Penitent, With Roses: An Hiv+ Mother Reflects (Bakeless Prize) - Hardcover

Peterson, Paula W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1584651288 ISBN 13: 9781584651284

Publisher: Middlebury College Pr, 2001

Synopsis

Penitent, with Roses is a series of essays by a white, middle-class Jewish mother who is diagnosed with AIDS when her son is 11 months old. The first part of the work encompasses several years of her life, including the birth of her son and her diagnosis, her attempt to notify a former lover of her condition, and her experiences as an activist and a hotline volunteer. It is followed by a series of autobiographical sketches of her childhood and young womanhood, framed as a letter to her small son. Throughout, readers accompany Paula W. Peterson as she re-forges her personal identity in the face of physical and spiritual crises.

About this title

About the Authors

PAULA W. PETERSON received her B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University and her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Her short fiction has appeared in Carolina Quarterly, Greensboro Review, Alligator Juniper, and other journals. One of her stories was included among the 100 distinguished stories of the year in Best American Short Stories. An essay from this Bakeless collection ("Prognosis Guarded") won first place in New Millennium Writings and was subsequently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Peterson currently lives and writes in San Francisco, where she is involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy work and education and prevention programs.

PAULA W. PETERSON received her B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University and her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Her short fiction has appeared in Carolina Quarterly, Greensboro Review, Alligator Juniper, and other journals. One of her stories was included among the 100 distinguished stories of the year in Best American Short Stories. An essay from this Bakeless collection ("Prognosis Guarded") won first place in New Millennium Writings and was subsequently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Peterson currently lives and writes in San Francisco, where she is involved in HIV/AIDS advocacy work and education and prevention programs.

Reviews

This beautifully written account winner of the Breadloaf Conference's 2000 Bakeless Literary Publication Prize for Nonfiction by an author whose short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize is, in part, an exploration of her reaction to being diagnosed with AIDS when her son was only 11 months old (he is now five). The diagnosis came after a series of troubling ear and sinus infections; Peterson was told by her physician that she had probably been HIV-positive for many years (other physicians had previously suggested that something might be wrong with her immune system, but as a married woman, Peterson thought there was no way she could have AIDS). Although she initially fell into a deep depression, the knowledge that her baby (whom she had been nursing) and her husband were both virus-free gave her the impetus for an emotional recovery. She provides here a detailed account of a retreat for women with life-threatening illnesses, where she, as a white Jewish woman, is an "anomaly" among those with AIDS. Having found community through participation in this conference, she now answers the phone for an AIDS hotline in San Francisco and has become a political activist. The second half of this exceptionally moving memoir is a long, graceful letter addressed to her son that she began writing when he was two and a half. Among the anecdotes she shares here are both sad and happy incidents from her own childhood, stories about friends and lovers and how she came to learn that she was a writer. Although Peterson's health is now stable, the fact that her prognosis is "guarded" gives this work a special poignancy. (Aug. 1)Forecast: There is certainly an audience for this lovely book, if it gets reviewed. Peterson will do local bookstore promotion in San Francisco and New York.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Peterson, a married, middle-class, Jewish mother, was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS four years into her marriage and 11 months after her son was born. In seven poignant autobiographical essays and a collection of letters to her uninfected, four-year-old son, the author maintains an upbeat tone and describes her unsuccessful attempts to find the source of her infection (her husband tested negative), her relationships with her doctors, and her work as an HIV activist. Peterson has published short fiction in several literary journals, but this is her first book. Because of her skill as a writer, and because she is never self-pitying, this stands out among memoirs by HIV-positive writers. With its sharp and witty prose, it is much better written than the only other autobiography by an HIV-positive mother published in English, Mary Fisher's My Name Is Mary (LJ 1/96). Highly recommended for all libraries. [The book won the Bakeless Literary Publication Prize for Nonfiction at the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. Ed.] Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denve.
- Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Middlebury College Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1584651288
• ISBN 13: 9781584651284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256