Rebecca Makkai

"In 1985, Yale Tishman is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery where he works. 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. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster."--

The Great Believers

The riveting new novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent ﬂaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transﬁxing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

A Novel

I Have Some Questions for You

When her favorite patron, a book-loving ten-year-old, runs away from overbearing parents who force him to attend anti-gay classes with a celebrity pastor, children's librarian Lucy Hull flees with the boy and discovers that they are being pursued by an anonymous adversary.

The Borrower

A short-story collection from the acclaimed author of The Great Believers Named a must-read by the Chicago Tribune, O Magazine, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and The L Magazine Rebecca Makkai’s first two novels, The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, have established her as one of the freshest and most imaginative voices in fiction. Now, the award-winning writer, whose stories have appeared in four consecutive editions of The Best American Short Stories, returns with a highly anticipated collection bearing her signature mix of intelligence, wit, and heart. A reality show producer manipulates two contestants into falling in love, even as her own relationship falls apart. Just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a young boy has a revelation about his father’s past when a renowned Romanian violinist plays a concert in their home. When the prized elephant of a traveling circus keels over dead, the small-town minister tasked with burying its remains comes to question his own faith. In an unnamed country, a composer records the folk songs of two women from a village on the brink of destruction. These transporting, deeply moving stories—some inspired by her own family history—amply demonstrate Makkai’s extraordinary range as a storyteller, and confirm her as a master of the short story form. “Richly imagined.” —Chicago Tribune “Impressive.” —O, The Oprah Magazine “Engrossing.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Inventive.” —W Magazine

Stories

Music for Wartime

The Hundred Year House

The acclaimed author of The Borrower returns with a dazzlingly original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield. Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parentsâe(tm) wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then thereâe(tm)s Violet Devohr, Zeeâe(tm)s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. Violetâe(tm)s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it served as the Laurelfield Arts Colony âe" and this is exactly the period Zeeâe(tm)s husband, Doug, is interested in. An out-of-work academic whose only hope of a future position is securing a book deal, Doug is stalled on his biography of the poet Edwin Parfitt, once in residence at the colony. All he needs to get the book back on track âe" besides some motivation and self-esteem âe" is access to the colony records, rotting away in the attic for decades. But when Doug begins to poke around where he shouldnâe(tm)t, he finds Gracie guards the files with a strange ferocity, raising questions about what she might be hiding. The secrets of the hundred-year house would turn everything Doug and Zee think they know about her family on its head âe" that is, if they were to ever uncover them. In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer.

The Hundred-Year House

De conservatief-religieuze ouders van een 10-jarige boekenwurm vrezen om belachelijke redenen dat hun zoon homoseksueel is en willen hem onderwerpen aan een bijbels programma dat hem daarvan moet 'genezen'. Een bibliothecaresse ontfermt zich over hem.

The borrower

« I grandi sognatori è un antidoto alla tentazione di dimenticare ciò che non vogliamo ricordare, ma - ancora piú importante - è anche un romanzo avvincente e di grande forza emotiva che racconta cosa significa vivere in tempi di crisi». Michael Cunningham

I grandi sognatori

Yale Tishman es uno de los muchos amigos de Nico que se han reunido para honrar su memoria en una pequeña fiesta. Es Chicago, es 1985, y esos amigos son homosexuales. El SIDA causa verdaderos estragos: uno a uno, sus amigos enferman, y cada día que pasa el virus estrecha más su cerco alrededor de Yale

Los optimistas

Icten Inananlar

'Dit boek heeft mij echt geraakt. Verbijsterend en hoopvol.' DWDD Boekenpanel Chicago, 1985. Yale werkt bij een museum en staat op het punt om een bijzondere collectie binnen te halen. Maar terwijl zijn carrière een hoge vlucht neemt, woekert de aidsepidemie. Na de begrafenis van zijn goede vriend Nico wordt Yales vriendenkring snel kleiner, totdat hij alleen Fiona, Nico's jongere zus, over heeft. Dertig jaar later gaat Fiona in Parijs op zoek naar haar dochter die haar niet meer wil spreken. Daar logeert ze bij een vriend, die fotograaf was in Chicago in de jaren 80 en wordt zo opnieuw geconfronteerd met de verwoestende effecten die de aidscrisis heeft gehad op haar leven. De verhalen van Yale en Fiona komen op verrassende en ontroerende wijze samen in een onvergetelijk slot. 'Een van de eerste romans die verslag doet van de aidsepidemie vanaf de uitbraak tot het heden. Een meeslepend verhaal over het leven in rampzalige tijden.' The New York Times 'Een ijzersterk verhaal over vrienden die onder de zwaarst mogelijke omstandigheden hun menselijkheid trachten te behouden.' People Magazine 'Een hartverscheurend verhaal over liefde en verlies maar ook over diepe verbondenheid.' Oprah Magazine 'Buitengewoon aangrijpend, levendig en hoopvol.' The Guardian

Een stralende toekomst

Ausgeliehen

Lucy, célibataire pas encore trentenaire, est bibliothécaire dans une petite ville perdue du Middle West. Ian, dix ans, fils unique de chrétiens fondamentalistes homophobes, est son plus fidèle lecteur. Un beau matin, elle le découvre sur son lieu de travail réfugié parmi les livres. Contre toute attente, elle ne va pas le ramener tout de suite à ses parents. Ensemble, ils vont parcourir plusieurs États de cette Amérique post 11-Septembre. Pour ce gamin rêveur, c'est la découverte du vaste monde ; pour elle, l'occasion de s'interroger sur ses origines russes, le déracinement de ses ancêtres et leurs aspirations à plus de liberté. Rebecca Makkai signe ici un premier roman humaniste et original en forme de road-book. Une balade épique et onirique qui décortique les traumatismes d'une nation faite d'immigrants, de fugueurs et de chapardeurs d'identités.

roman

Chapardeuse

Officiële website van Rebecca Makkai Rebecca Makkai over waarom boeken zo belangrijk zijn

De lener

馬凱

幸運之子

Une saga familiale ambitieuse et ludique sous la forme de poupées russes. 1999 : Bienvenue à Laurelfield, vaste demeure du Midwest et partez à la rencontre de ses propriétaires ancestraux, les Devohr. Il y a Zee, une marxiste qui méprise la richesse de ses parents, tout en vivant dans leur maison avec son mari Doug ; sa mère Grace, qui prétend pouvoir tout savoir d'une personne en regardant ses dents ; et son beau-père Bruce, occupé à faire des réserves pour l'arrivée imminente de l'an 2000. Et puis il y a Violet, son arrière-grand-mère, qui se serait suicidée quelque part dans cette grande maison et dont le portrait est toujours accroché dans la salle à manger. 1955 : Grace et son mari violent George emménagent à Laurelfield. Rapidement, elle remarque des détails étranges qu'elle considère comme des présages d'événements à venir. Sa vie commence alors à changer... 1929 : Laurelfield est une colonie d'artistes hétéroclite et bohèmes où se retrouve la fine fleur de la création artistique de l'époque. Le petit groupe passe son temps entre poursuites artistiques et débauche sous les yeux du portrait de Violet Devhor, qui hanterait les lieux. "Une saga familiale [...] ainsi que le quotidien de ses habitants excentriques." (LH Spécial, 11/12/20)

Cent ans de Laurelfield

Un paseo por la memoria, la infancia y la literatura que hechizará a los lectores empedernidos y a quien aún no ha encontrado en la literatura su tabla de salvación.

Una bibliotecaria y un pequeño gran lector en una aventura para encontrarse a sí mismos

El devorador de libros

Boystown (eng. The Great Believers) er en prisvindende og anmelderrost roman om venskab, kærlighed og tab under 80'ernes AIDS-epidemi i USA. Yale Tishman har en strålende karriere i Chicagos kunstverden, men omkring ham begynder AIDS-epidemien at tage til i styrke. En efter en bliver hans venner syge og dør, og efter hans ven Nicos begravelse kommer sygdommen helt tæt på Yale. Tredive år senere søger Nicos lillesøster, Fiona, efter sin datter i Paris. Her bliver hun konfronteret med de katastrofale følger, sygdommen fik for hendes eget liv. Yales og Fionas historier væves ind i hinanden og skildrer sygdommens rasen, den moderne verdens kaos og de menneskelige omkostninger epidemien havde for dem begge. Romanen var bl.a. finalist til Pulitzer-prisen og National Book Award og vinder af Carnegie-medaljen. "Medrivende og menneskelig (...) En pageturner om sygdom og dødelighed." New York Times "Makkai skriver tankefuldt og sikkert om betydningen af erindring og eftermæle og den smerte, der følger med at overleve." The Guardian

Boystown

Marc Rubió

El 1985, mentre el Yale Tishman comença a prosperar en l'àmbit professional, Chicago es veu devastada per l'epidèmia de la sida. A poc a poc veurà com els seus amics emmalalteixen, i la ciutat i la seva vida canvien per sempre. Trenta anys després, la Fiona, amiga de joventut del Yale, viatja a París a buscar la seva filla desapareguda. Amb dolor, retroba el món que creia haver deixat enrere i reflexiona rememora els dies que van marcar el futur de tots aquells joves. Els grans optimistes és una història absorbent i emotiva sobre com viure la vida en temps de crisi, una novel·la commovedora que ens confronta amb la pèrdua, l'amistat, la traïció, la supervivència i l'amor de la mà d'uns personatges inoblidables.

Rebecca Makkai

Books

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