Like a Love Story

This is an extremely difficult book to rate for me. I thought the overall story was beautiful, a celebration of love and anger and fighting for a better life, but the three main characters annoyed me so much that parts of the book were a slog. 

Reza spends the first half of the book constantly spinning his wheels through internalized homophobia, which while realistic means the reader is subjected to the same story beats multiple times. Judy's reaction to finding out that Reza is gay and dated her out of fear is awful and left largely unexamined by the narrative. Art spends the second half of the book trying to pressure his boyfriend into sex he isn't ready for. Also the weirdly detailed scenes of teens having sex might be off-putting for some.

I did love most of the side characters though (at least, the ones intended to be likable) and most of the writing about ACT UP was great.

A solid neutral rating from me.