Description: 30 years ago, the world was a very different place. That’s when Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, a native of Santiago, Chile, moved to Vancouver, discovered he was HIV-positive and was faced with the question of how to seize his life. In 1985 terms, he had an unsurvivable illness. In his own terms, he had new license to face his mortality with grit and dark humor.

A a no-holds-barred account of the irreverent, dirty, and illuminating escapades in Carrasco’s three decades of living, working in HIV clinics, and being involved in the BDSM and fetish community. Giving It Raw, is the first memoir from the celebrated novelist and beloved enfant terrible of Canadian literature.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Cover: Let’s call it… artsy, shall we?

Review: Good things first, right? Even though the theme is a difficult one, it’s an amusing read. I smirked more than once. The whole book’s more like a talk than a book. I got the feeling like I was sitting somewhere with the author and he just told me his story. Okay, he gave a little lecture, too.

But not everything is fun and games. You hear the hard, ugly truth too. If you are sensitive I don’t think this is the book for you. If you don’t mind reading about death, drugs and sex… go for it.

The reason I gave three stars is the rambling. The book is not in chronological order – which I don’t mind. It just reinforces the whole talking thing, I’d say. But sometimes there were just too many words in my eyes and it got not exactly boring… more like exhausting?

Still, it was a very interesting read.

You can buy it here or here.

I was provided by Transgress Press with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.