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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I could write an essay about this book, but I'll try to keep my thoughts brief.
This is the first book that has WOW'ed me in a long time. I had high expectations going into it; A Little Life is one of my favorite books of all time, and I already loved Hanya's writing, so I knew this was going to be incredible. And it was. Not only the premise, but the characters, the story, the way it weaves together. In 700 pages, I was never bored. This is not as traumatizing as A Little Life was, but still very emotional in different ways, and just as heartfelt. And incredibly, beautifully written.
This story spans three parts, in three different eras of time, in what is assumed to be an alternate version of the United States, separated into different countries and sectors. But there is one specific setting in common with every part of the story, and each character is somehow connected to each other. What I loved, more than anything, was how the same names were used for different characters; they're different people, but their names are significant and it leaves you wondering how they all might be related, or even if they are at all - if the name has been passed down through generations, crossing bloodlines and family trees, or if it's just a coincidence that another person has it. It's an incredible literary trick that I found was one of the most compelling things about the novel, one that connects every single character implicitly, even if they're not actually related.
This is a book about identity, most of all. It's about love, family, independence, and politics, and it shapes a near future which seems startlingly similar to where America is headed now. It was a future I had absolutely no trouble imagining for this country, which is scary. Though the past was slightly different, that didn't matter; it felt like this is the America we know, and that we've all been living in. This book asks the question: when all seems hopeless, when choice is stripped away from you, what will you do? Where will you go? And it provides the answer: You hold onto what you know to be true. You hold onto the people you love, and you keep your faith in yourself and them. And it puts forth the idea that there is a certain kind of paradise for everyone, in the end; there is hope. There is always something that comes after.
Hanya leaves some characters' endings ambiguous, and others more clearly defined, but even with the ambiguous endings, you can't help but think that they reached their paradise, too. That they got where they wanted to go. Because that's the ultimate point of the book, I think: that we're all reaching for our own paradise, and despite what life throws at us, we strive to get there no matter what.
I feel like I can say more, but I'm still reeling from this book, and I just know that it will stay with me for a long time and has cemented Hanya Yanagihara as one of my favorite writers ever. This was such a journey, and I felt so absorbed in every second of it. What a beautiful, heartbreaking, poignant book.
This is the first book that has WOW'ed me in a long time. I had high expectations going into it; A Little Life is one of my favorite books of all time, and I already loved Hanya's writing, so I knew this was going to be incredible. And it was. Not only the premise, but the characters, the story, the way it weaves together. In 700 pages, I was never bored. This is not as traumatizing as A Little Life was, but still very emotional in different ways, and just as heartfelt. And incredibly, beautifully written.
This story spans three parts, in three different eras of time, in what is assumed to be an alternate version of the United States, separated into different countries and sectors. But there is one specific setting in common with every part of the story, and each character is somehow connected to each other. What I loved, more than anything, was how the same names were used for different characters; they're different people, but their names are significant and it leaves you wondering how they all might be related, or even if they are at all - if the name has been passed down through generations, crossing bloodlines and family trees, or if it's just a coincidence that another person has it. It's an incredible literary trick that I found was one of the most compelling things about the novel, one that connects every single character implicitly, even if they're not actually related.
This is a book about identity, most of all. It's about love, family, independence, and politics, and it shapes a near future which seems startlingly similar to where America is headed now. It was a future I had absolutely no trouble imagining for this country, which is scary. Though the past was slightly different, that didn't matter; it felt like this is the America we know, and that we've all been living in. This book asks the question: when all seems hopeless, when choice is stripped away from you, what will you do? Where will you go? And it provides the answer: You hold onto what you know to be true. You hold onto the people you love, and you keep your faith in yourself and them. And it puts forth the idea that there is a certain kind of paradise for everyone, in the end; there is hope. There is always something that comes after.
Hanya leaves some characters' endings ambiguous, and others more clearly defined, but even with the ambiguous endings, you can't help but think that they reached their paradise, too. That they got where they wanted to go. Because that's the ultimate point of the book, I think: that we're all reaching for our own paradise, and despite what life throws at us, we strive to get there no matter what.
I feel like I can say more, but I'm still reeling from this book, and I just know that it will stay with me for a long time and has cemented Hanya Yanagihara as one of my favorite writers ever. This was such a journey, and I felt so absorbed in every second of it. What a beautiful, heartbreaking, poignant book.
