Like a Love Story

Overview

Abdi Nazemian's novel is set against the backdrop of New York City in 1989, a moment when the AIDS crisis dominated public life and activism. Reza, an Iranian teenager who has recently relocated with his mother to live with her new husband, arrives carrying a secret he can barely articulate to himself: he is gay, and the only depictions of gay life he has encountered are tied to illness and death.

Reza's path crosses with Judy, an aspiring fashion designer whose uncle Stephen is a member of ACT UP living with AIDS, and with Judy's best friend Art, the one openly gay student at their school who channels his defiance of his parents' expectations into photographing the unfolding crisis. When Reza and Judy begin a relationship, and Reza and Art grow closer in turn, the three teens are pulled into overlapping questions of loyalty, identity, and self-acceptance.

The novel follows their intertwined lives as Reza wrestles with how to be honest with the people he loves without unraveling the friendships that have come to define him.

Coming of Age Inside a Crisis

Nazemian situates a familiar coming-of-age triangle—first love, first heartbreak, the ache of hidden identity—inside a specific and consequential historical moment. Rather than treating the AIDS epidemic as distant scenery, the book makes activism, loss, and caregiving part of its characters' daily lives, filtered through Stephen's involvement in ACT UP and Art's determination to document what he witnesses.

The novel has been recognized as a Stonewall Honor Book and named among Time Magazine's best young adult titles, reflecting its place within a growing body of YA literature that treats queer adolescence and the historical realities surrounding it as worthy of serious, unsentimental attention. Its interest lies less in nostalgia than in tracing how young people found courage, community, and self-knowledge amid crisis and stigma.

Why Like a Love Story Has Been Challenged

Objections to the novel center on its frank treatment of sexual orientation and gender identity, including its portrayal of teenage characters navigating same-sex attraction and the process of coming out. Critics have also pointed to its candid depictions of sexuality and sexual content involving minors as inappropriate for school-library or classroom settings. The book's unflinching engagement with the AIDS epidemic—including references to illness, death, and activism—has additionally drawn scrutiny from those who consider the subject matter too mature for younger readers. Within this catalog, the title has been challenged or restricted in 8 states and 32 districts, most often as part of broader efforts to remove or limit access to books addressing LGBTQ+ identity and experience in school collections.