Sean's Legacy: An AIDS Awakening

Rating:
Summary: A deeply moving account of a father's coping with AIDS
Review: Even after having known Robert and Brenda Hopkins for some years now, I was not prepared for the dramatic and compelling contents of Robert's book, titled "SEAN'S LEGACY: AN AIDS AWAKENING.

This book provides a truly stunning account of familial love. It reveals in a most personal and engaging way the evolution of a relationship between parents and son, under the most painful of circumstances. And it does so with a warmth, a compassion, and a spiritual dignity that would move any reader.

Moreover, given the tragic march of the still-growing AIDS epidemic, this is a book that must receive the widest possible readership. Every grandparent and every parent is at risk of finding themselves in the position of Brenda and Robert Hopkins. The spiritual and emotional strength which they, as well as Sean, brought to this trauma is not something every one will be able to find within. And that is one of the many powerful contributions of the book--it will provid! ! e an inspiration to so many who might otherwise be at a loss to cope with the discovery of AIDS in their midst.

As a piece of literature that is difficult to put down, SEAN'S LEGACY is impressive enough. But as a source of elegant example and a guide to a loving response to loss, the book shows us how families can grow even closer and more expressive of their love, when faced with impending tragedy. Moreover, the generosity of spirit revealed in this work sets an example not only for the way in which families must cope with this disease, but also for the way in which different generations of Americans must recognize and respond caringly to this tragedy of lost youth.

Peter J. Luciano President National Alliance of Senior Citizens Foundation

Rating:
Summary: A moving testimony
Review: Sean's father, a former CIA agent, brings to the pages his memory and love of his brilliant son, a homosexual, who died at 26 from Aids.The book is a compassionate memoir, depicting genuine acceptance of his son's sexual orientation. A substantial part of the book relives his son's battle with Aids, from the diagnosis, through his gradual deterioration, and ultimately his death. The struggle, the courage, the determination.....it's all there.