Book Club | Book Chatter

The Great Believers
By Rebecca Makkai
Penguin, 9780735223530, June 2019, 448pp.

The Short of It:

A wide, expansive novel.

The Rest of It:

“A dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.” ~ the publisher

This novel encompasses so much. Yale is on the cusp of acquiring an art collection that would really put his name on the map, but there are complications. The current owner of the pieces, an elderly lady by the name of Nora, has specific desires for each piece, and her family, doesn’t approve of any of it. True, it would leave them without the inheritance but it’s art, beautiful art and meant to be enjoyed in a gallery.

Alternating between moments of beauty, there is the AIDS epidemic of the 80s. We find these characters just at the beginning of the downward spiral. Nico, is the first to be lost. Leaving a behind a handful of loyal friends who don’t really know how to go on without his constant presence.

Chicago’s gay pride scene is just starting to ramp up, along with the number of people stricken with this terrible disease. Medications are not readily available or even invented yet and the ones that do exist are too costly for the average Joe to afford. That part, has not changed has it?

Yale and his friends do their best to support the ones that get hit with the virus, but isn’t it only a matter of time before they are all affected by it in some way, directly or indirectly. They are terrified and often find themselves hopeless so this art collection is really the only thing holding Yale together.

In addition to these very serious issues, Fiona is searching desperately for her adult daughter and her grand-daughter who left the states for Paris with absolutely no trace at all. Fiona is going mad trying to find them and enlists the help of friends.

This is a beautiful, yet sad novel about friendships, love, art, everything. As depressing as the storyline is, I found myself looking forward to reading it. It seemed very hopeful in places and I appreciated those moments. We picked this for our book club pick this month and it will get a lot of discussion I think.

I will say, that as I read this book, I kept searching through my blog to see if I had read it before. According to my blog and GoodReads, no. I’ve not read it before but it felt very familiar. It did remind me a little bit of A Little Life. The Great Believers doesn’t deliver the gut punch that A Little Life did, but the tone and the friendships are similar.

I highly recommend this one. The art bits are lovely and the relationships are strong.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Beware of Pity
By Stefan Zweig
Actuel, 9781922491169, October 2020, 340pp.

The Short of It:

A strange, interesting read.

The Rest of It:

In 1913, Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host’s lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health.

This delicate blunder completely ruins Hofmiller. His innocent invitation to dance is repeated in his head over and over again. He sees the stricken look of the girl as she reveals the current state of her legs. After such a faux pas, and his desire to be included in the lives these people lead, he finds himself trying to please Edith any way he can, until he realizes that her only reason for living, is the love she has for him. There is no reciprocation in this regard.

My club chose this book for this month’s meeting and it is indeed very interesting and I feel that there will be plenty to discuss. It reads like a high brow soap opera and I don’t mean that in a negative way. It’s very episodic and dramatic and Edith is quite the femme fatale. as well as Daddy’s “little” girl. She is a young woman who is not used to being told “No”. What she wants, she usually gets so the push/pull of Hofmiller’s relationship with her is one that completely absorbs his every thought.

How can Hofmiller remain in good standing with Edith’s father, and the good Dr. Condor when he cares not one iota for the girl? Why does he even feel it necessary?

Pity. It’s all about pity. The title of the book makes it very clear. Pity can cause you to do all sorts of foolish things. It affects the way you make decisions but others use it to manipulate those around them. Manipulation, guilt, pity, grief. All topics for discussion. Edith is a frustrating character, but in her defense, she is promised over and over again that the next treatment will do the trick. She hangs onto hope because those around her continue to stoke the fire.

I found this book to be rather entertaining, if not a tad exhausting. Much of it was very fast paced. Hofmiller running here, and there and then back again. His interactions with other soldiers, providing a much needed break. All of it interspersed with parties and gatherings and dinners.

I enjoyed the writing very much. We get to know each character’s intentions quite well. I will say also that one part of the story took me by surprise and it changed my outlook on many things. Lots of food for thought.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…