Disasterama! is a simultaneously entertaining and sobering look behind the curtain at the lives of gays in San Francisco in the era beginning just before the AIDS epidemic took off. Chapter 1 shows author Alvin Orloff, just 16, getting off the bus in a gay ghetto area, wandering about, watching young gays primp as older men eye them and choose them. Fast forward over the next 20 years: Orloff's adventures include his friendships, love interests, earning a living as a stripper, and much more. AIDS has a large part in the story: Orloff indicates that if one hadn't seen a friend around for a time, it was more likely that the person had died from AIDS than that he had simply moved away.Being deficient in gay culture, I'm sure I missed a number of references that would have meaning for others, but I have no complaints. This memoir provided me with a captivating education.
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