A Book Review

Marvelyn Brown’s Journey with HIV

Marvelyn Brown, 19, was a helpless woman at Tennessee Christian Medical Center. Marvelyn Brown, a once-promising athlete in her school, faces a new obstacle that, at the time, perplexed even medical professionals and left her wondering how she got to that point. It may never have occurred to her that she was sick with HIV. Marvelyn, being young and inexperienced, documents her sex life leading up to having unprotected sex with her lover, the fabled Prince Charming, who infects her with the infection, causing a chain reaction of events that leads to the worst battle of and for her life. alienation, depression, motivation, and eventually, the memoir ’The naked truth: Young, beautiful, and (HIV) positive’ in which she outlines the tale of a young, beautiful and reckless teenager and the ultimate fight for restoration and discovery of self-worth and responsibility. The memoir is written with the aim of inspiring readers in joining the fight against HIV.

Overview of the Major Themes

The first major theme that emanates out of this memoir is ignorance. While proverbially, ignorance is bliss, in this case it proves to be the downfall of a promising star. When she is diagnosed with HIV, her first reaction is a “yeah whatever”, until she learns what the diagnosis really means from pamphlets. Marvelyn’s first shock appears to be as to how a young heterosexual female could get infected with HIV. She had the idea that HIV only transmissible between homosexual men. She never thought she could get it sexually from her ’Prince Charming’ as she falls for his sweet talk. Her main apparent fear was pregnancy rather than sexually transmitted diseases. Secondly, poor public education system is also a theme that arises prominently in the memoir. Marvelyn is basically a college girl when she gets infected with HIV even though at the time she had dropped out because she was broke. As such it would be expected that she has an idea about HIV and/or other sexually transmitted infections. In her case she basically knows the truth about HIV after she is diagnosed, and even then, she wears a ’whatever’ attitude about it until she reads pamphlets about it. This highlights and apparent failure in the public-school system.

In addition, sex is also a major outstanding theme in the book. Marvelyn outlines her reckless sex life, getting into bed easily with men and only worrying about getting pregnant. She uses protection on many occasions just to protect herself from getting pregnant. When she meets her ’Prince Charming’ she just lets herself go and gives it all. This is a clear portrayal of today’s teenage and youth society. Sex is idolized more and more as portrayed in advertisements, movies, fashion among others. Stigmatization also arises as a theme in the memoir. After Marvelyn is diagnosed with HIV, she becomes the talk of her town, referred to as ’the girl with HIV’. She tries to put up a brave face but at some point, the whispers behind her back and the pointing fingers become unbearable. She eventually becomes alienated from her community. Safe to say a large percentage of the people had no idea what it meant to be infected with HIV.

Finally, rebirth comes out as a strong theme in the memoir. At a point where many would have given up and succumbed to the infection, Marvelyn rises out of the Ashes with one purpose, to create awareness and educate people about HIV. Marvelyn becomes the face of women with HIV and even gets opportunities to work with BET and MTV among others. She comes out stronger and more willing to fight to better the lives of others. She urges people to get tested and educated about HIV. The memoir portrays the transformation of Marvelyn from an ignorant and scared patient to an inspiring activist and educator.

Implications of the Book

Administrator’s Perspective

Educating teens about HIV is of utmost importance, the memoir highlights failure of the system to educate people at a young age. This however may have been true at that point and time; the current scenario is that the study and awareness of HIV has been integrated into the school system. This can also be done in the hospitals. Sex education has also been inculcated in the school system therefore many students learn more about sex at an earlier stage of life. As an administrator, hiring sex educators and counselors in hospitals and schools should also be a priority. Stigmatization is still an issue when it comes to HIV infected people. Fear is the main drive for this. Organizing more awareness campaigns to sensitize more people about the nature of HIV should address this. This has however been done, even to the extent of putting the first day of December as the world HIV/AIDS day.

Clinician’s perspective

Counseling HIV patients before and after testing should be given priority. In Marvelyn’s case, it is shown that she learns about the nature of HIV only in pamphlets. She should have been prepared mentally for what the infection entailed.

Patient’s perspective

The book emphasizes the idea that HIV infection can happen to anyone. Many people have the idea that ’it can’t happen to me’. Marvelyn could not believe that she contracted the infection yet she was a heterosexual female and why should it hit her, of all people, just her? The important part of it after infection is to understand the nature of the condition and live positively, being an inspiration to others and helping create awareness.

My Thoughts on the Book

After reading the book, I am struck by the discrepancy between Marvelyn’s intention to create awareness, and the failed delivery. Basically, in the first half of the book, Marvelyn talks about her life and the bad decisions that led to her ultimate infection. As the book progresses toward midpoint, it gets harder to empathize with her and I feel like she is to blame for everything that happens, especially given that she goes through school without learning anything that matters about sex and HIV. She talks about how adorable and charming she was, talking about arguments with the ’pretty girls’ and other non-important matters.

The second half of the book basically outlines her accomplishments after her infection, listing fetes such as working at MTV and BET, sitting next to Rihanna, going to Africa among others, most of which she practically threw away. She also outlines her still reckless living even after being diagnosed, skipping her medication, partying among other bad life choices. At the end of the book my opinion of her was ’oh well, okay, thank God she’s famous now’.

My conclusion is that, if you want to read a really inspirational book about HIV, then there is a whole list of other books to read out, this book is not the one. She receives credit nonetheless, it takes a lot of courage to come out and lay bare one’s life especially when most of the things that happen were one’s own fault.

Reference

Brown, M., & Martin, C. E. (2008). The naked truth: Young, beautiful, and (HIV) positive. Amistad.