Judd Winick
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned (2000)
Author: Judd Winick
Genre: Graphic Novel (Memoir/Biography)
Plot Summary:
Told by The Real World 3: San Francisco cast member Judd Winick, this memoir essentially begins with Winick's comfortable yet angsty childhood in Long Island. At a young age he decides to become an artist, and he later attends the University of Michigan's School of Art. The childhood of fellow cast member Pedro Zamora is then chronicled, from his early life as a poor-yet-happy child in Cuba, to his family's emigration to the U.S., to his coming out of the closet in high school, to finally his HIV diagnosis in 1989 at the age of 17. Shortly after being diagnosed, Pedro decides to devote his life to educating others about the disease, and becomes a well-known AIDS educator. The story soon moves to Winick's experiences on The Real World, focusing primarily on his developing friendship with Pedro, his gay HIV-positive roommate and eventual best friend. SPOILER: Pedro Zamora died of AIDS on November 10 1994 at the age of 22, only 5 months after taping of The Real World's third season finished. Judd Winick continues Pedro's mission of lecturing about AIDS education in order to spread awareness about the disease and how it is contracted.
Geographical Setting: Primarily San Francisco; parts of the story also take place in Miami, Cuba, NYC, Boston, Long Island, and other locales in the U.S.
Time Period: 1980's through the mid-1990's (with some background taking place in the 1970's)
Appeal Characteristics:
This story is not a novel -- it is primarily a first person-narrated memoir of friendship. Winick's book was nominated in 2001 for the Best Graphic Album category of the Eisner Awards. The illustrations are all in black and white, but are very vivid in their depictions of human emotion. In this particular case, many of the characters portrayed were relatively famous TV personalities, so it is interesting to see Winick's interpretation in bringing them to life on the page. Because the illustrator begins with both Pedro and himself in childhood, the reader also gets the chance to witness these characters' physical growth and development, which adds an element of intimacy to the story. During very important episodes in the plot, such as the death of Pedro's mother, Winick uses much larger images on an entirely black background -- a very effective technique to make these moments stand out. Fans of The Real World TV series will probably enjoy this book, especially those that were avid watchers of this third season, which is often considered to be the most socially significant. There is a lot of discussion about the show, particularly about what it is like to be on a reality TV show and to be videotaped 24 hours a day. The narration is excellent: Winick tells the story with a great deal of humor (often self-depricating) as well as honesty. This honesty is particularly evident when he admits his fears of living with an HIV-infected cast member, and when he describes the raw emotion he felt during Pedro's last days. The story itself is very emotional, and both the images and text are powerfully used. Because Pedro Zamora was a gay man living with AIDS, there is some discussion of his homosexuality (he and his partner, Sean, held a commitment ceremony during the taping of The Real World) and a great deal of discussion about his disease. At times, the book can even read like an AIDS education manual during the scenes where Pedro is giving lectures. At other times, first person quotes/narration from Pedro are interspersed with Winick's narration, so the reader feels like they get to know both characters fairly well. In addition, there is also a strong family element -- both Pedro's and Winick's families are very supportive and loving, and Pedro comes from a very large family. Pedro's family are Cuban immigrants, so readers can find details of their lives in Cuba, some discussion of Cuban politics, the Zamoras' immigration experience and their pursuit of the "American Dream." The end of the book is dominated by Winick's discussion of what it is like to lose a friend, and it is generally a very emotional depiction of death and bereavement. Overall, this graphic novel is a very honest portrayal of both what it is like to live with AIDS, and what it is like to lose someone you love to the disease.
Read-alikes:
Those interested in the early seasons of The Real World, including the San Francisco season, might enjoy The Real World: The Ultimate Insider's Guide by James Solomon and Alan Carter. This book gives detailed information about the first six seasons of the show, including individual cast profiles, color photos of the cast members, and behind-the-scenes information you won't learn from watching the show. Judd Winick does a great deal of writing and illustration in the world of graphic novels, particularly with superhero comics, but his best-known work other than Pedro and Me is The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius for which he was also nominated for the Eisner Award. Barry Ween is a sarcastic, foul-mouthed scientist who also happens to be a 10-year-old boy with a 350 IQ -- fans of Winick's witty writing style and his illustrations will probably enjoy this title. For those interested in another excellent graphic novel about an activisit gay man, Howard Cruse's Stuck Rubber Baby is a good choice. This fiction title tells the story of Toland Polk, a white man struggling to fight for the civil rights movement in his small Southern town in the 1960s while coming to terms with his own homosexuality. Yet another award-winning real-life depiction of helping a loved one battle disease is Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies. This colorful graphic novel is a first person autobiographical telling of how Fies's mother, with the help of her family, dealt with lung cancer. For those more interested in fiction, Julia Salazar's Natural Disasters is set in California in the early 1990s, where Jesse Perez, who works in an L.A. AIDS organization, must deal with the loss of her friend Gabe to HIV amidst the backdrop of disastrous earthquakes, mudslides and fires.
Red Flags: homosexuality, gay marriage; interracial marriage; HIV/AIDS (graphic imagery and discussion of symptoms), sex education, condoms; Cuban politics; liberals; death and dying, bereavement
|top|
|
