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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
VERY depressing and was kinda frustrated with the bland, neutral retelling. clear to me that the story is tied through wealth inequity and social pressures but I don't care enough to continue
To Paradise is three books in one, speculative, and vaguely linked. The first section is set in an alternate 1890s, the next in the 1990s, and the final section, the longest, in the 2090s, all in New York City and in parts, Hawai'i. Each tells a different story, though the characters have the same names, but they all deal with family, possibility, choices, long-term consequences, illness, the nature of love, how people who are different might be loved, and the longing for paradise common to all. Not as emotionally devastating as A Little Life, it is still moving, clever, thought-provoking, evocative, lyrical, and magnificent. A time commitment, to be sure, for lovers of questions rather than answers.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a hard book to review for a few reasons, but mainly become the novel is broken down into three different books -- each of which could have stood on its own (at least in terms of length) and take place 100 years apart, so 1893, 1993, and 2093. There are some "red threads" (as they say in German) that connect the books, including the names of characters and certain traits, as well as locations, but they don't always align with what you might expect from the previous books. Normally I love stuff like that, but I found it a bit too distracting to search for these connections when sometimes they didn't make intuitive sense (to me anyway). Of the three books, I liked the last one the best, with the caveat that it is located in a dystopian future of the US with a totalitarian regime and the backdrop of repeat pandemics and global warming and environmental disasters. So not for the faint of heart. Although, I guess if you read Yanagihara's A Little Life, you're ready for that. Overall though, this novel just didn't pull me in with the heart wrenching emotions that A Little Life did.
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
To paradise left me feeling very depressed. The writing was beautiful but the themes and tones of each story had very little hope or human spirit, which dragged down the narrative. I disliked the through line of the stories being that the characters had the same names, it was confusing and didn’t add to the plot. It was also unclear if the book were meant to take place in the same universe or not. The first story was a little too slow and I wasn’t invested in the lovers. The second was good and I liked the father’s pov a lot. The third was mostly depressing. Overall the book fell flat for me because there wasn’t enough to hold onto (narrative wise or themes)
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the great American novel thank you thank you
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i knew this book would do this to me and yet... i am still inconsolable at 4am on a wednesday night. the neurodivergent representation tore my heart out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Colonisation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Outing, Alcohol