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mollified_moments's review
1.0
It pains me to admit that I didn't like this book as I've been a huge fan of her other books. I'm not sure what it was but the story just seemed so heavy and sad that I had to push myself to read more than a few pages.
emmamgregory's review
3.0
Birds Of Paradise centers around a nuclear family during the mid nineties property boom in Miami Florida. Brian the father is a lawyer for a high powered property real estate company and is a boring character other than the fact towards the end of the story he struggles with his moral reasoning when his company tries to buy land in a poor neighborhood which would send the long time tenants into the streets practically homeless. Avis the mother is a baker and the writers long descriptions of moist dulce de luché's and intricate pastries was lost on me as I am not a sweet lover. Avis is struggling to come to terms with the fact that five years ago her teenage daughter Felice ran away from home, being a mother this would be a tragic event but I found it hard to empathize with Avis's character. Then there is Felice who has been living on the Miami streets for five years but has managed to live on her looks as a model and has never turned to drugs or prostitution a hard to believe phenomena. Then there is Stanley the brother who makes a brief but inconsequential entrance at the end of the story as Felice's bolt hole when things finally get rough on the streets and she decides to make a re-acquaintance with her family.
Altogether the character's were dull and just skimmed the surface of their personalities and the story never went anywhere, another snoozeville.
Altogether the character's were dull and just skimmed the surface of their personalities and the story never went anywhere, another snoozeville.
karenleagermain's review
4.0
Diana Abu-Jaber's novel Birds of Paradise is a gut-wrenching family drama set against the backdrop of the tropical suburbs that surround Miami.
The Muir family is living a seemingly picture-perfect middle-class life. They have a lovely home, great jobs and beautiful children. Look closer and they're a mess.. Each member of the family lives in isolation. They hold in their pain and they fear expressing both their problems and their desires.
The parents, Avis and Brian have long stopped communicating and their marriage is on the brink of collapse. Their adult son, Stanley, has quit college to pursue his dream of owning a community grocery store. He worries that his parents disapprove of choices. The youngest child, Felice, ran away from home in high school and has been living on the streets for years. All four people want to repair their wounds, but a sense of pride and the struggle to communicate keeps forcing them to stay apart, only compounding the situation.
The story is told through all four characters, alternating the focus with each chapter. I found Felice's story to be by far the most compelling. It was kind of like an episode of Dateline with all of the details of the teenagers living on the streets. It was horrible to read, yet I kept wanting more. I felt like the author must have had experience or was very well researched, because the details just rang true. At times, I forgot that I was reading fiction.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. Abu-Jaber has a beautiful, lyrical quality to her writing and she really made the city of Miami come alive through her descriptions. In the story, Avis has a baking business and I loved Abu-Jabers flowing paragraphs describing the amazing pastries and cakes. Don't read this story on an empty stomach or while dieting!
My only fault is maybe it tried to accomplish too much. There was a lot going on with all of the characters and it overreached. I was unevenly interested in the various story lines and it led to an uneven pacing. I wish that Felice had been the primary focus of the story, as there was plenty of information with her character to warrant an entire novel. The twist as to why she ran away from home is loaded and could have been explored more deeply. It's a shock.
I look forward to reading more stories by Abu-Jaber. She is a talented storyteller and has a wonderful writer's voice.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
The Muir family is living a seemingly picture-perfect middle-class life. They have a lovely home, great jobs and beautiful children. Look closer and they're a mess.. Each member of the family lives in isolation. They hold in their pain and they fear expressing both their problems and their desires.
The parents, Avis and Brian have long stopped communicating and their marriage is on the brink of collapse. Their adult son, Stanley, has quit college to pursue his dream of owning a community grocery store. He worries that his parents disapprove of choices. The youngest child, Felice, ran away from home in high school and has been living on the streets for years. All four people want to repair their wounds, but a sense of pride and the struggle to communicate keeps forcing them to stay apart, only compounding the situation.
The story is told through all four characters, alternating the focus with each chapter. I found Felice's story to be by far the most compelling. It was kind of like an episode of Dateline with all of the details of the teenagers living on the streets. It was horrible to read, yet I kept wanting more. I felt like the author must have had experience or was very well researched, because the details just rang true. At times, I forgot that I was reading fiction.
Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. Abu-Jaber has a beautiful, lyrical quality to her writing and she really made the city of Miami come alive through her descriptions. In the story, Avis has a baking business and I loved Abu-Jabers flowing paragraphs describing the amazing pastries and cakes. Don't read this story on an empty stomach or while dieting!
My only fault is maybe it tried to accomplish too much. There was a lot going on with all of the characters and it overreached. I was unevenly interested in the various story lines and it led to an uneven pacing. I wish that Felice had been the primary focus of the story, as there was plenty of information with her character to warrant an entire novel. The twist as to why she ran away from home is loaded and could have been explored more deeply. It's a shock.
I look forward to reading more stories by Abu-Jaber. She is a talented storyteller and has a wonderful writer's voice.
Like my review? Check out my blog!
nappower's review against another edition
4.0
lyrical & lush. about finding one's center in a way, i thought it was a chewy read & for the most part pretty great.
loved the author's treatment of food & wrote about it here - http://www.escapingwords.com/2011/10/birds-of-paradise.html
recommend for people who like food writing; family stories; characters' introspection.
loved the author's treatment of food & wrote about it here - http://www.escapingwords.com/2011/10/birds-of-paradise.html
recommend for people who like food writing; family stories; characters' introspection.
giannaareneee's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i think the book was well written. i didn’t love the constant references to side character’s skin color and how race was discussed in the book. i understand the purpose of showing how diverse Miami is, but some moments of the book seemed unnecessary as well as some characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
annaelisereads's review
4.0
Beautiful and heartbreaking story of a family trying to stay together in Miami. Pastry chefs - there is definitely delicious and loving descriptions of cookies, cakes, and eclairs. My favorite line in the book: the daughter, Felice, remembers the time she broke a beautiful bowl and burst into unstoppable tears. Her mother finds her, grabs a big shard, smashes it to pieces and comforts Felice while telling her "See? We broke it together."
lazygal's review
4.0
Set in the time just around Hurricane Katrina in Miami, this novel about a family that has fallen apart really resonated with me. Told from the viewpoints of the four members of the Muir family, you see how Felice's disappearance has affected each of them. Avis, Brian and Stanley are still shocked and in intense pain five years later - they have problems with intimacy and trust. Felice is living essentially on the streets, still grappling with the guilt that drove her away from home.
Slowly, over the course of this book, all four find ways to come to some sort of internal resolution and to start living again. The metaphor of Katrina and the recovery from the damage done is an apt one: any family that has faced this sort of breakdown must feel as though they are in the midst of a hurricane.
While not marketed to the YA audience, this book will appeal to both adults and teens.
ARC provided by publisher.
Slowly, over the course of this book, all four find ways to come to some sort of internal resolution and to start living again. The metaphor of Katrina and the recovery from the damage done is an apt one: any family that has faced this sort of breakdown must feel as though they are in the midst of a hurricane.
While not marketed to the YA audience, this book will appeal to both adults and teens.
ARC provided by publisher.
krissyronan's review
1.0
Beautifully written. In 100 pages, I learned tons about some primary characters and the setting of the book. Unfortunately, nothing actually happened. Painfully slow plot development. I got impatient, found some spoilers online and am moving on.
kellyhitchcock's review
5.0
I absolutely adored this book. The prose is striking and precise, and beautiful. It's a mystery, but not the type of mystery you'd think. Each chapter is like peeling back the onion of what happened to this once-picture-perfect family, revealing more and more bits of beautiful detail about each character's painful history. Abu-Jaber's amazingly detailed description of simple things like a sugary pastry made me feel like I could smell it baking in the oven in the next room.
If you like scantily detailed stories with lots of action, this is not the story for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy a painfully introspective look into the human psyche, you'll probably enjoy the hell out of this book. It didn't end like I expected it to, but I like a bit on the unexpected every now and then.
If you like scantily detailed stories with lots of action, this is not the story for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy a painfully introspective look into the human psyche, you'll probably enjoy the hell out of this book. It didn't end like I expected it to, but I like a bit on the unexpected every now and then.