Time for our book club!

It happened to Nancy. (autobiography)

I really have not determined how I feel about this book yet. It runs a complete toll on the emotions and it doesn't end the way the reader wants it to. This book is a memoir, a personally written diary, of a 14 year old girl by the name of Nancy. Nancy is a perfectly normal girl who is becoming interested in boys, dating, clothing, make-up, music, etc.

The story starts off when Nancy goes to a concert with a couple of friends and gets lost when a fight breaks out. She meets a guy who takes back to her house at the end of the night. Over the next couple of months, Nancy and the guy continue to keep in touch and start to form a relationship. One night when no one is home the guy rapes Nancy, leaves, and never returns. Nancy never tells anyone what happened until she finds out that she is HIV positive. When she tries to press criminal charges it turns out that the guy had used an alias, wasn't 18 but rather 24, and had given Nancy all false information.

Two years later, Nancy had moved away from her mom and dad and friends so that she would no longer burden them. At 16 Nancy died of AIDS.

I finished reading this book over a week ago and yet this girl (and many others who are like her) keep running through my mind. I can't imagine what Nancy went through as she battled her last two years of life. She had to deal with the trauma of a relationship going bad, being raped, keeping it secret, becoming sick for months on end with no diagnosis, finding out she was HIV positive (she didn't know what HIV or AIDS was when she was diagnosed), becoming constantly sick, having friends and family find out, having the school and other students finding out and teasing and avoiding her. Her family could no longer support her with her illness and had to move on with their lives while she knowingly faced a painful death.

While this story is extremely sad, if you want insight into what it might be like to be in this situation, it is a really good read. At times it is difficult to read because it is a diary and therefore often repetitive and with many grammar mistakes. It also has a very abrupt ending that is very dissatisfying but necessary.

It's the kind of story that continues to inspire me with my education so that I can one day help people like Nancy.