Rating: 
Summary: Notes from the life of a survivor
Review: Andrew Sullivan made a reputation for himself by being elevated at a very young age as a senior editor of 'The New Republic', a position he filled from 1991-1996. He continues his journalistic career by writing for 'The Times' (London) and 'New York Times Magazine', as well as contributing articles to a large number of other periodicals.At the height of his career, Sullivan made the announcement made the announcement that he was HIV-positive. In saying this, he made the assertion: 'I intend to be among the first generation that survives this disease.' Sullivan has occupied a difficult position politically - tending toward conservatism that doesn't sit well with much of the homosexual community, he also tends toward political positions (such as pro-same sex marriage) that go against much of the conservative sentiment. In this first book, 'Virtually Normal', Sullivan argued for an acceptance of same-sex marriage; he followed that up by editing a collection of essays and contributions by others on the same topic. However, his latest book, 'Love Undetectable', is a very different book. Insofar as Sullivan's life is inextricably bound up with political, historical, and sociological writing through his profession, that is reflected here, but this is a very non-political book. Consisting of three essays, it is primarily reflexions on the life of a survivor, who has yet to become a successful survivor - Sullivan himself. Sullivan is bound to alienate all sides in some ways once again with this volume. He takes on both the church and religious side and the gay liberation side in his first essay: When Plagues End. 'The gay liberationists have plenty to answer for in this. For far too long, they promoted the tragic lie that no avenue of sexuality was any better or nobler than any other; that all demands for responsibility or fidelity or commitment or even healthier psychological integration were mere covers for "neoconservatism" or, worse, "self-hatred"; that even in the teeth of a viral catastrophe, saving lives was less important than saving a culture of 'promiscuity as a collective way of life', when, of course, it was little more than a collective way of death.' Of course, this quotation is bound to please the fundamentalists, who would love to paint the gay community as a 'collective way of death'. But Sullivan doesn't go lightly on the other side, either. Sullivan recalls a time when the AIDS quilt was in Washington, and during a service at that time, in the heart of Washington's gay community, the priest at the church began a sermon with the words, 'Today, few of us know the meaning of a plague like leprosy....' Sullivan of course had words with the priest afterwards, and asked him quite bluntly if he had ever heard of AIDS. This is a very personal journal of Sullivan's, presenting his arguments in full concert with his emotions and experiences, of friends who have been public and friends who have stayed silent about their orientation and their disease, those who are reckless with their health and those who are determined against their illness, as is Sullivan himself. A remarkable journal of an interesting person.
Rating:
Summary: The examined life
Review: Andrew Sullivan's perspectives are interesting and thought provoking. A panacea for the unexamined life, this is a smart, compassionate, insightful and helpful book. I loved it and highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: The flaws in Sullivan's thinking are not "undetectable".
Review: BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE, October 18, 1998 The complicated world of Andrew Sullivan Review By Liz Galst What are we to make of Andrew Sullivan? Senior editor at the New Republic (and once its editor in chief), frequent contributor to The New York Times Op-Ed page and contributing writer to the Times magazine, author of the best-selling gay neoconservative manifesto "Virtually Normal," described in the Times book review pages as "a voice of reason, tranquility, and analytical precision," Andrew Sullivan is a conundrum. What other gay leader, self-described or not, opposes the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace? Not one. Sullivan's new book, "Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival," will only add to his problematic reputation. On display here are all of the author's many strengths--a compelling, poetic prose style, some keen observations on faith, an evocative retelling of his friendship with a man felled by AIDS. But here, too, are displayed all Sullivan's many weaknesses as a political thinker: his eagerness to describe as "pathological" many experiences outside the heterosexual mainstream (experiences Sullivan himself enjoys), serious inconsistencies, and logical disconnects.
Rating: 
Summary: The Washington Post review
Review: Excerpted from: Journal of the Post-Plague Years By Katie Roiphe Thursday, November 12, 1998; Page C02It is admirable that in an era hungry for memoirs and straightforward journalism, Andrew Sullivan writes difficult, abstract essays in the tradition of previous centuries. But he writes them about topics of pressing, contemporary concern. "Love Undetectable" is a collection of three extraordinary, long essays. The book is many things: a classical rumination on the nature of friendship, a psychological reflection on what it means to be gay, a religious discussion of homosexuality, a breathtaking personal account of a crisis of faith, a cultural analysis of the gay world as the plague of AIDS begins to lift, and a love story... These essays are so clear that they show you the mechanism of his thought-process, like a watch with a clear face that allows you to see the clockworks. You see Sullivan thinking things through, sorting through his impressions, struggling with conflicts. Even though there are relatively few autobiographical details in this book, one feels as if one knows him more fully and satisfyingly than if he had written a straightforward memoir. Part of what makes these dense, complicated essays so readable is the strong sense of a person behind them; they are filled with a passion and heat that most cultural criticism lacks. At their best, these essays remind us of what would happen if Susan Sontag went out and experienced the world. By Katie Roiphe, author of "The Morning After: Fear, Sex, and Feminism on College Campuses."
