Reviews

Christadora is a sweeping novel of New York during the AIDs epidemic and its fallout, spanning from the early 1980s to the present day, told from the perspective of one building in the East Village and the people who inhabit it. The book had a really strong opening as we quickly span a few decades of backstory for exactly how these characters ended up in Christadora, and a brief but imperative mention of the Thompkins Square Riots of 1988.
We first meet Jared and Millie, aspiring artists from the Upper East Side, and learn how they came to adopt Mateo, the orphaned child of a mother with AIDs, while still in their mid-20s. We then meet Hector, the lonely drug addict on the eighth floor who used to be one of the city’s foremost AIDs activists.
This novel reminded me of City on Fire by Garth Risk Halberg, both in its literal setting and time period (not to mention its hefty size) and in its style of a large cast of seemingly unrelated characters who find themselves connected – in C.O.F., it’s a shooting on New Year's Eve, whereas here, it’s AIDs, and its lasting impacts on the city. These characters were mostly well-developed, and readers get a full scope of their backstories and problems, from mental and physical health to marital issues to addiction. The portrayal of Mateo’s birth mother was particularly moving as she grows from a shy dental hygienist from Queens to become a central pillar of AIDs activism, as was Mateo’s swift decline into full-blown addiction and his family's and friend’s struggles to pull him out of it.
If anything (like C.O.F.), I think this book was held back from being truly great due to having almost too much going on – the frequent switching of perspectives by character & decade took me out of the story. But it had its work cut out as the author tackled vast and important themes, which he did with grace and a real love that you could feel for his characters and their city.

juliepe33's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

candacesiegle_greedyreader's review

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5.0

4.5 stars
This novel is satisfying, which to me means that you are involved, the characters are real, the setting is genuine, and you can't wait to get back to reading.

Down half a star because I struggled with several characters' life changing decisions--I had a hard time with Hector's trajectory and Mateo's behavior. But Tim Murphy built them so that I cared about what they were doing and wanted them to STOP, although like people in real life, people in books so often don't do what you want them to.

An other reviewer hinted at an upcoming limited series based on "Christodora" which would be great. This book is strong stuff and offers up a tough, tender, and compelling look at a hard time in our history.