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The Great Believers

  • Book
  • Jun 19, 2018
  • #HistoricalFiction #LGBTQ+
Rebecca Makkai
@rebeccamakkai
(Author)
www.goodreads.com
Paperback
4.5/5 3.9k ratings
Paperback
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4.25/5 56.3k ratings
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A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an... Show More

A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

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.

The Great Believers has become a critically acclaimed, indelible piece of literature; it was selected as one of New York Times Best 10 Books of the Year, a Washington Post Notable Book, a Buzzfeed Book of the Year, a Skimm Reads pick, and a pick for the New York Public Library's Best Books of the year.

(From Goodreads)

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Number of Pages: 421

ISBN: 073522353X

ISBN-13: 9780735223530

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Max Weiss @maxthegirl · Sep 6, 2022
  • Answered to What's your favorite book that's over 600 pages?
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Just finished ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, a corker. Also, I devoured the (depressing AF) THE GREAT BELIEVERS. I assume you’ve read both?
Isabelle Popp @isabellepoppHEA · Sep 22, 2022
  • Curated in Let These 10 Books Break Your Heart
It’s really important to understand the impact AIDS has had on society and culture. To Paradise makes AIDS one of the book’s many concerns, but The Great Believers focuses how the disease ravaged communities. Yale works for an art gallery in 1980s Chicago and witnesses his friends die one by one until Fiona, his friend’s sister, is the only person remaining in his life. Fiona’s story picks up 30 years later, when she finally grapples with the effect AIDS had on her life and relationships. This is another book that is as vivid and heartbreaking as To Paradise.
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