The HIV/AIDS period is one of the darkest in LGBTQ+ history, with the effects of the virus and Section 28 together meaning we lost an entire generation of queer people, especially gay men. But beyond the numbers and the general history were specific people, with stories of their own. And the people around them desperate to do what they could.
The Laughter of Heroes follows a man who is suffering with the effects of AIDS. With his condition deteriorating, his friends decide to take him to Disneyland, following a failed trip there in his childhood with his family. As he battles his condition, his friends and family must battle their own judgements, hidden demons and difficulties surrounding their sexualities in a time less accepting than our own. With only a limited time to pull the trip off, will they make it to Disneyland, or will the world stand in their way?
This book is a difficult one for me. The story is lovely and very sad, the characters are mostly well developed, and the novella covers a lot of ground and difficult topics in its around one hundred page read. But the main thing that stands in the way is the writing style. There are entire sections of this book written in short sentences, which becomes very frustrating to read very quickly. Some scenes are crafted elegantly, and others are peppered with very short sentences that could easily be developed more, that it is very jarring to read. The story underneath it all definitely helped, but some passages were very tiresome to get through.
If this book was written in with a structure that felt a bit more developed, this story would likely be one of my favourite LGBTQ+ stories, but sadly the jumping between writing styles felt like several authors and Google Translate got together to write a story. The tale was fantastic, but its communication left a lot to be desired.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
The Laughter of Heroes (ISBN: 1-85242-279-3) was published in 1993. A copy is available to borrow from the LGBTQ+ Lending Library in the LGBTQ+ Lounge
