In her later childhood and teen years, when acceptance is so important to young people, Alysia had a hard time fitting in.Īs a small child I had no problem accepting Dad, in all his beautiful queerness. With the current rise in same-sex parenthood and the legalization of same-sex marriage in more than 30 states, I believe that Alysia would face much less social stigma today than she did in the 1970’s and 1980’s. She lost her mom in a car accident when she was two years old and was raised by her father, an openly gay activist and writer. Though I wouldn’t say that Fairyland is bleak, there were some extremely sad moments that triggered old memories and made me tear up.Īlysia Abbott had a very difficult childhood. This year I was drawn to bleak, sad stories in books, movies and TV. Last year at this time, I was reading lots of sweet romances with holiday themes. It has been named a Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Book for 2014.Ĭross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews Reconstructing their life together from a remarkable cache of her father’s journals, letters, and writings, Alysia Abbott gives us an unforgettable portrait of a tumultuous, historic time in San Francisco as well as an exquisitely moving account of a father’s legacy and a daughter’s love. Alysia must choose whether to take on the responsibility of caring for her father or continue the independent life she has worked so hard to create. While Alysia is studying in New York and then in France, her father tells her it’s time to come home he’s sick with AIDS.
In Alysia’s teens, Steve’s friends-several of whom she has befriended-fall ill as AIDS starts its rampage through their community.
The world, she learns, is hostile to difference. As a child Alysia views her father as a loving playmate who can transform the ordinary into magic, but as she gets older Alysia wants more than anything to fit in. But the pair live like nomads, moving from apartment to apartment, with a revolving cast of roommates and little structure. He takes Alysia to raucous parties, pushes her in front of the microphone at poetry readings, and introduces her to a world of artists, thinkers, and writers. Steve throws himself into San Francisco’s vibrant cultural scene. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation-few of whom are raising a child. A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and ’80s San Francisco with an openly gay father.Īfter his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco.
0 kommentar(er)
