Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Les Optimistes

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Les Optimistes by Rebecca Makkai

110 reviews

m2b2's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so (so) sad, but really beautiful. There were entire sections where I felt like I was gasping for air as I read because I was so pained by the story telling. As a Chicagoan, who lived in Boystown for years, I was especially enamored. I felt like some aspects (e.g., Claire joining a cult) didn’t add much to the story, but this is the best book I’ve read in a long time.

Content Warnings

beesteele's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

crags617's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

jamesgoodwin1982's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The Great Believers moves between Chicago in the mid to late 1980s and Paris in 2015. The 1980s segment features a cast of characters, primarily gay men, during the AIDS epidemis and the plot 2015 is focused on Fiona's search for her adult daughter. Thought the novel the author carefully weaves the two stories together.

It's a well written and research book which was informative and devastating at the same time. The parts of the novel written in the 80s was probably the most interesting to me and made me really feel for the cast of characters. I loved the way the author weaved the plot together towards the end. The ending of the novel was both hopeful and devastating in it's description of societal attitudes towards AIDS in the 80s.

I found this book really interesting and once I would highly recommend.

Content Warnings

dearbhlanoonan's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Content Warnings

ellagrady's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bookworms_closet's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

froon's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.25

wow. the 1980s storyline was very powerful and moving. yale was such a great character to follow and found myself very attached to him by the end. there are quotes that will stick with me: particularly about the moralization of aids, about how it’s easier to love someone your whole life when they’re dead, and how sometimes life is too long. the ending too will linger.

however, i found the 2015 storyline deeply boring. it felt like it was mostly there for the ending (which, as i said, was great) but that means that, for the 90% of the book that wasn’t the ending, all it did was interrupt the 1980s storyline.

honestly, it felt like it was mostly setting up fiona turning away yale’s mother from his hospital room. which, i would argue, wasn’t even the most impactful part of the ending.

i also felt like charlie’s character was a bit one-dimensional. he’s the bad boyfriend who we’re supposed to hate. and i found it a bit frustrating.

this book has great moments, but it also has a lot of just okay moments. for me, the cost of time getting through the bad moments didn’t equal the satisfaction of the great moments.

Content Warnings

ariana3's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This took me longer to read than I wanted it to, it was longer than I think it should have been. It basically describes the AIDS epidemic in Chicago in the early 80s from the general viewpoint of 1 main character

(who eventually gets it from a casual fling- after being so careful with his then-longtime bf who cheated, got it, and thought he got it from him but didn't-and ultimately dies).

It alternates chapter-by-chapter with that and one of their female friends in the future in 2015.

Her brother was one of the first in this friend group to die, so she was always around these men. In the future, she's trying to find her estranged daughter and make amends. It ends a little bittersweet, as Yale (the main character) does indeed die and it describes his slow-ish decline. But Fiona (the girl) finds her daughter and they seem to slowly be repairing/building back their relationship

Content Warnings

siobhanward's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Maybe it's because I've read other works that took place during the AIDS crisis that were a whole lot better, but this was the closest I've been to DNFing a book in a long time. While Makkai captured how quickly HIV moved around, and a lot of the attitudes towards it (both from straight folk and LGBT+ folk), this one just didn't have the impact of others I've read. I had trouble connecting to the characters and while my heart broke over and over for Yale, I still found myself waiting for the book to the over. Makkai had a great idea, it just didn't pan out for me personally.

Content Warnings

More...