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University of Portland Clark Library

ReadUP 2023: The Great Believers: The Book

Book Distribution

Copies are still available, in English and Spanish! Viisit the Clark Library during open hours to pick up their book.

The Clark Library also offers ebook copies for checkout.

Author Talk

Thursday, March 16, 2023
Schoenfeldt Distinguished Visiting Writers Series presents Rebecca Makkai
7-8pm | Buckley Center Auditorium

The Book

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for a Chicago art gallery, is about to pull off a coup, bringing an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings. 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.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago epidemic, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways the AIDS crisis affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. Yale and Fiona’s intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of 80’s and the chaos of the modern world, as both struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

~ from rebeccamakkai.com

Book Discussions

Open to all UP faculty, staff and students. Each discussion will unpack a different theme from The Great Believers.

Thursday, February 23, 2023
Facilitated by Isabelle Soule, Corey Pressman, Andrew Lafrenz, UP School of Nursing and Health Innovation
11:30-12:30 | Library Conference Room, LB 222

Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Facilitated by Cara Hersh, UP Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Scholarly Engagement & Career Readiness and UP English; Christi Hancock, UP History
11:30-12:30 | Library Conference Room, LB 222

Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Facilitated by Elise Moentmann, UP Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and UP History
11:30-12:30 | Library Conference Room, LB 222

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