No Place Left to Bury the Dead (A Review)

The story of HIV/AIDS can be found in every corner of the globe. Despite this, it is difficult to forget the association with Africa. The novel No Place Left to Bury the Dead: A Tale of Denial, Despair, and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic by Nicole Itano, provides an in-depth look at the continent where HIV/AIDS is affecting millions of lives.

What strikes me most strongly about the tale is not the location, but the commonality that people share. No Place Left to Bury the Dead is a novel of three stories, three lives. Itano lives with and observes three people who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. She travels to three different countries in Africa and explores the differences in people, cultures, and the role politics has played in the available treatment of the disease.

I find this novel different from so many other novels is the way in which those living with HIV/AIDS are treated by the author. They are not martyred victims, held up as the pinnacle of suffering and bad fortune for us to pity and save. They are real people; individuals with faults, drinking problems, families who care and some who don’t, dreams and goals and strength. They are just like everyone else.

These people are reluctant to learn their status because they are afraid. Their fear, hope, denial, and despair are universal emotions. These people are not defined by their disease; HIV is a part of their lives, but not the entirety of it.

Itano does an excellent job telling stories while integrating her own perceptions into those stories. The author freely discloses her own bias and struggle to maintain journalistic objectivity while staying among people whose standard of living is so much lower than her own. Itano’s emotional entanglement in the stories and lives of her subjects brings a refreshingly honest perspective to the book.

I would highly recommend this book for those just beginning the study of HIV/AIDS. In addition to the personal narratives, the book covers basic scientific and political information about the epidemic.

No Place Left to Bury the Dead may not be considered an uplifting read, but few books discussing the impact of HIV/AIDS are. What this book does provide is a sense of hope, a hope that HIV is not the end to life and that it is possible to continue living even under the shadow of the virus, even in poverty-stricken Africa.

Itano gives HIV/AIDS a face which everyone, regardless of which continent you live in, can relate to and understand.


This guest post was submitted by Amber Dujay. Amber is a certified political nerd with a deep interest in social justice and community health. She writes in hope that others will read it. She is also a Leo and a dog-lover.