Jodi: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

Rating:
Summary: Keep our eyes on the future
Review: A very compelling story!! Reading it made me want to do two things. 1. Find a spouse as great as Jodi; 2. Meet the author.

The first thing I certainly have not done, and the second I have done virtually. Richard and I have `met' through cyberspace and are now collaborating on AIDS AFRICA 2004 Marathon. I live and work in West Africa and understand the impact Aids has had in many countries. Our goal in doing the marathon is to raise money in order to provide effective medicine to HIV/AIDS sufferers.
With our collective efforts - Richard's book and the marathon - we hope to impress upon the public that having AIDS/HIV does not mean that one's life is over - life can and does go on. This is the main message in the book - life continues and it can be good.
I recommend Richard and Jodi's story to anyone and everyone who is looking for an interesting, optimistic book about survival, love and strength.

Rating:
Summary: Keep our eyes on the future
Review: A very compelling story!! Reading it made me want to do two things. 1. Find a spouse as great as Jodi; 2. Meet the author.

The first thing I certainly have not done, and the second I have done virtually. Richard and I have 'met' through cyberspace and are now collaborating on AIDS AFRICA 2004 Marathon. I live and work in West Africa and understand the impact Aids has had in many countries. Our goal in doing the marathon is to raise money in order to provide effective medicine to HIV/AIDS sufferers.
With our collective efforts - Richard's book and the marathon - we hope to impress upon the public that having AIDS/HIV does not mean that one's life is over - life can and does go on. This is the main message in the book - life continues and it can be good.
I recommend Richard and Jodi's story to anyone and everyone who is looking for an interesting, optimistic book about survival, love and strength.

Rating:
Summary: A much better book than I had expected
Review: An intimate portrait of a closely-knit family dealing with the specter of AIDS, "Jodi: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" is a testament to the writer's wife and the love that she continues to show. Richard Brodsky was a successful architect with a loving family. Everything was going perfectly in his life, including successfully keeping his bisexual tendencies secret from his family, until he found out that he had AIDS. What follows is his struggle to tell his wife and his family about it as well as how they all work together to keep their family whole. It's hard to read through the book without feeling compassion for Richard and his family. A strongly moving book that portrays the strength of a family the way a family should be - compassionate, loving, forgiving, and whole. A recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book about Wonderful People
Review: I have the wonderful privilage to know Jodi and Richard. This is a story of true love that has beat all odds. Some men would probably have kept this kind of secret to themselves but Richard chose (with Jodis acceptance) to tell his and their story to help the many of Americans who have AIDS. It doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, black, white or whatever you can get AIDS. The main point that Richard is trying to let people know is that let us get the correct drugs and education on AIDS out their so we can stop lossing our loved ones.

Rating:
Summary: Patience and love of one dedicated, unique, & loyal woman
Review: Jodi: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told is the personal testimony of Richard M. Brodsky, a bisexual married man, who was forced to reveal the truth about himself to his wife because he had become infected with HIV. His wife is HIV-negative and unlikely to contract the virus as long as both of them practice safe sex. Her choice to stay with him and help make their marriage work is an honest and engaging story of the celebration of married life. Jodi is a profound and inspiring message of hope that embraces the rights of HIV-sufferers everywhere, and the patience and love of one dedicated, unique, and loyal woman.

Rating:
Summary: Brodsky's book is obviously self-published.
Review: That Mr Brodsky's book was "self-published" is evident from it's title and the cover shot of Mrs Brodsky posed goddess-like on a stool. And, indeed, Jodi would have to be a goddess to put up with some of her husband's actions.

Let me say, I'm a liberal and not comfortable bashing anybody with AIDS, but I think its a little strange for Richard to cite, as his message, that one should "exercise, eat right, don't smoke, don't do drugs, and don't drink", without adding, "uh, and don't have unprotected sex".

I'm glad that the Brodsky's have stayed together as a couple and as a family, but I think its a little odd that Jodi has put up with her husband's extra-marital affairs with such grace. I don't think I could buy an apartment in New York that my husband had seen while having sex with the previous tenant.

Actually, after reading the part about the apartment, I think Jodi must be a saint!

That said as criticism, I think it is terrible that the NY Marathon officials would not give entrance to people who had successfully run the Marathon in the past.

Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: Written in the style of an intimate letter, Jodi: The Greatest Story Ever Told gives thought provoking insight on what the Brodsky family have experienced as a result of Mr. Brodsky becoming HIV+. Certainly a good read for anyone willing to see Life through the lense of someone living with AIDS.