A review by knkoch
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I found this really powerful and moving, if a little uneven at times. The two timelines (1980s and 2020s) didn't balance quite as smoothly for me as they did in something like Dan Kois' Vintage Contemporaries, both because there's a little less continuity in the characters present in both timelines and because I found Fiona's section (2020s) inherently less compelling. I appreciated the buildup throughout that helped her understand how her past had led her to her current crisis, but Yale's narrative in 1980s Chicago at the height of the AIDS crisis was so gripping and sharp that it felt like a bit of a comedown to return to Fiona's scenes in Paris. His gallery acquisition and relationship storylines had so much natural momentum, where Fiona's search for her daughter felt more muddled and slow-paced. I think so much of Fiona's story has to wait for Yale's story to deliver key details to make it clearer, and it suffers in the waiting. 

I suppose I'm also a little leery of stories about family estrangement told solely from the parent perspective. I was so curious to learn more from Fiona's daughter about her reasons for their estrangement. As painful as estrangement was for Fiona, I don't think she respected her daughter's privacy or wishes well. Estrangement often gets told this way, as a heartless choice by a troubled child, but I'd like to see more storytelling about estrangements that are quite different from that, the kind that can be necessary, protective, and very reasonable. Anyway, that's not what this was, that's fine, just part of a pattern. 
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