Reviews

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

tavi_c's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

fetzpahs2002's review against another edition

5.0

Intertwined stories of race, racial identity, and racism over a two hundred year period on a small island off the New England coast. What is white? What is black? Dominance regardless of legalities, morals, or religious beliefs, riding roughshod over the moral, ethical, honest, and religious non-whites.

vfjowers's review against another edition

4.0

Beautiful and painful. Feels like reading the making of a biblical myth but nevertheless it strikes a relevant chord for us all today - as long as we learn to remember and not repeat our sins.

juliachilver's review against another edition

3.0

Interesting history - untold story but I didn’t particularly like the way it was done.

sculpthead's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

pansypipedream's review against another edition

3.5

Some of the prose in this is absolutely gorgeous, and some of it I had to look away. Made my heart ache.

katami's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

rgrish11's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

ashtinballard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

bepostema's review against another edition

2.0

Beautifully written, in a way. But once I read additional material about the actual Malaga Island on which this novel is based and the records uncovered by historians in Maine rather than just reviews by writers in New York, I can't give it a higher rating. Harding made conscious choices to amplify the worst lies and disproved myths about the residents of Malaga Island. He doesn't get a pass on those deliberate mischaracterizations (even using the actual person Annie Parker's real name) just because it's fiction.
See: https://www.postalley.org/2023/10/28/telling-tragic-stories-novelist-paul-harding-and-maines-malaga-island/
https://www.pressherald.com/2023/11/12/amid-literary-praise-for-this-other-eden-critics-fear-the-novel-could-undo-work-to-dispel-myths-about-malaga-island/