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par ...
Review: I have read all of Andrew's books and this is by far the least compelling. While he does generate some interest in the first two chapter, by the third he is off into some very abusive logic. He has written an important article recently about his injection of testosterone as a treatment for HIV infection and I believe this is changing his writing style. If you compare this book with his earlier ones, it would almost appear that he has become ex-gay or at least supports the philosophy of Reparative Therapy and it's earlier genesis with Frank Worthington and Love-In-Action (San Rafael, CA). I look forward to anything he writes in the future, but cannot recommend this book to any of my friends.
Rating:
Summary: The Epidemic Revisited
Review: In his book "Love Undetectable" gay political columnist Andrew Sullivan shares the pain he felt upon the death from AIDS of a close friend. The friendship was cemented when the two told each other that they were HIV positive. Sullivan weaves this story and confessions of his traumas, loves, sex life, faith and philosophies through the three essays in the book. He adds his observations of the gay world and illumines the experiences with the ideas of great thinkers from ancient and modern times. The first essay, entitled "When Plagues End", contains a slightly less optimistic version of an article Sullivan published in 1996 in the New York Times magazine. After depicting the horror of illness and death from AIDS, Sullivan describes the release from impending doom provided by the new anti-viral drugs. He draws on Camus for inspiration. In the second essay, Sullivan turns to the psychologists' views of homosexuality. He does this in response to the recent vocal claims by reparative therapists and "ex-gays". By exploring this issue, Sullivan ventures into the no-man's land between those who want to abolish homosexuality by curing it and those who won't tolerate any mention of pathology in connection with being gay. Although Sullivan seeks a "teleology of homosexuality, to answer the question, 'What are homosexuals for?' ", he devotes the essay to presentation of theories of its origin and causes. He concisely summarizes Freud's ideas and those of recent psychotherapists. Sullivan follows Freud's example by not proposing an explanation for the causes of homosexuality. He challenges the gay reader to use the presentation of various theories to spur self-examination. The third essay deals with the definition of friendship, a relationship whose significance, Sullivan argues, has been lost in modern times. Sullivan brings to us the categories of philia from Aristotle and the pensees of Montaigne, Augustine and Cicero. He describes the tenderness in the friendships between Jesus and his followers. To Sullivan, the modern preoccupation with eros is the greatest threat to friendship. Friends, he opines, give each other breathing room, which lovers do not. Through forging friendships in the face of societal opprobrium and suffering from AIDS, gays present a lesson to society. It is in these friendships, Sullivan proposes, that the gays today can acquire a worthy purpose. Andrew Sullivan is impelled by his emotional pain and his desire for healthier public and institutional policies towards gays and lesbians. He disciplines his motivation and stays within the boundaries of his arguments. His Waughian prose is poetic; powerful yet restrained. In "Love Undetectable" he has created a precious account of his recent life and thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: The Epidemic Revisited
Review: In his book "Love Undetectable" gay political columnist Andrew Sullivan shares the pain he felt upon the death from AIDS of a close friend. The friendship was cemented when the two told each other that they were HIV positive. Sullivan weaves this story and confessions of his traumas, loves, sex life, faith and philosophies through the three essays in the book. He adds his observations of the gay world and illumines the experiences with the ideas of great thinkers from ancient and modern times. The first essay, entitled "When Plagues End", contains a slightly less optimistic version of an article Sullivan published in 1996 in the New York Times magazine. After depicting the horror of illness and death from AIDS, Sullivan describes the release from impending doom provided by the new anti-viral drugs. He draws on Camus for inspiration. In the second essay, Sullivan turns to the psychologists' views of homosexuality. He does this in response to the recent vocal claims by reparative therapists and "ex-gays". By exploring this issue, Sullivan ventures into the no-man's land between those who want to abolish homosexuality by curing it and those who won't tolerate any mention of pathology in connection with being gay. Although Sullivan seeks a "teleology of homosexuality, to answer the question, 'What are homosexuals for?' ", he devotes the essay to presentation of theories of its origin and causes. He concisely summarizes Freud's ideas and those of recent psychotherapists. Sullivan follows Freud's example by not proposing an explanation for the causes of homosexuality. He challenges the gay reader to use the presentation of various theories to spur self-examination. The third essay deals with the definition of friendship, a relationship whose significance, Sullivan argues, has been lost in modern times. Sullivan brings to us the categories of philia from Aristotle and the pensees of Montaigne, Augustine and Cicero. He describes the tenderness in the friendships between Jesus and his followers. To Sullivan, the modern preoccupation with eros is the greatest threat to friendship. Friends, he opines, give each other breathing room, which lovers do not. Through forging friendships in the face of societal opprobrium and suffering from AIDS, gays present a lesson to society. It is in these friendships, Sullivan proposes, that the gays today can acquire a worthy purpose. Andrew Sullivan is impelled by his emotional pain and his desire for healthier public and institutional policies towards gays and lesbians. He disciplines his motivation and stays within the boundaries of his arguments. His Waughian prose is poetic; powerful yet restrained. In "Love Undetectable" he has created a precious account of his recent life and thoughts.
