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Emily May's Reviews > The Great Believers
The Great Believers
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I found The Great Believers really dry and boring. It's about the AIDs epidemic and a group of gay friends, split between 1985 and 2015, and yet this subject that should have been deeply emotional left me cold. I didn't care for the characters and there were huge chunks that could have (and should have) been cut out.
The Heart's Invisible Furies and The House of Impossible Beauties also look at this time period and do a much better job of it, in my opinion. Each have more interesting characters, and the former especially has a far more engaging story. The only character I was able to form any kind of connection with in this book was Yale, and even that took some time.
It just dragged a lot, with many parts feeling superfluous. The Paris chapters were particularly dull and they felt like a completely separate story - one I don't really feel needed to be told. Overall, the prose was lengthy, repetitive, and difficult to enjoy.
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The Heart's Invisible Furies and The House of Impossible Beauties also look at this time period and do a much better job of it, in my opinion. Each have more interesting characters, and the former especially has a far more engaging story. The only character I was able to form any kind of connection with in this book was Yale, and even that took some time.
It just dragged a lot, with many parts feeling superfluous. The Paris chapters were particularly dull and they felt like a completely separate story - one I don't really feel needed to be told. Overall, the prose was lengthy, repetitive, and difficult to enjoy.
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Reading Progress
March 20, 2018
– Shelved
May 1, 2018
–
Started Reading
May 3, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Kristin
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Jun 25, 2018 01:46PM
With ever book Rebecca Makkai publishes, I am more and more convinced that The Borrower was just a happy fluke.
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Kristin wrote: "With ever book Rebecca Makkai publishes, I am more and more convinced that The Borrower was just a happy fluke."This was actually my first Rebecca Makkai book - is The Borrower worth reading?
I enjoyed it when it first came out, and recommended it to others, but I don't know if it holds up.
Thank you! I just finished reading a copy for review and thought I was the only one who didn't think that much of it either
I agree ... I thought the AIDS story could have stood on its own. I found the Paris storyline boring and confusing ... what was that cult tag all about?
I agree with everything you said. I am dreading my book group discussion on this, because they all seemed poised to respond like this is one of the most "important" books of all time. There is hardly anything I liked about it.
completely agree- I wanted to love this bc I was in San franciso in the80's and watched this epidemic take freinds lives , but this book did drag on and on , too many side stories too long.
I feel the same way. I'm not sure the point of the Paris story line and most of the parts where Yale was battling with the gallery art pieces.
I am currently a 3rd way through the book and I just cant get through it. I feel no connection. Does the 2 stories eventually connect and have a good climax? if not I cant read this any longer.
THANK YOU. I felt inclined to somehow "like" the book because of the all raving reviews, but I feel disconnected from the characters, the plot, everything. I'm only on page 85 and can't go on haha.
Was never rooting for Fiona to even find Claire. I was with the "some people don't want to be found" guy. Did not care about Jake, or any of Fiona's outings in Paris.
You literally do not like anything likable
Brandon wrote: "You literally do not like anything likable"I may not like the things you like, but it's not your place to tell me what is objectively "likable".
I finally decided to just skip all the 2015 chapters and the book is infinitely better. I really don’t understand why they are here to ruin the rest.
