The Great Believers

"A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris, by the acclaimed and award-winning author Rebecca Makkai In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Moving novel about the AIDS crisis submitted by mowjac on August 27, 2018, 8:18am This one starts slow but builds, focusing on Yale, a gay man in the 1980 and 90s, and his friend, Fiona, whose story we follow in 2015. A moving portrait of the AIDS crisis which draws parallels to the lost generation of WWI and the ongoing impact of that horrible death toll.

I Couldn't Put it Down submitted by jamattock on June 15, 2019, 7:45pm Beyond caring for my small children and sleeping, I literally couldn't do anything until I finished this book. It was a captivating and heartbreaking story. Days after I finished it, I'm still thinking about the characters and their struggles.

Best book I've read in years! submitted by corfield on August 21, 2019, 9:19am This book is moving, thoughtful, insightful, and inspiring. I literally couldn't put it down and keep thinking about the characters!

Excellent Historical Fiction submitted by CarolSeidl on January 16, 2021, 1:58pm The author, Rebecca Makkai, skillfully jumps between two storylines, one taking place in Chicago during the 1980s, the other in Paris in 2015. The main character from the Chicago narrative went to the University of Michigan, then moved to Chicago in the early 80s, just as I did. He's gay and the story portrays the horrors of that period when so many gay men were contracting aids and dying, and those with the power to do something about it seemed not to care much. I remember talking to and worrying about my gay friends at the time. We were young, optimistic, and enterprising just like Makkai's characters.

I can't speak for the experience of a gay man living through that devastation but it seemed to me that Makkai, who was a baby at the time, recreated an authentic account of what it was like. She intertwines this aspect of the 1980s plot with an intriguing story about an eccentric octogenarian who lived in Paris in the 1920s where she was both muse and friend to a number of famous painters. I'm keenly interested in that part of Parisian history and again, I thought Makkai did a fantastic job of making all of these secondary details largely plausible.

The narrative that unfolds in 2015 is interesting and kept me turning the pages, wanting to know how it would resolve. Again, there was a small parallel to my own life since I spent 5 weeks in France that summer. I wish there had been a bit more character development, however, in this part of the book.

Overall, The Great Believers delivers a very good storyline that accurately reflects some interesting and important, yet often overlooked, eras of history.

beautiful book submitted by aylingunal on June 7, 2021, 8:07pm Tremendously well executed; I couldn't stop reading, whether it was because I wanted to know what would happen next or because the writing was so beautiful and immersive. It's rare that an author can develop a cast of characters so well when there are so many to keep track of – I think I've often thought of some characters as unnecessary or underdeveloped in other books, but not here. Really really beautiful book

There's a reason this was in the running for a Pulitzer submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 12, 2021, 9:20pm This may very well be the best book I read in 2020. At any moment I wasn’t reading it, I wanted it, and while I was reading it, I wanted it to slow down and last. Using the burgeoning AIDS crisis in Chicago as a focal point, _The Great Believers_ takes on friendship, trust, betrayal, love, work, health, secrets, family, art, and life in this absolutely brilliant book about everything that matters. I borrow more books than I buy these days, but (because of COVID-19, the library being closed, and a desire to support my local bookstore) ended up purchasing this one. I could not be more pleased. This will be a regular re-read, and one I’ll lend to make sure others read it, too. Highly, highly recommended. There’s a reason this was in the running for a Pulitzer Prize.