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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
Rounding down from 3.5 stars. I really liked this book at the beginning, but by the end I felt like there I should have known the characters better for how many pages I had read. The two storylines were intriguing individually, but I didn’t think they merged well enough at the end to be satisfying.
*One of my favorite reads in 2020*
I'm reviewing two months after I finished this book (because life), but The Great Believers is one of those books that gets into your head and your heart and stays there. Each character in this book felt precious to me--caught up in the drama of their own lives amidst the AIDS epidemic sweeping Chicago in the late 1980s. I'm not sure of Makkai's connection to this topic, but I appreciate that as a reader I felt like an insider in this community--a perspective many of us never got in reality until years after the fact.
I'm reviewing two months after I finished this book (because life), but The Great Believers is one of those books that gets into your head and your heart and stays there. Each character in this book felt precious to me--caught up in the drama of their own lives amidst the AIDS epidemic sweeping Chicago in the late 1980s. I'm not sure of Makkai's connection to this topic, but I appreciate that as a reader I felt like an insider in this community--a perspective many of us never got in reality until years after the fact.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
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:
Yes
emotional
informative
sad
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:
Complicated
I have not stopped thinking about this book since I started it. Going to be hard to top this one as my favorite reads of the year.
emotional
informative
reflective
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:
No
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-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:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Phenomenal literary fiction, a saga of love and friendship across decades, from the AIDS crisis in the 1980s in Chicago to a mother's search for her estranged daughter in Paris in 2015. The two stories are masterfully intertwined, both involving a hint of mystery, characters from one chapter spilling into the next. Themes of art history, lost loves, the keepers of memory, the human potential that is destroyed by illness, war, and fear. The characters are incredibly drawn; readers will connect to their stories and feel real emotions for them.
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated