If there’s a book that has been sitting on my TBR for a very, very long time, it’s The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I retrieved my copy early 2020, but we all know what happened then. Covid hit and was there to stay. It’s probably partially the reason why I haven’t picked up this book back then, even though I saw so many positive reviews. The AIDS crisis was not something that came to mind when it came to my 2020-2021 reading material. Fast forward to 2024. Covid is still here, but there’s less insecurity now and we haven’t had lockdowns for a good 2.5 years, so it was time to pick this book up. In this review, you will find the answer to whether I still was impressed by it, or that it was not really for me.

About the book

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Published by Penguin on June 4, 2019
Pages: 448
ISBN: 9780735223530
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, General fiction, Historical fiction

A dazzling 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.

My review

Before reading

Since this book has been sitting on my TBR for a good 4.5 years, I dove into it without having much expectations. It’s quite literary and that’s something I haven’t been reading much lately. I saw many positive reviews back in the day, but said reviewers were hardcore literary fiction readers. Personally, I preferred YA at the time and now I switched to romance/romantasy. However, I love to step outside my comfort zone every once in a while. This book ticked many boxes for me: historical fiction, dual timeline, out of my comfort zone and being on my TBR for ages. Time redeemed my expectations a bit and I think this was good, because it was not the book I expected to get.

Characters

This story is centred around Yale in 1985 and Fiona in 2015. 1985 Yale was in a relationship with Charlie and saw his friends dying one by one from AIDS. Meanwhile, he finished his degree in art history and is working in a museum. His work live seems to be going really well, but his private life is a mess. When Charlie tests positive for AIDS, Yale has to be more cautious. In 2015, Fiona is in Paris, looking for her daughter. She wants to burry the past, because she lost her friends to AIDS as well. Thinking about them is quite painful. This pain for both Yale and Fiona has been elaborated well. However, I wasn’t really impressed by these characters individually. Yale should have had the balls to get out of his relationship with Charlie. Not because he had AIDS, but he was a huge red flag from the start. His behaviour is pretty toxic. He was horribly jealous and controlling of Yale. I had a feeling that Yale had to be on egg shells around Charlie all the time and this is not healthy when you’re supposed to be partners. Well, the shoe drops rather sooner than later, doesn’t it? On the other hand, there was Fiona and I didn’t know what to think of her. She seems a decent character, but very forgettable in the end. Her grief is still present 30 years later and this is written really well. I didn’t  have a favourite character or storyline here, because of how the characters are written.

Writing

The writing is fine, not good or bad. Just fine. I like dual timelines and I think this works again really well here for the purpose of this book. This way, the characters’ grief is truly visible, especially when it comes to Fiona 30 years later. Whereas the chapters are quite long, it was easy to read and to continue reading this book. There was a good balance between yale and Fiona’s POV. We get a bit more Yale, but that’s logical for this story.

Plot

The plot of this novel is set against a dark and tense atmosphere. There was a lot of anxiety amongst gay people in 1985 Chicago, because AIDS was spreading rapidly. One after the other fell ill and didn’t survive. Therefore, this book came quite close to reality upon publication. There’s a lot of grief and everyone was on egg shells. However, there was also room for hope and love. The friend group in this book seemed to be very tight-knit and everyone seemed to support each other. Even though the characters didn’t leave a real impression, I wanted to continue reading this book to find out if everyone would survive this crisis or not. That was the most intriguing part for me, the other parts of the plot felt a bit like a filler. Especially Fiona’s storyline in 2015 contributed to this feeling. It didn’t make real sense when looking at what the author wanted to tell with this book.

Final thoughts

Overall, I’m glad I finally knocked The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai off my TBR. It was indeed out of my comfort zone, especially when it comes to storytelling and characters. This is not a bad book, although the characters didn’t leave an impression really. Some plot parts feel like a filler, especially when looking at the aim of this novel. Are you interested in reading this historical fiction for yourself? Please be aware of the triggers. If you enjoy literary fiction with a dual timeline? Then this book is for you.