When Yale learns that Roman has had sex with multiple men before-always without protection-Yale panics and gets tested again. Yale, believing that Roman is a virgin, does not make Roman use protection. Yale and Roman sleep together several times, though Yale takes care to use protection when having sex with Roman. Over time, Yale goes to Nora’s house in Wisconsin, which he visits with his intern, a closeted gay man named Roman.
In 2015, Nora continues trying to force her way into her daughter’s life while dealing with the trauma and pain of her brother Nico’s death. He gets tested for the virus, and tests negative. Yale stops speaking with Charlie after he learns that Charlie cheated on him. After Nico’s great-aunt, Nora Lerner, donates a number of 1920s artworks to Northwestern University, Yale works on authenticating these pieces and establishing a permanent collection at the university. Nico’s boyfriend, Terrence, passes away in the hospital from AIDS. This man, Kurt, also lives in Paris though he and Claire are no longer together.īack in 1985, more of Yale and Fiona’s friends continue to die. Claire has had a child with her ex-boyfriend, after running off with him while in college.
After hiring a private investigator, Fiona eventually locates her daughter. Fiona is staying at the house of a friend-the well-known photographer and artist named Richard Campo-while she looks for her daughter, Claire. Jake and Fiona eventually sleep together. On the plane she meets a handsome, younger man named Jake Austen. From this interaction, Charlie contracts HIV, though this is not revealed until later in the novel. While he and Yale are separated, Charlie Keene-Yale’s boyfriend-sleeps with Julian Ames, an actor and friend in the group. While Yale is lying down upstairs, the group goes to Nico’s apartment. Nico, one of Yale’s friends, has died of AIDS though his family refuses to admit this fact. The Great Believers opens with a scene of Nico’s funeral. These chapters are narrated in the third-person limited perspective and switch between 2015, on the one hand, and 1985-1986 on the other. The novel’s chapters alternate between two characters: Yale Tishman, a gay man working in the arts industry in 1980s Chicago, and Fiona Marcus, a friend of Yale’s who travels to Paris in 2015 in order to reconnect with her estranged daughter. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai is a novel dealing with the 1980s AIDS crisis in Chicago. The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Makkai, Rebecca.
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