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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
What Kind of Paradise was literary fiction and contemporary drama at its most powerful and impacting!
1983 – Following the death of his wife, Saul Williams abandoned Silicon Valley for a secluded cabin deep in the Montana woods. Determined to shield his four-year-old daughter Jane from the growing wave of technology and the emergence of the Internet, he built an off-the-grid existence for them, rooted in self-reliance and his own convictions.
1996 – Now seventeen, Jane has grown up shaped entirely by her father’s beliefs. But as she begins to experience small moments of freedom and exposure to perspectives beyond his, she starts to question the world he has constructed for her – and the life they have always known begins to unravel. And the fallout will be cataclysmic.
Toxic parenting was my main takeaway from What Kind of Paradise. Also, not to go in expecting a thriller, even though it did contain crime, mystery and suspense. I have also tagged it as historical even though it kills me to do so because the 1990’s seems like it was just yesterday. I immediately connected with the writing and sympathised with Jane’s situation, and the story delivered several clever turns that I didn’t see coming. Certain plot developments occurred a little too effortlessly, but I was happy to go along with it since every time it happened it pushed the story in a direction I was hoping for.
While I considered Saul’s actions abhorrent and do not endorse his worldview, the way some characters were using technology in this book was grotesque and it is unsettling to realise that many of his warnings and predictions regarding the power and influence of the Internet have proven accurate in 2025.
I adored all the 90’s nostalgia and pop-culture references woven throughout the book. They reminded me of the early days of the Internet, the simplicity of it all, when everything felt new, exciting, and full of possibility. Looking back now, it’s a little bittersweet because so many of the things that I loved that defined that era – fan-made message boards, Yahoo! Groups, MSN Messenger & AIM, Lycos search engine, Geocities & Angelfire websites – have faded into obscurity or become obsolete. And speaking of the 90’s – a portion of the novel was set in 1997 San Francisco, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the exciting, vibrant, eclectic, diverse city at the forefront of cultural and technological change during that time period,
What Kind of Paradise was such an easy five-star read for me. I relished every moment of reading it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up on my favourites list for 2025.
1983 – Following the death of his wife, Saul Williams abandoned Silicon Valley for a secluded cabin deep in the Montana woods. Determined to shield his four-year-old daughter Jane from the growing wave of technology and the emergence of the Internet, he built an off-the-grid existence for them, rooted in self-reliance and his own convictions.
1996 – Now seventeen, Jane has grown up shaped entirely by her father’s beliefs. But as she begins to experience small moments of freedom and exposure to perspectives beyond his, she starts to question the world he has constructed for her – and the life they have always known begins to unravel. And the fallout will be cataclysmic.
Toxic parenting was my main takeaway from What Kind of Paradise. Also, not to go in expecting a thriller, even though it did contain crime, mystery and suspense. I have also tagged it as historical even though it kills me to do so because the 1990’s seems like it was just yesterday. I immediately connected with the writing and sympathised with Jane’s situation, and the story delivered several clever turns that I didn’t see coming. Certain plot developments occurred a little too effortlessly, but I was happy to go along with it since every time it happened it pushed the story in a direction I was hoping for.
While I considered Saul’s actions abhorrent and do not endorse his worldview, the way some characters were using technology in this book was grotesque and it is unsettling to realise that many of his warnings and predictions regarding the power and influence of the Internet have proven accurate in 2025.
I adored all the 90’s nostalgia and pop-culture references woven throughout the book. They reminded me of the early days of the Internet, the simplicity of it all, when everything felt new, exciting, and full of possibility. Looking back now, it’s a little bittersweet because so many of the things that I loved that defined that era – fan-made message boards, Yahoo! Groups, MSN Messenger & AIM, Lycos search engine, Geocities & Angelfire websites – have faded into obscurity or become obsolete. And speaking of the 90’s – a portion of the novel was set in 1997 San Francisco, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the exciting, vibrant, eclectic, diverse city at the forefront of cultural and technological change during that time period,
What Kind of Paradise was such an easy five-star read for me. I relished every moment of reading it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up on my favourites list for 2025.
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Sexism, Murder
Raised in isolation in a remote Montana cabin, Jane grows up steeped in her father’s utopian ideals— until a violent act shatters everything she thought she knew.
WHAT KIND OF PARADISE is the kind of slow-burn, morally tangled literary mystery I love in the summer: tense, interior, propulsive. Set against the birth of the internet age, Jane’s journey probes what happens when inherited beliefs collide with a world newly shaped by technology and fertile for online extremism.
For fans of WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy and MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim, Janelle Brown delivers a prescient story as emotionally resonant as it is suspenseful—one that asks what we carry from the past, what we choose to reject, and who we become when the ground beneath us shifts.
WHAT KIND OF PARADISE is the kind of slow-burn, morally tangled literary mystery I love in the summer: tense, interior, propulsive. Set against the birth of the internet age, Jane’s journey probes what happens when inherited beliefs collide with a world newly shaped by technology and fertile for online extremism.
For fans of WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy and MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim, Janelle Brown delivers a prescient story as emotionally resonant as it is suspenseful—one that asks what we carry from the past, what we choose to reject, and who we become when the ground beneath us shifts.
challenging
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes