I have struggled with how to review this. I have so many thoughts, and yet so many of many thoughts would spoil the experience of reading. So I settled on bullet points:
1. I didn't want to stop reading this book. Didn't want to put it down, didn't want it to end.
2. It captures so perfectly queer culture of the late 80s and 90s. The days when Oxford Street wasn't posh, and the Sleaze Ball was wild;
3. It also captures the sense of constant violence, abuse and attempted degradation. The way that AIDS education associated queerness with death. The casual acceptable homophobia of "only gays and drug users were affected"
4. Kelly pulls off a real trick here in telling a very contemporary story at the same time, about how quickly things can turn. This is a book to read for our moment.
5. It has been a recent preoccupation of mine thinking about how Australia's community-informed approach the HIV education changed so much. This is a very different angle to tackle it from, but worth it.
6. The book will reward you for close attention - it isn't necessary to enjoy it, but it will be satisfying :)