04/01/2024, 10:02
Bartosz Juraviecki
CZARNE PUBLISHING
WOŁOWIEC 2023
A phrase that will probably appear many times in reviews of this book is that it says more about Poland than many modern history textbooks. The attitude of Poles towards AIDS, towards the sick, towards the first doctors who dealt with the virus, towards the first activists who wanted to control the fear of the disease, says a lot about our country. The country of the breakthrough period – let's add it. Although the story begins in the 1980s, the beginning of the 1990s saw the apogee of the struggle against the lack of social sensitivity to the problems of people living with AIDS.
The author lends a hand to the heroes of those events – let's say right away. And that's good. Unfortunately, it forces us to spend too much time reading summaries of later – also very good – old press texts. Research is great, the harvest is bountiful, but in the long run this method of reporting can become boring. We read some of the more or less famous authors (Tochman, Ostalowska, Szczygiel, Rezka, Gabriel and others) and completely unknown materials from the local media – and also very interesting – which reflect the atmosphere of the political breakthrough, which was crazy. Many levels. A time when we heard about AIDS mainly because of the battles in front of the carriers' houses, the actions or conflicts after Kotansky, the death of Freddie Mercury or the premiere of “Philadelphia”.
However, the best parts are when we hear the characters directly. As Joanna recalls: “Then the results were like this: the lady handed it to me and said, 'The test was positive.' You see, your life is over.”
(MAT, 04/01/2024)
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