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A review by whatmeganreads
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
My fave of the year so far. With books like this, I of course won’t be able to adequately frame my praises and will instead resort to gushing.
There are so many thoughts and themes and characters I’m obsessed with, I’ve just been giddily screaming READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW to literally everyone I know, readers or not. (Thanks for picking it up so soon, Mama – I NEED to discuss! 😃 )
The story is equal parts eye-opening and heartbreaking. It forces you to bear witness to, what was for me, a unique time period. The beginning and progression of the AIDS epidemic was something I was alive for, but not something I was necessarily aware of. I have vague memories of magazine covers and some evening news sound bites, but I was largely living in the shelter and insulation of childhood. So this felt like I was peeling back the wallpaper on a world I was living in but didn’t really have knowledge of. I’m so, so glad I read it.
These characters will own you. I’m not sure there will ever be another Yale. He felt so real, so dimensional, that I could almost picture him sitting beside me as I read. Although Yale was my stand-out, there were other characters that I really liked, and some that made me furious.
This author paints both the characters and the world they live in so vividly; you see all the sides of the picture – the beauty, the ugliness, the rage, the selfless devotion. It’s a true experience to read.
I’d been saving this one for a while, and thought Pride Month would be the perfect time to pick it up. It was. So, I’ll tell you like I’ve been telling everyone else in my life….READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW.
There are so many thoughts and themes and characters I’m obsessed with, I’ve just been giddily screaming READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW to literally everyone I know, readers or not. (Thanks for picking it up so soon, Mama – I NEED to discuss! 😃 )
The story is equal parts eye-opening and heartbreaking. It forces you to bear witness to, what was for me, a unique time period. The beginning and progression of the AIDS epidemic was something I was alive for, but not something I was necessarily aware of. I have vague memories of magazine covers and some evening news sound bites, but I was largely living in the shelter and insulation of childhood. So this felt like I was peeling back the wallpaper on a world I was living in but didn’t really have knowledge of. I’m so, so glad I read it.
These characters will own you. I’m not sure there will ever be another Yale. He felt so real, so dimensional, that I could almost picture him sitting beside me as I read. Although Yale was my stand-out, there were other characters that I really liked, and some that made me furious.
This author paints both the characters and the world they live in so vividly; you see all the sides of the picture – the beauty, the ugliness, the rage, the selfless devotion. It’s a true experience to read.
I’d been saving this one for a while, and thought Pride Month would be the perfect time to pick it up. It was. So, I’ll tell you like I’ve been telling everyone else in my life….READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW.