The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

This book was one of the New York Times fivwe best works of fiction last year, and it was short listed for the National Book Award.  In addition, I thought it was the best thing that I have read in a while.
The story revolves around two time periods, one the mid-1980's as the AIDS crisis is coming to the forefront for gay men in the United States.  The other is 2015 in Paris, where there is an update on how the crisis has a ripple effect.  I like stories that cover a long period of time, and reveal the long standing nature of bad things happening, and how they get passed on as well.  In the wake of the federal government shut down, where workers missed 8.5% of their annual income based on the length of time they were out of work because the President would not acknowledge the overwhelmingly negative results of the 2018 election and instead wanted to force his will on people regardless of the consequences. 
This focuses on the gay community, tells a few stories of different people, most of them very difficult and sad, and then follows up with the sister of a man who died, who then went on to sit at the bedside of almost all of his friends as they too died.  The modern story is her attempt to make up for lost time with her daughter, who felt unloved and uncared for by a mother who had seen endless death.