Art is so open about his sexuality and what he wants in life he’s the first gay person Reza has met that doesn’t seem afraid. When he meets Art and Judy, his entire life changes. He buries the feelings down, too scared of what his old-fashioned Iranian mother will think on top of being afraid of dying of AIDS. We follow the stories of Reza, Art, and Judy who are growing up in the 80’s, navigating friendships, sexualities, and family relationships against a backdrop of activism and death.Įver since his family immigrated to North America (first Canada and then the United States), Reza has been confronted with the image of AIDS as something horrible and inevitable for someone like him, someone who likes boys.

There is so much about the AIDS era that gets left out of textbooks, mainly what it was like to exist in an era when it felt like being queer was a death sentence. Personal Thoughts: I wish I could go back in time and give this book to my high school self.

He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.Īs Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known. until she falls for Reza and they start dating.Īrt is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. Summary: It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.

Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory