“He’d be the world’s luckiest man to stand there at the end of it all, to be the one left, trying to remember. The unluckiest too” (253).

This story moves from Chicago in the 1980s to Paris in 2015. And while I appreciated the 2015 chapters for how they were threaded together with the 1980s chapters, I really just wanted to stay in the chapters with Yale and Asher and Terrence—because despite this being about AIDS in the ‘80s and knowing the ending wouldn’t be pretty, I desperately wanted those brief moments of dreamlike euphoria amongst friends and lovers (before the death sentences were ultimately delivered) to live on.

One of my favorite things about this book is the way the people and politics and plot are expertly layered and connected and revealed, unfolding to show how Nora and Yale and Fiona are all united by art and war: WWI and the war of the AIDS epidemic. And so much of being caught up in a war is being witness to ugly death and then living with the absence of friends. The other side of this tragedy, though, that’s saturated throughout the story is indignation. I found myself really angry throughout this book, probably because it’s the history of my lifetime—not some “Lost Generation” narrative. And so I found myself completely incensed for how these men were shamed and treated; incensed by the randomness of the disease (who lives and who dies); incensed at our lack of knowledge and understanding and empathy and access to healthcare in the 1980s.

Like the best art and literature reveal, there’s often beauty from ashes, but this book blows up the ashes, incinerating your heart. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement (because, yes, there will be tears), but even though this is such a heartbreaking history, it’s such a worthwhile, important read.
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This is incredibly well written and I love the characters but the time switching seemed unnecessary to me. The plot lines in 2015 were thin and I didn't care about them. The 1985 sections were so good though! ( )

4.25 ( )

I'm sobbing, because this is a beautiful but sad illumination of the era - and some of the plot hit a bit close to home in terms of lived experience. Highly recommend... ( )

Chicago 1985. Aids greift um sich und einer nach dem anderen sterben schwule Männer, die ihr Leben noch vor sich gehabt hätten.
Eine der Hauptfiguren ist Yale, der als Kunstexperte an eine fantastische Sammlung gerät. Die alte Dame Nora, der die Sammlung gehört, war einst Künstlerin, Modell und Muse. Sie empfindet die Ähnlichkeit ihrer, der Lost Generation mit der sterbenden Generation der Gegenwart. Ein weiterer Handlungsstrang spielt im Paris von 2015. Fiona, die 1985 mit der Chicagoer Clique befreundet war, ist nun Anfang 50 und sucht in Paris ihre Tochter. Gleichzeitig besucht sie Richard, der als Fotograf berühmt ist und eine große Ausstellung hat, mit Fotos aus dem Chicago der 1980er.
Ich mochte das Buch sehr. Die Menschen wachsen einem ans Herz, man versteht gut, wie es war, zu kurz zu leben, das viele Sterben. Aber auch wie es war zu überleben. Das Buch ist ergreifend und wirklich wunderbar. ( )