A Hard Silence
Melanie Brooks
"Melanie Brooks is that rare writer who can delve as deeply into the world of ideas as she can the pitted terrain of the human heart." Andre Dubus III, author of Such Kindness and Townie
"Quite simply, unforgettable." Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys
In the mid 1980s, Canada's worst public health disaster was unfolding. Catastrophic mismanagement of the country's blood supply allowed contaminated blood to be knowingly distributed, infecting close to two thousand Canadians with HIV. Among them was Melanie Brooks's surgeon father who, after receiving a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery in 1985, learned he was HIV positive.
At a time when HIV/AIDS was misunderstood and public perception was shaped by fear, prejudice, and homophobia, victims of the disease faced ostracism and persecution. Wanting to protect his family from this stigma, Melanie's father decided his illness would be a secret they'd all keep. They did not know that her father would live past that first year, but he did. And for ten years before his death in 1995, from the time she was thirteen until she was twenty-three, Melanie's family lived in the shadow of AIDS. She carried the weight of the uncertain trajectory of her father's health and the heartbreaking anticipation of impending loss silently and alone. It became a way of life.
A Hard Silence is an intimate glimpse into Melanie's memories of coping with the tragedy of her father's illness and enduring the loneliness and isolation of not being able to speak. With candor and vulnerability, she opens her grief wounds and brings her reader inside her journey, twenty years after her father died, to finally understand the consequences of her family's silence, to interrogate the roots of stigma and discrimination responsible for the ongoing secret-keeping, and to show how she's now learned to be authentic.
Duration - 10h 10m.
Author - Melanie Brooks.
Narrator - Melanie Brooks.
Published Date - Wednesday, 03 January 2024.
Copyright - © 2023 Vine Leaves Press ©.
Location:
United States
Description:
"Melanie Brooks is that rare writer who can delve as deeply into the world of ideas as she can the pitted terrain of the human heart." Andre Dubus III, author of Such Kindness and Townie "Quite simply, unforgettable." Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys In the mid 1980s, Canada's worst public health disaster was unfolding. Catastrophic mismanagement of the country's blood supply allowed contaminated blood to be knowingly distributed, infecting close to two thousand Canadians with HIV. Among them was Melanie Brooks's surgeon father who, after receiving a blood transfusion during open-heart surgery in 1985, learned he was HIV positive. At a time when HIV/AIDS was misunderstood and public perception was shaped by fear, prejudice, and homophobia, victims of the disease faced ostracism and persecution. Wanting to protect his family from this stigma, Melanie's father decided his illness would be a secret they'd all keep. They did not know that her father would live past that first year, but he did. And for ten years before his death in 1995, from the time she was thirteen until she was twenty-three, Melanie's family lived in the shadow of AIDS. She carried the weight of the uncertain trajectory of her father's health and the heartbreaking anticipation of impending loss silently and alone. It became a way of life. A Hard Silence is an intimate glimpse into Melanie's memories of coping with the tragedy of her father's illness and enduring the loneliness and isolation of not being able to speak. With candor and vulnerability, she opens her grief wounds and brings her reader inside her journey, twenty years after her father died, to finally understand the consequences of her family's silence, to interrogate the roots of stigma and discrimination responsible for the ongoing secret-keeping, and to show how she's now learned to be authentic. Duration - 10h 10m. Author - Melanie Brooks. Narrator - Melanie Brooks. Published Date - Wednesday, 03 January 2024. Copyright - © 2023 Vine Leaves Press ©.
Language:
English
Opening Credits
Duration:00:00:21
Author's Note
Duration:00:02:43
Prologue
Duration:00:11:44
MAPPING GRIEF
Duration:00:00:20
Heart Aches 1996
Duration:00:13:04
It's Complicated 2011
Duration:00:07:43
The Beginning 1985
Duration:00:24:38
SECRECY AND SHAME
Duration:00:00:26
It Wasn't Cancer 2013
Duration:00:15:07
Stigma
Duration:00:12:31
Starting to Crack 2012
Duration:00:12:56
Uncertainty and Dread 1985
Duration:00:13:55
The Language of Tragedy
Duration:00:13:49
So Little Information, So Much Fear
Duration:00:07:15
The Risk Was Real
Duration:00:06:45
The Ryan White Story, and Mine
Duration:00:11:10
Putting on a Good Face
Duration:00:12:57
A LIFE DIMINISHED
Duration:00:00:31
Daddy's Girl 2012
Duration:00:11:06
Shards of Grief
Duration:00:13:04
He Was My Favorite
Duration:00:23:12
Who He Was Before 1976
Duration:00:11:30
Who He Became After 1987
Duration:00:07:35
An Uncertain Journey
Duration:00:07:52
UNSPEAKABLE
Duration:00:00:12
Anyway 2013
Duration:00:10:56
What We Didn't Say
Duration:00:16:22
The Official Story 1994
Duration:00:22:54
How to Walk Together 2014
Duration:00:07:19
DYING LIGHT
Duration:00:00:15
Everything Feels Tenuous 2013
Duration:00:07:42
Mainstay 1995
Duration:00:16:16
The Dress Rehearsal
Duration:00:17:25
The Rally
Duration:00:13:45
HEAVY
Duration:00:00:15
Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year 2013
Duration:00:03:55
Going Closer
Duration:00:18:12
The Opening Act 1995
Duration:00:26:43
After All This Time, It's Time — Friday, December 8, 1995
Duration:00:17:43
Calm Before — Saturday
Duration:00:03:24
The Music Fades — Sunday
Duration:00:11:41
On His Way — Monday
Duration:00:05:42
Counting Silence — Tuesday
Duration:00:07:03
Set Adrift — Wednesday
Duration:00:10:47
Contradictions — Thursday
Duration:00:09:41
The Weasel — Friday
Duration:00:09:03
Doubts — Saturday
Duration:00:07:52
Finale — Sunday
Duration:00:02:44
FAITH WOUNDS
Duration:00:00:21
Turning Away 2014
Duration:00:06:05
How It Could Have Been Different
Duration:00:17:26
Grateful? It Wasn't a Gift. 1992
Duration:00:06:09
Unsettled 2013
Duration:00:28:36
LETTING GO, AND HOLDING ON
Duration:00:00:20
Loosened Grip 2014
Duration:00:10:59
Steps Ahead
Duration:00:12:34
Epilogue 2014
Duration:00:31:49
Acknowledgements
Duration:00:06:01
Ending Credits
Duration:00:00:27