Rating: 
Summary: Depravity Inescapable
Review: Probably Sullivan's best book, especially the passages on his own personal struggles with homosexuality. Here at least he is willing to describe the differences between gays and straights more honestly than in his other pieces, and certainly more honestly than most people. In my experience (and I wish it were not so!), gays tend to share some unpleasant character traits, such as effeminacy or lack of masculinity, cliquishness, and lewdness. Sullivan gives some societal causes for these things, such as a harsh childhood environment, and the hostility of parents and public [...]. This can indeed be expected to produce unhappy results, one of which might, perhaps, be promiscuity in certain individuals; but I doubt that the promiscuity would be so widespread and would continue well after adolescence, in much more lax and tolerant times, and even in the face of a deadly venereal disease, were it not for some strong natural and innate predisposition, taste, and desire. I myself have not noticed any correlation between gay promiscuity and childhood unhappiness-except perhaps a slight inverse correlation. When one considers further the lewdness, even pornography, of even the most well-regarded pieces of gay "romance" stories, of gay newspapers and magazines, of gay bars and personal ads, of gay parades and rallies-wherever and whenever gays feel, not oppressed, but most *free* to be themselves with themselves-one is forced to suspect that some unfortunate natural difference between gay men and heterosexual men must be at work. Sullivan attempts to try to interpret these characteristics in a more favorable light, for example, that gays are more tolerant in their relationships and more realistic. I agree that these qualities can, in limited respects, be good. But from the point of view that is most interesting to me, as someone trying to assess the romantic possibilities, I disagree that something very good can be built on such things. I also disagree that these qualities can be conducive to the best friendships. There is much more kinship between love and friendship than he realizes (for example, true friendship is an exclusive bond between two, not a carefree open network among many).
Rating:
Summary: Depravity Inescapable
Review: Probably Sullivan's best book, especially the passages on his own personal struggles with homosexuality. Here at least he is willing to describe the differences between gays and straights more honestly than in his other pieces, and certainly more honestly than most people. In my experience (and I wish it were not so!), gays tend to share some unpleasant character traits, such as effeminacy or lack of masculinity, cliquishness, and lewdness. Sullivan gives some societal causes for these things, such as a harsh childhood environment, and the hostility of parents and public [...]. This can indeed be expected to produce unhappy results, one of which might, perhaps, be promiscuity in certain individuals; but I doubt that the promiscuity would be so widespread and would continue well after adolescence, in much more lax and tolerant times, and even in the face of a deadly venereal disease, were it not for some strong natural and innate predisposition, taste, and desire. I myself have not noticed any correlation between gay promiscuity and childhood unhappiness-except perhaps a slight inverse correlation. When one considers further the lewdness, even pornography, of even the most well-regarded pieces of gay "romance" stories, of gay newspapers and magazines, of gay bars and personal ads, of gay parades and rallies-wherever and whenever gays feel, not oppressed, but most *free* to be themselves with themselves-one is forced to suspect that some unfortunate natural difference between gay men and heterosexual men must be at work. Sullivan attempts to try to interpret these characteristics in a more favorable light, for example, that gays are more tolerant in their relationships and more realistic. I agree that these qualities can, in limited respects, be good. But from the point of view that is most interesting to me, as someone trying to assess the romantic possibilities, I disagree that something very good can be built on such things. I also disagree that these qualities can be conducive to the best friendships. There is much more kinship between love and friendship than he realizes (for example, true friendship is an exclusive bond between two, not a carefree open network among many).
Rating:
Summary: A Healthy Perspective
Review: Some of the reviews express such anger. Because not all of us have as yet found a way to "be" whole and content is not a reason to bash Sullivan because he has. Yes, he seems to blatantly extend his perspective as universal, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from his perspective. No one tale describes the full story. No one journey depicts universal experience. He's honest and real, even if you disagree with his viewpoint. Stop slamming him for how he found his way and spend a bit more time finding your own, perhaps with his help.
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