An unfortunate ending to an otherwise good novel

Part of a writing  novel involves the establishment of a plot - OK, not always, there are weird and grand exceptions such as Ulysses - but most novels include some form of plot, an arc to a story, a passage of events that are connected by more than just temporal sequence but by a the development of a character or an idea. Rebecca Makkai, in her 2018 novel, The Great Believers, to her credit recognizes the importance of plot in this novel of grand ambition. In the process of re-creating the world of a gay urban community at the time of the AIDS crisis, a literal Holocaust taking thousands of lives, and in look at this time of crisis from two perspectives - during the height of the AIDS virus and attendant fears and prejudices ca 1985 then reflecting back from the near present (2015), Makkai gives us two narrative plots, one stronger than the other: The 1985/6 plot about the politics and nuances of accepting an art donation worth millions of dollars and arranging an exhibit and dealing with the egos and rivalries and legal challenges attendant, is the stronger and more unusual; the 2015 plot, about a mother searching in Paris for her adult daughter who had years back joined a cult, seems like it would be the stronger but doesn't quite get there as the mother finds the daughter basically by hiring a detective, big deal. I wish I could give unalloyed endorsement to this novel, which has so many elements rare in contemporary literary fiction, including not only the abundance of plot material but a strong central character and a powerful re-creation of a time of crisis based on careful historical and archival research; however, there's more to a plot than getting it into motion: The author has to know when to bring it to a close as well, and I found this novel to be about 50 pages too long, as Makkai drags out the inevitable death scene to Tolstoyan length when it provides us w/ little or no new information, she lets the Paris plot bubble along forn o good reason, and she includes a really good account of an community demonstration about AIDS treatment and awareness but uses it at a point where we expect the novel to draw to a conclusion not to be drawn out for a lengthy chapter that adds little to the story line. It seems as if at the end Makkai is more focused on including material that her research unearthed than in keep this novel tight and dramatic - an unfortunate ending to an otherwise good novel.