After being spoiled belonging to a wonderful book club in northwestern Montana, I’ve been wanting to find an equally thoughtful and challenging book club now that I live in Colorado. And this month, I had that opportunity, attending the very first meeting of a newly established neighborhood book club.
In addition to lively and diverse conversations, one of the things I most enjoy about book clubs is the opportunity to read and discuss books I might never have heard about or considered. The Great Believers was one of those books for me.
A winner of several awards and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai tells two intertwined past and present stories, one in Chicago and the other in Paris, using alternating chapters against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic.
It is a historical novel about friendship, betrayal, loss, and heartbreak as much as it is about hope, redemption, goodness, and love.
Having lived near Philadelphia during the peak of the AIDS epidemic, for me the book provided not only an important lens into the epidemic’s personal and professional devastation, but offered a poignant reflection on life and those who rise to meet its challenges.
For readers who relish historical fiction which, along with a compelling story, touches on the rawness and realities of the times, The Great Believers is a great read.
