THE GREAT BELIEVERS by REBECCA MAKKAI (2018)

Another of 2018's hottest novels, The Great Believers won the Andrew Carnegie Medal and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It is also being talked about as a potential winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

This is the story of the height of the AIDS epidemic, before any treatment had been found, and of the effect on the subsequent lives of those who lost loved ones. The two revolving story lines center on Yale, a young gay professional in 1985, and on Fiona, sister of one of the victims of the disease and friend to many others, in 2015. In 1985, Yale is all too aware of risk he runs and does his best to keep himself safe, as he watches death take his friends and lovers, one by one. Fiona, who has become a friend to the gay community in support of her brother, stands by Yale throughout. In 2015, Fiona searches Paris for her estranged daughter, who has disappeared into a cult. These many years later, she is still haunted by the losses she suffered as a young adult, which seem to be continuing with the loss of her own child.

These two intertwining stories seemed at times to be only tenuously connected. Since the 1985 story line is much the most interesting, I found myself being annoyed when the switch to 2015 came. A sub-plot about an art exhibit appeared to have little to do with the main plot. Yet, everything fell into place at the end to create the theme of love and loss. This is one of those novels which should not be judged until the entirety is read.

I highly recommend this novel. Perhaps I should qualify that by saying that those who consider homosexuality a choice and a sin would probably find it objectionable. But then they probably don't read anyway. (Snide comment.)