I just checked out the reviews on Amazon. The one from Publishers Weekly said:
Rapp writes most movingly of his friends who lost their battle with AIDS—including Larsen, who died before the April 1996 Broadway opening night of his Pulitzer-winning show—as well as the long, painful demise of his mother from cancer. While the book sometimes plunges too deeply into its twin themes of love and loss, Rapp recognizes the healing power of drama and theater, writing that acting is "an escape of sorts."
That makes it seem like Jonathan died from AIDS, and they also spelled his name wrong.
I recognize the addiction to being alive.