Suz's Reviews > A Language of Limbs

Sometimes I know how I come across the books I read, this time I’m not even sure. Possibly I saw it during Pride month. I do love (that may sound strange) stories about AIDS as I too, had a family member die in St Vincent’s Sydney 1980's, as this story does. And he had ‘the cancer’ just like Thomas’s dad did right here.

This story teaches us so much. I was trying to work out what I’d say about it. Two women, one theme. Love.

Dylin wrote this as part of their PhD. I’m kind of in awe. I don’t know how writers do what they do sometimes, and they’ve done it in this book. This is a dense piece, it is serious, it is deep, contemplative, and harsh. The other moments are love and light and water and warmth.

I’m a cisgender white woman. I don’t have to explain myself or be judged. I don’t have to feel all the feelings we hear from these two women in this smashing story. And smash through it does. It teaches the reader a lot through fiction, but the reader knows there is so much poured into this of the the nonfiction variety.

A Language of Limbs to me, tells the reader what it is like to push against what everybody else does not have to push against.

A woman falling to the ground, by the hands of a man who in his day job wears a uniform, for him to have his life, for her to be no longer. (I should have written the quote down but as I was doing the audio version of this I was quite transfixed).

For a father, husband, friend to be shunned at the pub because he had the virus.

For the young girl having found her first love and her first experience to be punched to the ground by her father.

For the young girl to love her Irish family so much to not tell them the truth about her true self. For her love of her life to not be able to say goodbye because of this.

I did feel the heft at times, I was tired this week and it did weigh on me. Ironically this weight is felt by the queer community so much.

..and as he finds his way inside me I exhale all the parts of me that imagined something else.

I implore curious readers to read this book, and Dylin, you made me think, learn, and understand. What a fabulous outcome.

I listened to this via the BorrowBox app and my public library, the only minor audio observation I had was doing accents is tricky, I enjoy it when they are done well. Here there were only little twangs, and not all of the time. Apart from the accents, it was great.

##This is going to be adapted. Wow Wow!##