About the Book
From an acclaimed memoirist and National Book Award winner: Three groundbreaking works of nonfiction put a human face on the AIDS epidemic. Paul Monette's searing memoirs of growing up, coming out, and losing his beloved partner to AIDS are now available in a single volume.
Becoming a Man: This National Book Award-winning memoir follows Monette's childhood. Growing up all-American, Catholic, overachieving . . . and closeted, Monette wrestled with his sexuality for the first thirty years of his life, priding himself on his ability to "pass" for straight. This intimate portrait of a young man's struggle with his own desires and journey to adulthood and self-acceptance through grace and honesty is witty, humorous, and deeply felt.
Borrowed Time: Chronicling Monette's relationship with Roger Horwitz, this tragic true story follows Horwitz's fight against and eventual death from AIDS. A "tender and lyrical" memoir (TheNew York Times Book Review), it remains one of the most raw and human tales of the AIDS era--a "searing, shattering, ultimately hope-inspiring account of a great love story" (San Francisco Examiner).
The Last Watch of the Night: Compiling work from the last two years of his life, this collection of essays documents Monette's reflections as he slowly succumbed to AIDS. Ringing with humor, rage, and passion, his words provide a breathtaking view from inside the AIDS scourge.
Brutal, funny, and startlingly honest, this comprehensive volume brings together some of the most important stories of the AIDS era.
About the Author :
Paul Monette (1945-1995) was an author, poet, and gay rights activist. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Yale University, he moved with his partner Roger Horwitz to Los Angeles in 1978 and became involved in the gay rights movement. Monette's writing captures the sense of heartbreak and loss at the center of the AIDS crisis. His first novel, Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll, was published in 1978, and he went on to write several more works of fiction, poetry, and memoir. Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir, the tender account of his partner's battle with the disease, earned him both PEN Center West and Lambda literary awards. In 1992, Monette won the National Book Award in Nonfiction for Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, an autobiography detailing his early life and his struggle with his sexuality. Written as a classic coming-of-age story, Becoming a Man became a seminal coming-out story. In 1995, Monette founded the Monette-Horwitz Trust, which honors individuals and organizations working to combat homophobia. Monette died in his home in West Hollywood in 1995 of complications from AIDS.
Review :
Praise for Becoming a Man
"Fiercely committed to bequeathing a map of his psychic terrain, to spare others the pain of his solitary journey, [Monette's] fine memoir is affirmative and ultimately celebratory." --The New York Times "This is a voice forever on the side of freedom and desire, love and possibility. This memoir's the burning trace of a singular, brave soul: timeless, contrary, and passionately alive." --Mark Doty
"This seminal book is everything Monette himself was: angry, honest, witty, and profoundly romantic. Nothing--not even his own vanity--escapes his unflinching gaze as he dissects the shame and subterfuge of the closet." --Armistead Maupin
"Monette's interior life, his ghosts, his turmoil, his final peace--in Becoming a Man, they have become our literature." --David Ebershoff
Praise for Borrowed Time
"Tender and lyrical . . . Heroic." --The New York Times Book Review
"Mr. Monette has etched a magnificent monument to his lover's bravery, their commitment to each other and the plague of hatred and ignorance they had to endure." --William M. Hoffman
"Tragic . . . intense . . . a book of terrible beauty." --The Washington Post Book World
"A searing, shattering, ultimately hope-inspiring account of a great love story." --San Francisco Examiner
Praise for The Last Watch of the Night
"Brimming with outrage yet tender, this is a 'remarkable book.'" --The Philadelphia Inquirer
"In a collection of ten essays, Monette writes passionately of life with lovers Roger and Steve, his grief over their early deaths from AIDS, the moral imperative of libraries to actively combat forces of censorship, and the anguish and anger caused by the AIDS holocaust. Reflecting upon his life, Monette poignantly confesses 'I know why I've been pulling out the scrapbooks these last weeks, because the journey has suddenly stalled. The road doesn't go any further, the bridges are all washed out, or maybe I've just gone overboard in a squall.'" --Library Journal
