Over The Rainbow by Constance Joly

 It is a sublime, intense, description of a father, this one portrayed in the book Over the Rainbow

, by Constance Joly. You'll remain enchanted, enchanted by the delicate touch of the words expressed by the author, by her poetry, her feelings, her sincerity and opened heart.

I remained bewitched by the cover of the book, by the smile of this man and the tenderness of that daughter: I thought that that pic was like an invitation. I was right. 

The thematics are many: there is the discovery of the self, a different self, there is the acceptance of homosexuality, there is the description of the sexual freedoms of the 1970s and 1980s (the first part), there is the discovery of a horrible illness, AIDS, sida in French, that, when Jacques fell ill for it, still didn't have cures: it was a death-sentence.

This one is also the story of this kid, born in an apparent common family of people of culture.  An uncle esiliated from the family-home because discovered with a black boy while they were having a sexual intercourse when still a teen-ager.

Both these brothers, Bernard and Jacques were homosexuals. Jacques tried to save the appearances marrying Lucie, with which he has had Constance, the author of the book, an adorable daughther he loved passionately.

Lucie and Jacques were both teachers, they had a cultivated intelligence, they adored Italy at many different levels. Once they went at Forte dei Marmi, Italia for a holiday; Jacques understood that yes, he was terribly attracted by men.

Once returned home they discovered that they would have been three, soon! Constance was arriving.

Then one day, Jacques met somewhere someone beautiful like Robert Redford and, oh my....He couldn't not falling in love for him.

Stability is reached with a long-term companion, Ivan; and Jacques decides to embrace who he is, leaving his family.

Constance sees herself at 7 years when there was the end of a marriage that Lucie would have wanted to save with all herself: it was difficult to  understand at first what a "companion" of the same sex meant for his father; why also sharing with him the same bed? She will tell that she also discovered the two of them making love; but after all, the one of Jacques was a couple like another one, when she shared time with them: they were perfect parents, Ivan included. Her mother experienced a real shock, because absolutely in love for Jacques... Constance discovers sex very soon understanding that this first boyfriend had several predjudices regarding gays.

Jacques and Ivan decides to afford to San Francisco at some point.

In crisis, Ivan will move on...

A new companion, Soren, who still thinks that the few years spent with Jacques have been the best ones of his existence, will convince Jacques to do an anti-HIV test; it was 1988. Jacques discovers to be sick. 

At that time sida was lived like a plague and a punishment from God, when it was soon understood that the problem involved also heterosexuals and that bloood transfusions, doctors with scarcity of hygiene could be powerful vehicles of transmission of this infective illness: the world was alarmed. I remember that a good method when a person was biten by a viper was the one of sucking the blood of the person injured: a suppressed method after the advent of sida. It became indispensible a high attention in presence of fresh blood of other people. Just little examples for trying to let understand to the readers what the advent of sida meant: a complete change of behaviors in many situations and in our daily life.  

If at the moment a person who discovers to be affected by sida will live a long life, see for example the case of Ben Johnson sick from 30 years, 61 years and in great great health! becoming old with this illness, in the 1980s (at first the person can be positive per years without any kind of symptoms) meant death in a short period. A horrible disappearance.

Jacques didn't want to tell the truth to anyone. Predjudices were too high; having sida meant having the plague of the xx century, but once he did with Constance in a dramatic phone call. 

Constance was completely shocked and she lived an immense psychological terror: she interrupted to work; she couldn't sleep, she started to have fear of every possible person; digesting this news sounded too much for this daughter absolutely in love for that fantastic father, with which she enjoyed to watch on TV old american movies, with which she shared ideas, time, readings; this fantastic daddy with that beautiful warm smile: he had sida and she would have lost him because of it.

Tender, dramatically touching, this one is the voice of a daughter, still searching for her father, this father gone too soon, this father who meant the world to her.

Read it! I know that you'll adore it!

Highly recommended.

I thank Editions Flammarion from the physical copy of the book.

Anna Maria Polidori