When Wise Before Their Time was first published in 1992, it served two purposes - to educate people on what life was like for the heartbreakingly large number of young people (and god, they were young) who were living with HIV and AIDS around the world, to try and beat the stigma and combat false information; and to directly speak to people who had the disease and who were feeling its often isolating and alienating consequences. I was born in 1995 and therefore missed out on a majority the horrors of the pandemic, but as Ann Richardson states in the foreword, my generation and the ones that come after it, are the reason why this book needs to be republished - so that people do not forget the horrors and fears of the past and, in some places in the world, the present; that we remain educated and continue to stand in solidarity with people who are HIV-positive and those living with AIDS.
I suppose I find some comfort in how much has changed in just my lifetime, a mere twenty years although to some it must feel like a millennia - HIV screenings have become commonplace with pre- and post-exposure drugs becoming far more readily available; the creation of needle exchange programmes in many countries around the world; and, more people than ever are engaged in an open and honest discussion about all aspects of the disease. Also, at least in my part of the world, living with HIV/AIDS is no longer seen as a negative on someone's character and it is no longer solely talked about in hushed voices behind closed doors, moving into classrooms, university campuses and many other social arenas.
And I think that we have every person involved in the creation of this book to thank for a small part of that being made possible.
Each one of the voices in Wise Before Their Time is powerful and sobering. They show the everyday realities of living with a disease that people, including doctors as their tales repeatedly show, knew virtually nothing about. They talk honestly and incredibly openly about all aspects of the experience of living with HIV/AIDS - from how they got their diagnosis, to confront their own mortality, to telling friends and family members, to their hopes for the future. Expanding on the latter, there is a definite sense of hope that is forges the undercurrent for the entirety of the interviews as, no matter how long the person had had the disease or what part of the world they lived in, they refused to give up, every single one of them. And that is surely, the true definition of inspiring.

This book describes unimaginable amount of ignorance, fear and pain. Men, women and children, small babies dying of a mysterious disease and no one knows what it is and no one has the cure for it.

"A giant 'Infection' was written above her name. She was asked to use a separate toilet from the other women, which had a red 'Control of infection' notice on it. She was miserable, frightened and scared for her children.
I realised what was happening and complained.The attitude was 'Oh, we know HIV isn't contagious, but we must follow our old guidelines.'"― Ann Richardson, Wise Before Their Time

There was a trilogy I read some time ago called Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar (Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves). I think the title of the book is enough to describe what the trilogy is about. And my point is that there are too few book like this. In Wise Before Their Time, there's a story of mother and her young daughter Daisy. She was just learning to speak. A little bit late in walking. Then when she is sixteen months old, she stops walking.

"My doctor had to inform the funeral directors that she'd died of an infectious disease. So when they came, they came in these suits and gloved. They just wrapped her in a plastic bag and took her away. And, well, it just was too much for me. I couldn't cope, I just had to run out of the room." ― Ann Richardson, Wise Before Their Time"

A book full of incredibly brave people writing their heartbreaking stories on what it was like to live with HIV and AIDS. I warmly recommend this for everyone.

5/5 stars

Thank you BooksGoSocial and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

It's interesting reading this book in 2021 with the knowledge of HIV/AIDS of modern day.
Some of the myths recounted in the book are farcical to the majority of people now, but some still ring true to those who hear 'AIDS' today who weren't even alive during the rise of the pandemic to have a continued incorrect view - they've just learnt the wrong thing from somewhere.

To read everyone's thoughts unfiltered throughout this book is a strange experience. This is their story in their own words, the language is not fancified or corrected. We have broken and fragmented English from non-native speakers. These mistakes don't lead to misunderstanding or miscommunication, but they just bring the essence of the speaker to the page. We know these are the words that they wanted to speak, not the words they wanted to speak but presented "nicely". The book does feel a bit disjointed as we jump from person to person. We revisit some of the same people in different chapters, and it was always a bit of a disconnect between what was previous said and what they were saying now, the names of who is speaking don't appear until the end of the piece which was fine in hearing from new people but I would have preferred to know we were revisiting someone's words when they came up again at the start of a paragraph.

We get a wide range of stories from many different people with different situations who became HIV Positive. The "cast" of interviewees is diverse in background, age, sexual orientation, occupation, religion, nationality which is great to see in a book like this as HIV/AIDS doesn't discriminate - it's not a "gay man disease".

This is also a wonderful book of hope and future. Yes, there is upsetting parts but not the doom and sadness you sort of expect from this sort of book but really a book of hope, resistance, and living not surviving. These are people who are living with HIV not dying of it.