The Great Believers

by Rebecca Makkai

Book Overview

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2018
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER
ALA CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER
THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER

Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler

"A page turner . . . An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis." --The New York Times Book...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 073522353X
• ISBN13: 9780735223530
• Release Date: June 2019
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Stunning. A must.

This is easily one of the best books of many set during the early years of the AIDS pandemic--it is fully alive, which makes the tragic, criminal waste of that period that much more devastating. You're amused, moved and angered often within the space of a page. The friends, lovers and colleagues who populate the story--which jumps back and forth in time between the early '80s (moving into the '90s) and 2016--feel familiar, as if from your own circle. Some of Makkai's nuanced observations on the inner lives of her people, especially leading character Yale, are revelatory; she hits on several of the particular and private pains acquired by many gay men who came of age being made to feel like imposters, at best, in a world that shunned them. It is, obviously, not an uplifting story but it is filled with love and in no way a chore. A beautiful, engaging, heartbreaking read that I cherished.