There were many reasons as to why my curiosity towards this book kept growing: first of all, I've never read any other book that featured an HIV-positive character and second of all, because I was dying to experience Camryn Garrett's writing.
Before I jump onto my thoughts and review, let's get to know the synopsis and the author a little bit better!
Summary:
In a community that isn't always understanding, an HIV-positive teen must navigate fear, disclosure, and radical self-acceptance when she falls in love--and lust--for the first time. Powerful and uplifting, Full Disclosure will speak to fans of Angie Thomas and Nicola Yoon.
Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She's making real friends, making a name for herself as student director of Rent, and making a play for Miles, the guy who makes her melt every time he walks into a room. The last thing she wants is for word to get out that she's HIV-positive, because last time . . . well, last time things got ugly.
Keeping her viral load under control is easy, but keeping her diagnosis under wraps is not so simple. As Simone and Miles start going out for real--shy kisses escalating into much more--she feels an uneasiness that goes beyond butterflies. She knows she has to tell him that she's positive, especially if sex is a possibility, but she's terrified of how he'll react! And then she finds an anonymous note in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know too.
Simone's first instinct is to protect her secret at all costs, but as she gains a deeper understanding of the prejudice and fear in her community, she begins to wonder if the only way to rise above is to face the haters head-on.
About the author:
This young writer (imagine being this successful as a 20-year-old) started writing for Time for Kids at only 13 years old and ever since has also written for Huffington Post and Rookie Magazine. Besides that, she released her debut novel - Full Disclosure - with only 19 years old.
Raised in a school that had abstinence-only sex education, led to believe that it wasn't possible to live with AIDS, she devoted herself to the writing of this novel after coming across a few blog posts about parents who talked about their experience with HIV-positive children. These posts quickly made her realize that the information she received in school wasn't the most accurate and didn't correspond to absolute truth. From then on, her curiosity led her to research other resources that would educate her, offering different perspectives about this subject which strongly contributed to the creation of this book.
This novel depicts the story of a young black queer girl with HIV that was adopted by her two dads and finds herself on the verge of curiosity and sexual discovery. According to the author, she aimed to cross important movements in order to introduce the readers (especially those who are younger) to different topics that need to be more discussed.
My thoughts:
First and foremost, I have to confess that with the help of this book, I was able to understand how little I actually knew about HIV and what it actually means to live with it. When a book has the ability to make me think "oh, so this is how that works and I had no idea!", it's just bonus extra points right there!
Throughout the story, we find small (but meaningful) lessons that are presented in a very organic and light-hearted way through a bunch of characters that encapsulate different profiles that we can find in today's society, whose actions and reactions vocalize a lot of the preconceptions, fears and misinformation that surround the topic of HIV.
The truth is it isn't easy to construct a narrative that has a strong educative side, capable of destructing stigmas, without becoming too factual but this book does it effortlessly.
One of the highlights for me is, undoubtfully, how sex-positive this book is! It talks openly about masturbation, sex ed and health without any kind of embarrassment or shame attached, which makes it very important because it creates healthy (and most importantly realistic) sex expectations on a younger audience that might be experiencing the same thing sexual discovery as our main character.
On top of it all, it touches on other subjects, like asexuality and sexual orientation, normalizing them and emphasizing that both of them are part of a spectrum and that's perfectly ok to not be defined by any specific label when it comes to how we feel or what we want.
I think it goes without saying but I really enjoyed this book, more than I expected. I think that it's a very positive and essential read for young adults between the ages of 13 and 17 although it surely can be an equally pleasant read for any other age range.
Buy Full Disclosure