Book Review: A Song for Olaf by Jennifer Boulanger

Reviewed by Samantha Hui

A powerful reminder of how love, when shared, can leave a lasting legacy

“For years, every day after dinner we had watched the war on TV together. Now, it was in our home.”

Jennifer Boulanger’s A Song for Olaf is a deeply moving memoir that chronicles the enduring bond between siblings, set against the backdrop of the early HIV-AIDS crisis.

Acting as both a personal reflection and a historical witness account, Boulanger’s book serves as a tribute to her older brother, Olaf, and the love they shared. Written with tenderness and precision, the memoir will resonate with readers who appreciate intimate narratives, family stories, and social history. Boulanger offers not only a moving homage to her brother but also an exploration of how silence, whether it be intimate or system, shaped a generation.

“Overcome with guilt, I realized how much he’d endured alone, even while I understood the secret he’d kept from me was yet another way he’d chosen to protect me.”

Spanning the years 1969 to 1994, A Song for Olaf follows Jennifer, whom Olaf affectionately nicknames Holine, as she grows up in the glow of her brother’s vibrant spirit. Olaf is magnetic and ambitious, a man of action who performs at Carnegie Hall, travels through Europe, and dreams of teaching Italian.

Holine, more reserved and grounded, follows in his footsteps, building a meaningful life through developing her teaching career and growing her family. Told through a series of vignettes that jump across years, the memoir captures key moments in their relationship, revealing how each reunion reignites their bond. As Olaf’s life as a gay man becomes increasingly shaped by the HIV-AIDS crisis and the stigma surrounding it, the story exposes the devastating silences imposed by fear, prejudice, and governmental inaction. Against these silences, though Olaf and Holine’s relationship is imperfect, it remains a constant that is loving and sustaining.

“The media continually likened sick people to criminal targets, as though a madman had selected a particular individual for the object of his crimes or a villain was out to punish people.”

What the book does especially well is its structure: each chapter opens with excerpts from contemporary media from sensational headlines to medical reports, or from poetry to political commentary, offering a haunting view of how the HIV-AIDS crisis was mishandled and dehumanized.

Particularly striking is a moment when Olaf and Holine celebrate a glowing New York Times review of a symphony Olaf performed in. The joy of that moment stands in stark contrast to how some chapters open with Times coverage delivering devastating news about the AIDS pandemic. The contrast reminds readers of how institutions can uplift and fail in equal measure, sometimes on the same page.

“The hints that shaded so much of our early life seemed at the time like ordinary growing pains. Now I pictured them as a progression, a line of signposts leading always to this place, this moment.”

The memoir also succeeds in capturing the fragmented nature of memory and love. Life, as Boulanger depicts it, is not a continuous narrative but a series of arrivals and departures, joys and shocks. The chapter-to-chapter leaps in time mirror the disjointed experience of loving someone whose world you glimpse only in snapshots. As Olaf reveals difficult truths about his health, identity, and private struggles, Holine and the reader feel the weight of those moments all the more.

“‘Too many people have no one,’ he said. ‘Even here, where people are everywhere.’”

Ultimately, A Song for Olaf is a stunning testament to how love can shape us, soften us, and ripple outward. Though it deals with heavy topics like illness, loss, and societal failure, it also celebrates the transformative power of care. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in family memoirs, queer histories, or emotionally rich storytelling. Boulanger has not only written a touching ode to her brother but also a quiet call to action. While we have the power to alienate and marginalize, we also have the power to uplift, to witness, and to love fully.

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