To Paradise: From the Author of A Little Life
£0.90
The No.1 Sunday Times bestseller from the author of A Little Life.
To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the elusive idea of utopia; driven by Hanya Yanagihara’s understanding of our desire to protect those we love – lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.
In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love as they please (or so it seems).
In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father.
In 2093, in a world torn apart by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him – and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance.
What unites these characters, and these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human – fear, love, shame, loneliness – and the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise.
‘I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much’ – Observer
‘Not only rare . . . revolutionary’ – Michael Cunningham
‘Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed’ – Stylist
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Additional information
| Publisher | Picador (11 Jan. 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 4158 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 721 pages |
by Luke Dennison
I read this because I had read a little life and had really liked it. There are guarantees though, and I thought the premise of this sounded good.
This issue for me, with books that are mini stories in one book, is that they have to relate. The grouping of the books needs to be purposeful and they need meaning.
There is no genuine link to these books. I’m sure the author will argue there is and she most probably believes it, but for me, as the reader they are disparate stories.
Worse, the books within the book, are not particularly good. I found the first book entertaining enough but the slight alternative reality felt superfluous and the story mostly inconsequential.
The second book was even more pointless. No story really, no engagement, the main two characters cliched and uninteresting. Then there was the second book within the second book, told through some letters of the characters father. This should have been interesting but the characters were not developed enough for me to care and it was just very dull.
So far, so very disappointing. Luckily these two stories are relatively short, leaving the second half of the book to one story (though again this is really split into two). The difference here though, is that the writing I saw in a little life was back. We have interesting ideas, fully realised characters we care about, some really insightful ideas on society, that we can relate to in current times.
Overall a mixed bag, but I can’t give this more that two stars.
by Mr. A. Richards
This book is large and complex and bleak and brilliant.
It is effectively three stories that are linked – we see members of two of the same families at the end of the 18th, 20th and 21st centuries. The first two parts are shorter and most of the second half of the book is the future segment.
You could almost argue that the story is set in a parallel universe. In 1893 our main character is a gay man who is looking to have an arranged marriage – arranged by his grandfather, who is also a gay man, which is a socially acceptable thing in this America. Only it’s not really America – the states have coalesced into five distinct nations – the state of Maine is a country of it’s own, Texas and many of the southern states have formed The United Colonies, the three states on the west coast have formed The Western Union, and the rest (pretty much) has become America. New York is part of the final country, the Free States, which is everything south of Maine down to New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The first story is about the main character trying to avoid his arranged marriage when he falls in love with another man, who, it turns out, has gad a history of getting together with rich men and stealing their money.
We leap forward to 1993, where the descendants of the characters in the first book are living with the Aids epidemic. The final story is set in a bleak future where there are constant pandemics and global warming has happened to truly terrifying proportions, again following members of the same family.
The author has made some interesting choices. There is no family tree shown, so you have to speculate how many generations have passed in the time between each story. The only thing that links them all is the surname Bingham, and a property in New York. Also, we never really find out what happens at the end of two of the segments. Does the David get ripped off at the end of the first book? (Even worse we are teased with finding out the resolution to this story in the third book but that never pans out either!) Who is in the boat on the final page of the penultimate chapter?
It’s bleak but the final segment is page turning stuff. Even here, the narrative has two strands – one set in 2093 and 2094, and the other giving background to those characters from fifty years ago to seven years ago. The flashback segments sometimes warm you of what is about to happen, or the other way around. It’s amazingly constructed and also horrifically plausible.
The third segment is easily the best, but they are all good. We are left on a cliffhanger and I suppose it is up to the reader to decide whether things work out well or not. I have my own theory, but having scoured the last few pages for clues as to which way it goes, I realise that the author has left it deliberately ambiguous. The end chunk is about a pandemic (or rather a series of them, which is one – albeit bleak – theory about what is going to happen in the next few decades). I have no idea if that was the plan for the book before we actually had one but it certainly feels powerfully relevant. It also shows how people turn on each other in unexpected ways when life gets hard.
I read most of it in two days, and at 700+ pages that’s no mean feat. The characters are amazing and I will be checking out other titles by this writer.
by Simon T
This is a masterpiece. It’s long but it written in a way that doesn’t make if feel like work to finish it.
People saying the three books are not related to each other must have read a different book then I did. They obviously are and finding out how, in book three, was a moment of amazement for myself where I had to stop for a while and think about it. Very very cleverly written and I just loved it
by Lind
This is 3 separate stories in one book which was not clear to me. The first story is really good, fairly well written, set in new york at the turn of last century but with a twist – set in a time where gay marriage is legal and accepted in society. It builds a story around 3 siblings who are raised by their grandfather and focuses on the one grandson who remains at home. Its a good story and the characters are interesting and enjoyable to read their story unfold.
The second book is so different Set in current times (i think) uses many of the same names as book 1 for the main characters which totally confused me and had me thinking this was follow up but had nothing at all to do with previous story. it would probably have been better if it was as the story is quite boring, irrelevant and not very interesting. Its not until near the end i was able to understand its just really ramblings of a father looking back on his life and relationships with his mother and son. I skipped pages and pages of it, parts that seemed really irrelevant to the book and bored me.
The third book is set in the future and whilst interesting its not really gripping. The characters are not wholly interesting or deep. The futuristic world is interesting…
Im not a short story fan and thought tge 3 books would have stronger threads. – ie a book set over three centuries but interlinked so i am disappointed and would not have read it if id know.