This was our book club pick for this month. It had been on my to-read list for awhile but I’m so glad I was finally required to bump it to the top of the list!

The Great Believers is an emotional, powerful novel that goes back and forth between the mid 1980’s, as a group of Chicago friends is devastated by the AIDS crisis, and the present day, as those who remain continue to deal with the fallout. I found this book profoundly moving and I think it will stay with me for a long time. It was searing and painful – not at all easy to read.

I really liked this book and highly recommend it. I thought the present-day Paris timeline was less compelling than the 1980s timeline, and that sometimes dragged the narrative down, as did the earlier Paris story. I think both of those storylines could have been streamlined a bit and the novel would’ve been even better. Overall, a wonderful novel and quite an achievement for the author.