There are poets who have written that death itself is a kind of accomplishment. Rainer Maria Rilke said something like that. ‘O Lord, grant to each man his own death, a death that proceeds from his life.’ That was all right for Rilke, with his pretty name and his faith in the great death that each one has within him. It was not what I wanted to say.
What I wanted to say to Juan had nothing to do with greatness. It was simply this: that he had loved me. But somehow it didn’t come out like that. All I could manage, all I could give him, was the remembrance of our togetherness. ‘There has been us,’ I said. And I know that he understood, because somewhere in that night, in the fragments of his dying, he said, ‘We made it, Johnny. Didn’t we?’”
March 6, 2017
Very touching book written by John Foster about his love Juan Céspedes who escaped from Cuba and ended up in New York, where he met John. They fell in love in the 1980's. John was a historian, author and lecturer. Juan, a want-to-be dancer. The book is mostly about their relationship at a time when their friends were starting to become sick, and AIDS was starting to become a world wide health concern for gay men. They eventually moved to Australia, where John was trying to legalize Juan's status in Australia to permanent resident, when Juan passed. It was published in 1993, a year before John's own death. I think this book for me was more about how opposites attract, and how love grows and Juan's declining health. Honest and a look at how the gay community became aware of AIDS.
December 21, 2021
Very much a book of its time the meeting of two opposites who fall in love and then the tragedy of the late 20th century AIDS making it a story of caring and grief poignantly written.
July 21, 2022
Magnificent. The ending was written in the beginning, however, reading it as it unfolded was no less devastating. Beautifully written.
September 9, 2024
This book is beautifully written, and has a warmth and depth to it for such a sad serious subject that the reader is carried along with grief but also a happiness that ‘there was them…’
May 30, 2019
Traversing from Cuba to the United States and onto Australia, "Take Me to Paris, Johnny" is a heartbreaking memoir about the love affair between John Foster and Juan Céspedes.
October 21, 2017
This is a beautifully written memoir by John Foster, an Australian Academic, about his relationship with a Cuban refugee/aspiring dancer, Juan Cespedes. This very personal work follows Juan and the effects AIDS has had on his life. This memoir also touches on immigration difficulties, travelling and the local church community, which supported John and Juan.
October 24, 2011
Don't be put off by the rather chick-lit looking cover of this book, it is anything but chick-lit.
Rather, this is the story of Juan Cespedes, written by his partner after his death from Aids. It is a very moving, well written memoir which I found hard to put down.
Juan is an early fugitive from the Revolution in Cuba, escaping to become a refugee in New York City where he lives a hand to mouth existence. He pursues his love of dance, and eventually meets John Foster, the author and his future partner.
When Juan becomes ill, it is the early days of the Aids epidemic in New York, when the disease was called 'the gay cancer'. It must have been a very terrifying time for the gay community, when so little was known of the disease, and treatment usually unsuccessful. John nurses Juan through his illness, but the book never becomes depressing, the author writing always with restraint.
Rather, this is the story of Juan Cespedes, written by his partner after his death from Aids. It is a very moving, well written memoir which I found hard to put down.
Juan is an early fugitive from the Revolution in Cuba, escaping to become a refugee in New York City where he lives a hand to mouth existence. He pursues his love of dance, and eventually meets John Foster, the author and his future partner.
When Juan becomes ill, it is the early days of the Aids epidemic in New York, when the disease was called 'the gay cancer'. It must have been a very terrifying time for the gay community, when so little was known of the disease, and treatment usually unsuccessful. John nurses Juan through his illness, but the book never becomes depressing, the author writing always with restraint.
September 23, 2016
As the blurb states it's an unsentimental look back at Foster's relationship with Juan back in the eighties. This is a product of its time and the writing style reflects Foster's generation, but it's incredibly well written. The story of the two will seem unconventional [and unromantic] to some, but it's the way Foster describes Juan's rapid descent which makes the book so special and, ultimately heart breaking. My only suggestion is to skip the foreword and read it after you've read the memoir.
December 17, 2016
Poetic, graceful and disarmingly simple, this memoir and love story is an underrated gem. While quite different, it's just as beautiful as the more celebrated 'Holding the Man' by Tim Conigrave. Highly recommended.
April 26, 2017
A beautiful memoir, written at the peak of the AIDS epidemic. Humanizes a disease that sadly too often was referred to with statistics alone.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews