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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
The description of this book made it seem like a fun sci-fi romp. Instead, it was a sometimes frustrating, sometimes devastating personal drama about how history repeats itself but morphs slightly each time. The second book draaaaaaaags but the first and third make up for it.
I don't think I get it. The three distinct parts of this 700+-page doorstop do not add up to a brilliant whole. I get the recurring themes, the echoes of names and places, but this never builds into something spectacular, or anything at all. It feels like people's affection for the author's last book is inflating their affection for this one.
not my typical read because i prefer quick-reads and romance, but this book was definitely written very well. i think i lost some of it a bit as i listened to most of it rather than read it and my mind tended to wander. three stars instead of four simply for personal taste.(2nd story was my least fave)
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
É um longo livro muito muito muito triste. É um livro marcante que, aposto, vou me lembrar da historia e dos personagens por muito tempo.
Me fez sentir tanta coisa, fui dormir chorando várias vezes depois de ler, mas gostei muito da experiência de ter conhecido as histórias dessas pessoas. Fiquei brava, triste, inconformada, inconsolável, fiquei feliz nos raros momentos em que as coisas pareciam estar dando certo, mas também apreensiva, porque a qualquer momento a bolha de felicidade iria se romper (e percebi que esse sentimento, que durou apenas o tempo da leitura de um capítulo, pode durar por toda uma vida).
Ler esse livro é um grande exercício de empatia.
Me fez sentir tanta coisa, fui dormir chorando várias vezes depois de ler, mas gostei muito da experiência de ter conhecido as histórias dessas pessoas. Fiquei brava, triste, inconformada, inconsolável, fiquei feliz nos raros momentos em que as coisas pareciam estar dando certo, mas também apreensiva, porque a qualquer momento a bolha de felicidade iria se romper (e percebi que esse sentimento, que durou apenas o tempo da leitura de um capítulo, pode durar por toda uma vida).
Ler esse livro é um grande exercício de empatia.
To Paradise is three books in one, with a 100 years gap between them. Each book can be read on its own. There are shared elements: New York (Washington Square), neuro-atypoical characters, gay theme, and the choice between family, security and adventure. Names of the main characters are shared too: David, Edward, Charlies, Peter, etc.. Are they supposed to be incarnations?
Book One is set in an alternative 1893’s New York, which was a part of Free States, an independent country in the East and North East coast of America where homesexual union was legalised and women had voting rights, but not blacks. It reads like historical fiction. The language is gorgeous, and it does have the feel of Henry James and Edith Wharton. The problem is, I am not a fan of Henry James, and it lacks Edith Wharton’s female angle that I adore.
Book Two has two parts. The first part, set in New York as we know of during the 1993 AIDS crisis, is my least liked part–none of the characters interest me. Part 2, set in mid-century Hawaii, is more engaging.
The best is Book Three, set in the fifty years leading to 2093, again in New York but this time a part of a totalitarian dystopian country ravaged by pandemics and the result of wars and global climate disasters. The story is narrated in alternating voices of Charlies, a Hawaii virologist employed by a prestigious New York institute, and Charlie, Charlies’ granddaughter and a survivor of a previous pandemic. I’ve read quite a few dystopian novels, many of which have well-depicted worlds in their different dystopian ways, but little details of how the modern civilization collapsed, or, most importantly, how ordinary people felt during the abysmal transition. This book is different. There is a Chinese saying–cooking frogs in warm water. As a frog, you probably won’t even notice the rising temperature until it’s too late. Different individuals have different tolerance levels. Some might even enjoy the warm bath a bit. Others might think, by fanning the fire, they could escape the fate. There are only four options: to escape, to fight, to adapt, or to die.
Among the many neuro-atypoical, lonely and marginalised young characters, Charlie is my favourite.
My biggest disappointment is the open endings. Why can’t she just let me know what happened to David and Charlie?!
Rating:
Book One: 3.5 star
Book Two: 3 star (Part 1: 2 star; Part 2: 4 star)
Book Three: 4.5 star (the ending…)
Average: 3.7 round up, so, 4 star
Book One is set in an alternative 1893’s New York, which was a part of Free States, an independent country in the East and North East coast of America where homesexual union was legalised and women had voting rights, but not blacks. It reads like historical fiction. The language is gorgeous, and it does have the feel of Henry James and Edith Wharton. The problem is, I am not a fan of Henry James, and it lacks Edith Wharton’s female angle that I adore.
Book Two has two parts. The first part, set in New York as we know of during the 1993 AIDS crisis, is my least liked part–none of the characters interest me. Part 2, set in mid-century Hawaii, is more engaging.
The best is Book Three, set in the fifty years leading to 2093, again in New York but this time a part of a totalitarian dystopian country ravaged by pandemics and the result of wars and global climate disasters. The story is narrated in alternating voices of Charlies, a Hawaii virologist employed by a prestigious New York institute, and Charlie, Charlies’ granddaughter and a survivor of a previous pandemic. I’ve read quite a few dystopian novels, many of which have well-depicted worlds in their different dystopian ways, but little details of how the modern civilization collapsed, or, most importantly, how ordinary people felt during the abysmal transition. This book is different. There is a Chinese saying–cooking frogs in warm water. As a frog, you probably won’t even notice the rising temperature until it’s too late. Different individuals have different tolerance levels. Some might even enjoy the warm bath a bit. Others might think, by fanning the fire, they could escape the fate. There are only four options: to escape, to fight, to adapt, or to die.
Among the many neuro-atypoical, lonely and marginalised young characters, Charlie is my favourite.
My biggest disappointment is the open endings. Why can’t she just let me know what happened to David and Charlie?!
