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cowgirlcrybaby's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 — Yuck. Hated being in the minds of these disgusting boys. Loved the writing style but for such a short novel this felt incredibly long. Get what the author was trying to do but overall lacked depth for being such a brutal and gruesome read.
schlizzzy's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Murder
Moderate: Vomit
hyunc456's review against another edition
5.0
Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, masterfully translated by Sophie Hughes, is an absolutely entrancing, visceral read. It spans just over a hundred pages and is densely layered with complex themes written in Melchor's pitiless prose, from ideas of classism, racism, and misogyny to the macabre acts of rape and murder. This novel had me in an absolute chokehold during the one sitting in which I both began and completed it. It was such a gut-wrenching, heart-accelerating experience that it could be compared to trauma porn, and reasonably so. Every line is fueled by an undertone of violence and cruelty, with impossibly breathtaking observations that paint each scene.
The novel introduces us to two teenage boys: hateful 16-year-old Polo and porn addict "Fatboy" Franco. Polo and Franco are teenagers from two majorly different classes of Mexican society, with Franco practically swimming in money in the luxury housing complex 'Paradise' (the name which Polo views phonetically as 'Paradais') and Polo being a poverty-stricken high school dropout that works as the gardener for the same complex in which Franco resides. The relationship between these two is complex; Franco discloses to Polo his sick obsessions and fantasies about his neighbor, while Polo sticks by to give himself an excuse to avoid his overbearing mother and lecherous cousin. As Polo's hatred for his poverty-stricken life and Franco's desire for his neighbor grow, the boys hatch a brutal scheme in an attempt to obtain the impossible.
I have never felt so much disgust when reading a novel, nor have I been so enticed to continue. The characters were vile and miserable, coloring others in a misanthropic light while pathetically trying to justify their own desires. But even in these characters were the hidden effects of poverty, trauma, and societal cues, which present heavy, complex topics woven into the narrative. Franco and Polo were horrific, despicable characters, and they're ones that shouldn't be justified at all. The point of this is that these characters aren't just there: they are fleshed out, with each thematic aspect deeply contributing to their personalities, morals, and actions. Perhaps the larger horror of this novel is that the fundamental cracks in society and class are what breed these miscreants, these horrific excuses for human beings. Polo's violent, torrent-like narrative and his constant recollections of his childhood self when he was still innocent and untainted really magnify this horror.
Polo: frustrated teenager, willing to do anything to escape the life to which he is bound. The ending left me out of it—the constant metaphors and symbolism utilized in the novel really hit you hard, especially after the glimpse of hope, which is, of course, quietly shut down: Polo viewing the river by 'Paradise' as his path to salvation, only to return back to the life he so wanted to escape once entering it. What is frustration, anger, and even murder against class struggle? If two teenagers have nothing to lose and believe themselves deserving of the implausible, what ensues? Paradais by Fernanda Melchor is a brilliant exploration of the fragility of Mexican society and the explosive, idealistic outbursts of trauma-ridden teenagers.
Pradais is an absolutely gruesome yet enticing read, a masterful work of literary thriller. This book doesn't gratify; it only presents the ugly in its harrowing details.
~5 stars.
The novel introduces us to two teenage boys: hateful 16-year-old Polo and porn addict "Fatboy" Franco. Polo and Franco are teenagers from two majorly different classes of Mexican society, with Franco practically swimming in money in the luxury housing complex 'Paradise' (the name which Polo views phonetically as 'Paradais') and Polo being a poverty-stricken high school dropout that works as the gardener for the same complex in which Franco resides. The relationship between these two is complex; Franco discloses to Polo his sick obsessions and fantasies about his neighbor, while Polo sticks by to give himself an excuse to avoid his overbearing mother and lecherous cousin. As Polo's hatred for his poverty-stricken life and Franco's desire for his neighbor grow, the boys hatch a brutal scheme in an attempt to obtain the impossible.
I have never felt so much disgust when reading a novel, nor have I been so enticed to continue. The characters were vile and miserable, coloring others in a misanthropic light while pathetically trying to justify their own desires. But even in these characters were the hidden effects of poverty, trauma, and societal cues, which present heavy, complex topics woven into the narrative. Franco and Polo were horrific, despicable characters, and they're ones that shouldn't be justified at all. The point of this is that these characters aren't just there: they are fleshed out, with each thematic aspect deeply contributing to their personalities, morals, and actions. Perhaps the larger horror of this novel is that the fundamental cracks in society and class are what breed these miscreants, these horrific excuses for human beings. Polo's violent, torrent-like narrative and his constant recollections of his childhood self when he was still innocent and untainted really magnify this horror.
Polo: frustrated teenager, willing to do anything to escape the life to which he is bound. The ending left me out of it—the constant metaphors and symbolism utilized in the novel really hit you hard, especially after the glimpse of hope, which is, of course, quietly shut down: Polo viewing the river by 'Paradise' as his path to salvation, only to return back to the life he so wanted to escape once entering it. What is frustration, anger, and even murder against class struggle? If two teenagers have nothing to lose and believe themselves deserving of the implausible, what ensues? Paradais by Fernanda Melchor is a brilliant exploration of the fragility of Mexican society and the explosive, idealistic outbursts of trauma-ridden teenagers.
Pradais is an absolutely gruesome yet enticing read, a masterful work of literary thriller. This book doesn't gratify; it only presents the ugly in its harrowing details.
~5 stars.
monserrot's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
dylan2219's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Fernanda Melchor’s follow up to Hurricane Season is (nearly) as grim and unrelenting as that book; she continues her downward spiral into examining misogyny, class, and violence in Mexico with her perfect blend of ramblingly confessional, yet pathologically precise intensity. Like that book, Paradais is a structural marvel of shifting time and perspective, carried by the corrosive voice of its characters, rotting away from too much time spent in a sick and dying world. It - too - is a kind of late capitalist, post colonial Gothic novel. There is a haunted mansion, there are ghosts and witches, the bruising weight of the past, obsession, addiction, murder, rape, revenge. The decision to set the book in its titular gated community, with a fetid, swamp-like pool that reminded me of Lucrecia Martel’s film La Cienaga, is the book’s unique counterpoint to its predecessor yet is sadly rather unexplored. The book frankly needs more; and it suffers in comparison to its predecessors holistic mosaic of social ills by instead lightly toying around with a few similar ones primarily through the prism of two rather underdeveloped characters. The novel’s main driving force, while amazingly presented at the conclusion, also wraps up a little too neatly and feels unearned. And, in some ways, the desire to shock and bludgeon with the most heinous language and images possible feels a little tackier this time round. That being said, no one is writing novels with such ingenious structure and pacing, with such an assured voice, and with such venomous anger at injustice. The question now is how long this can be sustained before the shock feels hollow.
garyy213's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jessicarosee's review against another edition
2.0
Melchor has a brilliantly unique writing style, however this book was incredibly slow-paced and jumbled until the last 40 or so pages which went by TOO fast
mattydata's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0