Pedro and Me

Judd Winick and Pedro Zamora were on MTV's Real World just before my adolescence, so I have no memories of their stories. The friendship they built over a few short months and the impact Pedro had on the lives of Judd and many others is a powerful story. This it the first graphic book I've read, though, and I'm not much of a fan of the format. I read it in one sitting, not necessarily because I was so engrossed but because I could read it so quickly. As such, I didn't feel as affected as I thought I would, although Winick uses the format well as Pedro's death approaches, with black backgrounds and one particularly powerful two-page spread that is all black with a small frame of family and friends around the hospital bed. Others may appreciate the format more than I did.

You know, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I've never really watched the Real World, but I loved reading about Real World San Francisco in [b:A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 4953 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1288880727s/4953.jpg 42857], and I thought the scene where Dave meets Judd was hilarious. So I kind of wanted to read this because I love Dave Eggers? But it was actually a really great memoir in its own right. Very honest and funny and sad, and an interesting look at what HIV/AIDS was like in America in the early 90s.