Reviews

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

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rapraa's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was quietly and loudly profound at the same time. In a way, you knew exactly what was going to happen as soon as you read the first chapter, and with each page you tried to will the story to be different, to have a different ending. It's like watching a car crash, you want to look away but you can't, and all of a sudden you are so deeply invested in Yale's life and screaming at him for being with Charlie and doing all the things he does and feeling his pain as one by one all of his friends slip away. And then you get annoyed that we leave his story to go into the modern day until you realize that you're seeing the impact of those times, that grief on someone's life years later. By the time Yale's story is over, you've had every emotion wrung out of you and you don't know how to feel and you're stunned by how beautiful the writing was and how tragic the story inevitably became. And then you sit there and realize how generations and pockets of people can be so affected by events in their lifetimes, only for the rest of us outside of their bubble to be quietly indifferent and detached to the aftermath of those earthquakes. 5/5 stars. Everyone should read this.

jmherms's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

lanamosk's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

katie_burgert's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

apvb96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

anaisrvlr's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A book about love, loss, family (chosen and actual), loneliness and art.
I was deeply moved by Yale's storyline.
I was less interested in the 2015 timeline.
I think this book could have been edited down. The pace is sometimes too slow.