My review at Broken Spine Book Review
https://brokenspinebookreview.com/reviewing-my-library/to-paradise
https://brokenspinebookreview.com/reviewing-my-library/to-paradise
Because of the length, and my general unease with historical fiction I almost passed on this. I instead, opted for the audiobook and am so glad I did. After reading reviews, it seems most people loved part one the most, but I am an outlier and absolutely adored book three. The narration by Catherine Ho, and especially B. D. Wong was astonishingly good, and I personally loved the dystopian nature of this section (it also terrified me a little, because I could see this happening in the near future).
I really really wanted to love this book. I loved the writing style(s). I loved the themes. I just couldn’t love the format - 3 “books” in one. I think they were 3 versions of the same story, but I really got bored during the second book and don’t really know what happened. I do badly want to say this was an amazing read. I’m glad I read it and at many points I was super excited to get back into it. But overall, it just didn’t hold my interest because of the length and tediousness(?) of it. I’ve truly never been so sad about a book not living up to my expectations. Maybe I’ll try again later.
hanya will always have my heart. following the book that shall not be named, this “trilogy”(i guess) book was so different but so extraordinary. the use of imagery in all three parts, along with the weaving of protagonists made this book an amazing read. the use of “to paradise” at the end of each section organically alters the readers vision of what paradise really is and if the three characters make it to their own version of it. only wish I would have some sort of closure on if David, Kavika, and Charlie made it to paradise. well done.
As a prose stylist, there are few authors out there who can rival Hanya Yanagihara for the depth of fluidity of the written word. There are also few authors I know who have proven so successful while dragging the reader through depressing narratives. Truly an artist of contrasts.
I'll say right off the top that I did not like the fact that this book is three separate and very loosely tangential narratives. They're uneven as far as that goes.
The first is set in an alternate New York in the 1800s feels most representative of the author's rich history of torturing gay male protagonists. The lead David is living the feckless life of a wealthy mediocrity until he becomes absorbed in a romance that will either destroy everything he has and takes for granted or will lead him into a loving paradise he scarcely imagined for himself.
The second narrative bounces between New York again in the 1990s and Hawaii, where a different David is originally from. The story bounces between the two perspectives and illuminates David's childhood and how he wound up where did. This narrative is probably the most depressing.
The third narrative is set in a plague-ridden and climate-ravaged future where successive waves of disease have radically altered the landscape of America. The narrator is Charlie, a young woman in a loveless marriage trying to come to terms with her relationship to her husband and her past. Like the second narrative, flashbacks (this time in the form of letters) illuminate her history through the story of her grandfathers and her father and explain how she came to be where she is and how she is.
This third story is the longest and touching as it does on pandemics feels the most realistic and reachable of the three, as depressing and ominous as it is. There's a thin thread of politics in it, with Yanagihara gesturing at the notion that pandemic lockdowns lead down a slippery slope to concentration camps and authoritarianism. I found myself wishing she had just focused on this narrative, which is already 300+ pages, because I would have liked to know how her other fictional countries seemed to fare a plague-ridden future so much more smoothly. Alas.
If you're going to read this book, do it for the sumptuous prose that allows you to inhabit a fictional present. Don't expect catharsis because you won't find it in any of the three stories. That's kind of the point I think? Paradise is always just over the horizon or some such.
Don't read this book for catharsis because it isn't there. Read it because
I'll say right off the top that I did not like the fact that this book is three separate and very loosely tangential narratives. They're uneven as far as that goes.
The first is set in an alternate New York in the 1800s feels most representative of the author's rich history of torturing gay male protagonists. The lead David is living the feckless life of a wealthy mediocrity until he becomes absorbed in a romance that will either destroy everything he has and takes for granted or will lead him into a loving paradise he scarcely imagined for himself.
The second narrative bounces between New York again in the 1990s and Hawaii, where a different David is originally from. The story bounces between the two perspectives and illuminates David's childhood and how he wound up where did. This narrative is probably the most depressing.
The third narrative is set in a plague-ridden and climate-ravaged future where successive waves of disease have radically altered the landscape of America. The narrator is Charlie, a young woman in a loveless marriage trying to come to terms with her relationship to her husband and her past. Like the second narrative, flashbacks (this time in the form of letters) illuminate her history through the story of her grandfathers and her father and explain how she came to be where she is and how she is.
This third story is the longest and touching as it does on pandemics feels the most realistic and reachable of the three, as depressing and ominous as it is. There's a thin thread of politics in it, with Yanagihara gesturing at the notion that pandemic lockdowns lead down a slippery slope to concentration camps and authoritarianism. I found myself wishing she had just focused on this narrative, which is already 300+ pages, because I would have liked to know how her other fictional countries seemed to fare a plague-ridden future so much more smoothly. Alas.
If you're going to read this book, do it for the sumptuous prose that allows you to inhabit a fictional present. Don't expect catharsis because you won't find it in any of the three stories. That's kind of the point I think? Paradise is always just over the horizon or some such.
Don't read this book for catharsis because it isn't there. Read it because
i dnf-ed this book in 68 pages. I didn’t enjoy this book and idc about the characters. It feels so different with A Little Life. Its so easy to falling in love with the characters. “It’s different book” i know but yeahhh i was in reading slump
DNF
Ich glaub, ich hab selten in meinem Leben ein so langweiliges Buch in der Hand gehalten. Null Plot, Null Spannung, kein einziger Charakter, zu dem man eine Bindung aufbauen kann. Ich verstehe den Hype um diese Autorin wirklich absolut gar nicht, was war das bitte?
Alles an dem Buch schreit „leg mich zurück ins Regal und fass mich nie wieder an“ and that‘s exactly what I‘m going to do.
Ich glaub, ich hab selten in meinem Leben ein so langweiliges Buch in der Hand gehalten. Null Plot, Null Spannung, kein einziger Charakter, zu dem man eine Bindung aufbauen kann. Ich verstehe den Hype um diese Autorin wirklich absolut gar nicht, was war das bitte?
Alles an dem Buch schreit „leg mich zurück ins Regal und fass mich nie wieder an“ and that‘s exactly what I‘m going to do.
Нарешті, нарешті, я дочитала цю бандуру. Купувала перший примірник ще в Україні, і він на мене два роки чекав, тоді купила такий самий в Німеччині, але його неможливо було взяти з собою, бо дуже велика книжка, надрукована на якомусь картоні, тому я купила іще "міні" версію (виходить, маю тепер три примірники:)
Дуже здивована, але це приємне здивування, бо тут все так, як має бути: мені дуже подобається стиль авторки, але цього разу "гадості", які зазвичай вона не пропускає і напихає книжку ними по самі вінця, якось набагато краще впліталися в сюжет і не викликали відчуття, що я хочу ту книжку відкласти і стерти собі памʼять. Три частини дуже різні, мені найбільше сподобалася остання, бо в перших двох часто обурювало, що герої якісь пласкі та недалекоглядні ("чувак, ти ж можеш так багато зробити"), а тут ця недалекоглядність була виправданою і дуже влучною. Сподобався чуттєвість та людяність (було дуже багато алюзій на інші книжки і я таке дуже люблю).
Коротше, клас. Цього разу TikTok не підвів:)
- I had spared her pain, but had I also denied her ecstasy?
Дуже здивована, але це приємне здивування, бо тут все так, як має бути: мені дуже подобається стиль авторки, але цього разу "гадості", які зазвичай вона не пропускає і напихає книжку ними по самі вінця, якось набагато краще впліталися в сюжет і не викликали відчуття, що я хочу ту книжку відкласти і стерти собі памʼять. Три частини дуже різні, мені найбільше сподобалася остання, бо в перших двох часто обурювало, що герої якісь пласкі та недалекоглядні ("чувак, ти ж можеш так багато зробити"), а тут ця недалекоглядність була виправданою і дуже влучною. Сподобався чуттєвість та людяність (було дуже багато алюзій на інші книжки і я таке дуже люблю).
Коротше, клас. Цього разу TikTok не підвів:)
- I had spared her pain, but had I also denied her ecstasy?
This was an intense (also v long) read. Felt sad for a lot of the third part but wish there had been better threading of the stories together apart from reusing some names in a way that felt like it was going to mean something but didn’t really.
Part one and three were the best!
Part one and three were the best!