Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Lambda Literary Award-winner K.M. Soehnlein's Army of Lovers follows a young gay man swept up in the excitement, fury, and poignancy of the AIDS activist group ACT UP.

Arriving in New York City full of idealism, Paul discovers the queer community gathering strength in the face of government inaction and social stigma. As he protests, parties, and makes a new home, he finds himself pulling away from his HIV-negative boyfriend to pursue an intense bond with a passionate, HIV-positive artist. Paul’s awakening parallels ACT UP’s rise, successes, and controversies. And then everything shifts again, as his family is thrust into their own life-and-death struggle that tests him even further.

 

Born out of the author’s activism inside the vibrant queer community of the ’80s and ’90s, Army of Lovers blends history and fiction into an exploration of memory, community, love, and justice.

Book Review

AIDS is a political illness, and the HIV virus a political one. Forty years ago when both appeared for the first time, our Western societies were lulling themselves in the glorious but erroneous self-belief that we were modern, scientific, free of superstitions, forward-thinking. That image of ourselves was shattered to pieces when the first cases of what was called the “gay cancer” back then were diagnosed and when the first victims started to die. A veil was lifted, and what we saw was not a pretty picture. In fact, we had evolved only little from what we had been in the Middle Ages and the times of the Black Death. Public health issues were once again linked with questions of morality and religion—always a pernicious path to take. Politicians turned out as feeble and short-sighted as ever, and the silent majority exposed themselves as what they are: followers who prefer to pray they won’t be affected rather than act and react or at least demand decisive actions.

 

Some people stood up back then, though. Shouted out. Took the public by the shoulders, screamed, hollered, chained themselves to fences, lay down on streets, rattled consciences, refused to remain silent and look the other way. Among the loudest and most visible were the women and men fighting with and for Act Up. Those were guys who, pardon my French, showed more cojones than most public administrations. And this amazing, wonderful, powerful book—one of the best I read this year—tells their story from within. Not in essay form, not as a historical overview, not as an autobiographical eyewitness account, but as a chiselled, heart-wrenching novel. I was drawn in from the get-go, mesmerized, rushing through it in no time, and my recommendation is entire, unapologetic, and sincere.

 

The main character, Paul, is a New Jersian in his early twenties living in New York with his boyfriend Derek. It’s the dying 80s (gruesome pun intented). During a public meeting with main speaker Larry Kramer, which they attend with their best friend Amanda, they decide to join a newly founded activist organization called Act Up. They participate in several happenings. During one that takes place in Albany, Paul meets Zack, a passionate black artist who immediately attracts and fascinates him. They stumble upon each other off and an until it is clear to both that they are in love with each other. Paul and Derek’s relationship being an open one, that doesn’t seem to be a problem at first. But soon, Paul and Derek discover they have both moved on, and they separate. Then Zack finds out he is HIV-positive. He moves to the West Coast thinking he should set his new boyfriend free. Meanwhile, Paul’s mother falls ill—the verdict is cancer. Paul now has to face not only the death looming in his own family, but also his Act Up friends dying one by one.

 

It’s hard to sum up the novel in a way that does it justice, so I’ll not even try. The rough outline above will have to do, I’m afraid. Let’s talk about the book in other terms, then. I think its immense power lies in the fact that it is so direct, so true, so touching. Thankfully there’s not an ounce of larmoyance to be found in it. The author has succeeded in telling—no, showing the story of a young man back in those days, in a simple, straight tone, steering clear of any false notes, any fake sentiments, anything that might have felt invented. Paul is a vibrant character, full of youth, full of life, full of hopes and dreams, full of rage, too. He parties, he fights, he laughs and loves, he has sex, he has moments of joy and moments that feel as if the world was ending. He finds his raison d’être in the causes Act Up defends and embraces them fully. His relationship with Derek rings so true because it reminds me of who I was myself at that age. A boy, really—we often remain mere boys until we reach our thirties, don’t we, gentlemen?—who experiences his first meaningful story with another man and wants to make it work. They both invent their own rules as they go, fully aware yet at the same time blissfully oblivious that one day that might lead to them parting ways.

 

The turning point is when Paul realizes his feelings for Zack are becoming stronger while those for Derek fade to friendship. What I also found mesmerizing in its inherent truth was the guilt Paul felt for being an HIV-negative person surrounded by HIV-positive ones. Here again, the main eye-opener is when he finds out Zack has the virus. He starts romanticizing the HIV status, almost hoping he’ll catch the virus, too, almost willing it to happen. A shocking, disturbing, unexplainable piece of truth I haven’t read about very often, but which struck a very sensitive chord in me. Books always have all the more impact, I guess, when they show us some hidden truth about ourselves, and this one certainly did.

 

‘Army of Lovers’ had me trembling, hoping, despairing, and weeping, too. The finely crafted sentences seemed so easy and frank, the storyline so logical, so unavoidable, so authentic that I wondered all the time if Paul wasn’t the author’s slightly ficionalized alter ego. But then, the book did read like a novel, and I know how difficult it is to tell one’s own story without drifting off into sentimentality, overwhelming side stories, or unimportant details. None of that could be found in this book. It didn’t milk emotionality, but had a very emotional repercussion on me. Even knowing I was as different from Paul as one could get, I was Paul, from start to finish, such was the power of K.M. Soehnlein’s storytelling. This is one of those books I’d urge anybody to read for its historical accurateness, its message, and for the sheer pleasure of being immersed in a potent narrative. To come back full circle to the first lines of this review, let’s not forget that it took scientists a mere six months to find a vaccine against the Covid virus. Fortunately. Because forty years after the first cases were reported, there’s still no vaccine, no cure for the HIV virus. It continues infecting people, killing people, and the same medieval backlash is still no thing of the past… if not in our Western countries, then in many others around the world.

 

We still need to evolve. And till that happens, there are still fights to be fought. Read the book, weep, then get involved in a cause, any cause making us humans better.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 350 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-October-2022
Price	$9.49 ebook, $20.95 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Army-Lovers-K-M-Soehnlein-ebook/dp/B0BFJPJS3B