I first read People in Trouble when it was published in the early '90s, in the thick of the AIDS crisis. AT the time, Schulman was revered as an artist in the LGBT community who believed that art was not enough; activism was also necessary.Schulman's novels documented the New York lesbian scene set in the context of the AIDS crisis; gay men were the majority of people getting sick, but lesbians stepped up to the plate, as women do, and brought their considerable organizing skills, developed during decades of feminist activism, to the gay male community, who were new to it.I just re-read People in Trouble for the first time in those 20-odd years (hard to believe that much time has gone by.) While I still have a huge respect for Schulman (especially after reading her most recent nonfiction, THE GENTRIFICATION OF THE MIND, where I learned that 20 years on, instead of scrambling in the mean streets of the Village, she now teaches literature on Staten Island in a public university, and presumably can now make ends meet, but she still has her heart firmly in activism and community service.All that aside, looking at this somewhat dated novel, which by that very measure serves as a time capsule of the times, I did find that her straight male and female characters are cardboard straw men; she is indicting the art community whose values border on the smug and superficial as they are surrounded by the pain and tragedy of New York society disintegrating around them. Each chapter of this novel is titled with the character whose voice it contains. Kate (bisexual married woman cheating on her husband with a lesbian but she herself does not call herself a lesbian; ever met one of those?), Peter (straight, self-absorbed male artist), and Molly (Lesbian, having an affair with Kate and paying for it, immersed in the scene). This time around, after the first 30 pages, I found myself skipping the Kate and Peter chapters and just reading the Molly chapters. (And I NEVER do that!)What can I say; time goes by,not every novel holds up. Still, as a testament to the times, People in Trouble is part of a continuum of lesbian novels Schulman has produced, just in case anyone forgets what people went though during the first ten years of the AIDS crisis.One last note: It is worth pointing out that the AIDS activism group, "JUSTICE" referred to in the book is actually based on the real group, "ACT UP," whose trademark uniform was black t-shirts with the slogan "ACT UP" over a pink triangle. To see hundreds of these members at a "die-in" in Washington DC, where they would march down the street together and then all lie down in the road was enough to send shivers down my spine. I also have a memory of a protest in Rockville, MD at the Health and Human Services building (they were protesting the lack of government research being done into AIDS) where dozens of police officers wearing rubber gloves (I think they were yellow, but I can't remember but it was a garish sight) sent the most chilling message to the public that PWAs (People with AIDS) were just "germs." There was quite an outcry over that. So even though the scenes in the book were short, they brought back a lot of memories.(less)
The thing about this book is that sometimes Schulman will make observations/ drop truth nuggets like "You see so much more when you walk down the street alone. That's why people work so hard to avoid walking alone too often. What people see when they're alone can drive them mad." (p. 67) that please me to no end. But then she has her characters say things like "'What do you like best about me?' Molly asked. ' there is a sky below,' Kate said. 'And a pair of jeans, a calico rose in the middle of your skull. A red mask. A reg egg. A moonscape made of glass. Magnified tongue cells, salted spongy things, mountains of black. Gray hills.'" (p. 145). - They talk about "making love' and each other's "hot core"s and the earnestness makes me so uncomfortable. I am from a non-earnest generation. Her characters think a lot about what they are feeling instead of Schulman showing us situations that might let the reader decide for themselves what the character could be feeling. Though I enjoyed Girls, Visions and Everything much more, I wouldn't write this experience off. There are some really funny details, and other than the sexual earnestness, I liked reading about lives in activism during the time when it was so vital and happening. If I hadn't known about the Rent connection, I don't know if I would have made it - there are some similarities in situation, but I didn't see anything being ripped off wholesale.
Do You like book People In Trouble (1991)?
I bought this at Waterstones in their 2nd hand LGBT section as it was the only fiction book they had about queer women. It was actually much more about activism, gay men dying from aids and the problems of homeleessness in New York. It was really interesting and had some amazing passages. The only problem with it was that the characters were all rather unlikeable. The portrayal of a bisexual woman in an open relationship seemed terribly judgemental and she was pretty horrible. Her husband was just atrocious. The other characters were nice, but had much less of their own story told. Despite that I still enjoyed it. I saw that Sarah has also written a non-fiction book about activism and the gay community in New York in the 90s and I'm tempted to pick that up. This was a really sad book in many ways, the setting with everyone dying was heartbreaking. It made me very glad that the drugs have improved to take care of people with HIV and was a stark insight into what it used to be like.
—Mel
I thought I really like Sarah Schulman's books.. but maybe that was when I was a 90s lesbian. The history of the beginnings of the gay response to AIDS is pretty much all that's good about this book. The tactics, reflections on death, politics and fag fashion are all good.But the tedium of the main plot - a cliche love triangle with a straight couple and the wife's lesbian lover - is just so banal.The only bit that really stayed with me is the stuff about the early days of responding to AIDS and the differences between the white gay men and the people of colour."Scott began the meeting [...] He had a combined air of enthusiasm and serious determination: like a middle-class boy who one day discovered injustice and then proceeded to do something about it with both sincere conviction and class arrogance about getting things done his way."
—Joey Diamond
had heard such great things about this novel, and of course had heard that RENT had plagiarized from it. Well, I could not engage with the characters at all--they were so detached, from each other and from the reader. And as a huge RENT fan who is quite familiar with the show and the soundtrack, I see little resemblance except the general neighborhood of the East Village, 20 years later.I really wanted to like this book, and maybe I'll re-visit it some day...but I was disappointed with it. i RARELY do not finish novels, but I could not finish this one. I hated the characters and didn't want to spend any more time with them.Some lovely descriptions from the author throughout the parts of the book I did read.
—Meri
