Does Precious Have Aids?

Sapphire's second novel, The Kid, is out this week. It opens with the funeral of Precious, who has died of complications related to her HIV/AIDS infection, and then follows her son, Abdul Jamal Jones, as he grows up.

Is Precious a true story?

"The level of abuse I suffered is not nearly as extreme as in the book, and there is no character in the story, not even the teacher, who is based on me." Rather, Precious is a composite character, she says, created from the real-life stories she encountered while teaching for seven years, from 1987 to 1993, in an ...

Who had AIDS in Precious?

During a painful-to-watch confrontation with her mother, Precious learns that her father, who raped her, has died of AIDS-related illness. She also learns that she, too, is HIV positive. When Precious asks whether her mother is also positive, her mother says she and her father never had anal sex.