Rating:
Book One: 3.5 star
Book Two: 3 star (Part 1: 2 star; Part 2: 4 star)
Book Three: 4.5 star (the ending…)
Average: 3.7 round up, so, 4 star
In all honesty, I probably should have given this book 4.5 stars, or maybe even a 4, but the third story was something that I'll probably be thinking about forever, and it was so perfect that I couldn’t bear to give this book less than 5 stars.
This book is made up of three short stories that relate to each other in character names and themes. Each of the stories can be read as its own individual thing, and they don’t tie together in any significant way. The characters having the same names confused me a bit at first, but once I figured out that there didn't seem to be a reason for this, I enjoyed it a lot more.
The first story was an alternative historical fiction about family and forbidden love.
The second was a story about identity and the relationship between a father and son.
The third story was a dystopian look at a future riddled by pandemic after pandemic and how people dealt with living in the aftermath, and the times leading up to it.
When I first picked this up, I was afraid that I wouldn’t enjoy it. I loved “A Little Life” so very much, and I was afraid that nothing else could ever even come close to living up to it, and although this book definitely isn’t on par with “A Little Life", it is still one of the best books I’ve read this year. Hanya Yanagihara has officially become an auto-buy author for me. I will be reading anything and everything she writes.
This book is made up of three short stories that relate to each other in character names and themes. Each of the stories can be read as its own individual thing, and they don’t tie together in any significant way. The characters having the same names confused me a bit at first, but once I figured out that there didn't seem to be a reason for this, I enjoyed it a lot more.
The first story was an alternative historical fiction about family and forbidden love.
The second was a story about identity and the relationship between a father and son.
The third story was a dystopian look at a future riddled by pandemic after pandemic and how people dealt with living in the aftermath, and the times leading up to it.
When I first picked this up, I was afraid that I wouldn’t enjoy it. I loved “A Little Life” so very much, and I was afraid that nothing else could ever even come close to living up to it, and although this book definitely isn’t on par with “A Little Life", it is still one of the best books I’ve read this year. Hanya Yanagihara has officially become an auto-buy author for me. I will be reading anything and everything she writes.
4.5 ROUNDED
To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel consisting of three separate books set in different time periods; 1893, 1993, and 2093. They are all linked together by love, longing, desire, Hawaii, queerness, loneliness, New York City, class, wealth, race, and illness.
It’s safe to say that Hanya has DONE IT AGAIN and written an absolutely exquisite book. She really is one of those writers that can have you so completely wrapped up and immersed in what you’re reading, just by virtue of how beautiful her prose is. She is well and truly a modern legend, and I have no doubt her books will be considered classics as time goes on.
I loved the way that each book ended with the words “to paradise” - each protagonist searching for a better life, the elusive paradise which exists like a mirage that’s always slightly out of reach. While we’re on the topic, there were some cliffhangers that you may not like if you’re someone who needs closure, and I too was a bit annoyed at our friend Hanya, but they were done so wonderfully that I just couldn’t stay mad.
I felt at times that my reading lost momentum during Book III, and I’m not sure that it needed to be 350 pages long, but I have to respect Hanya’s intricate world-building, and how she allows her stories to slowly unravel. Ultimately, Book I and III ended up being the standouts for me, with Book II just not really resonating.
I will leave you with this beautiful passage as an example of how wonderful Hanya’s writing is, in case you have not yet read her work (if not, then why!?):
“Together they'd walk through these houses, opening doors, greeting friends, closing doors behind them, until, at last, they'd come to what they somehow knew was the final door. And here they'd pause a moment, squeezing each other's hands, before turning the knob and entering a kitchen just like their own, the same jade green walls, the same gilt-edged china in the cupboards, the same framed etchings on the walls, the same soft linen dish towels hung on the same ash-carved pegs, but in which a mango tree was growing, its leaves brushing the ceiling.”
To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel consisting of three separate books set in different time periods; 1893, 1993, and 2093. They are all linked together by love, longing, desire, Hawaii, queerness, loneliness, New York City, class, wealth, race, and illness.
It’s safe to say that Hanya has DONE IT AGAIN and written an absolutely exquisite book. She really is one of those writers that can have you so completely wrapped up and immersed in what you’re reading, just by virtue of how beautiful her prose is. She is well and truly a modern legend, and I have no doubt her books will be considered classics as time goes on.
I loved the way that each book ended with the words “to paradise” - each protagonist searching for a better life, the elusive paradise which exists like a mirage that’s always slightly out of reach. While we’re on the topic, there were some cliffhangers that you may not like if you’re someone who needs closure, and I too was a bit annoyed at our friend Hanya, but they were done so wonderfully that I just couldn’t stay mad.
I felt at times that my reading lost momentum during Book III, and I’m not sure that it needed to be 350 pages long, but I have to respect Hanya’s intricate world-building, and how she allows her stories to slowly unravel. Ultimately, Book I and III ended up being the standouts for me, with Book II just not really resonating.
I will leave you with this beautiful passage as an example of how wonderful Hanya’s writing is, in case you have not yet read her work (if not, then why!?):
“Together they'd walk through these houses, opening doors, greeting friends, closing doors behind them, until, at last, they'd come to what they somehow knew was the final door. And here they'd pause a moment, squeezing each other's hands, before turning the knob and entering a kitchen just like their own, the same jade green walls, the same gilt-edged china in the cupboards, the same framed etchings on the walls, the same soft linen dish towels hung on the same ash-carved pegs, but in which a mango tree was growing, its leaves brushing the ceiling.”
It was way too long and after the first story I just dragged myself through. Actually, I could not care less about the characters right now.