The Great Believers (by Rebecca Makkai)
My Audible library is overflowing, so sometimes I just pick the book that has been waiting patiently the longest to read next. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai had been sitting in my library for so long, I couldn’t remember what had piqued my interest in this book. As I started listening, I wasn’t sure if I was going to read the entire book or bail. The story begins in 1985 at a funeral reception held in someone's house. It felt like I stumbled into the deepest moment of a person’s life, and I had no idea what was going on. Based on the description, I suspected this was going to be one of those really long books that dove deeply into the characters’ lives, and I was going to be glad I finished it. And I was right.
The Great Believers is a dual-timeline story: 1985 Chicago, at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and 2015 Paris. Initially, I thought these different settings were strange as they felt disconnected, but it all made sense in the end. The story is told from the perspective of two main characters. It begins with Yale Tishman, a young gay man, attending his best friend Nico’s funeral in 1985. Yale works for an art gallery in Chicago and is trying to acquire a rare collection of paintings from the 1920s. The story follows Yale’s promising career, his relationship, and his circle of friends. The crisis of the AIDS epidemic is central to Yale’s story. Fiona is the second main character — she is Nico’s younger sister, so the reader gets to know Fiona in both timelines. Fiona remains friends with Nico’s friends and is closest to Yale. During the Paris timeline, Fiona is looking for her daughter who disappeared when she joined a cult.
She stays with a friend who’s a famous photographer she knew back in 1980s Chicago. I really liked the 1980s Fiona, and it was interesting to see how the AIDS epidemic affected her life and how she dealt with it as she explored her relationship with her daughter.
It took me a while to get absorbed by the story. There are a lot of characters, and it was a bit tricky to keep track of how they all connected, especially since the story jumps between two different timelines. I really liked the length of the book, which was more than 18 hours on audio.
It allowed for the story to be detailed, and gave me time to bond with the characters. This book is definitely emotionally charged, and I’m so glad I finished it. Even though it was a tearjerker, it left me feeling both sad and hopeful for the characters. And the narration by Michael Crouch was absolutely fantastic!
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