To Paradise
A powerful novel of love, freedom, and family, from the author of the Booker-shortlisted A Little Life
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4.0 • 46 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
The No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller from the author of A Little Life.
'I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much' – The Observer
‘Prepare to weep in public and be utterly transformed’ – Stylist
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.
'For those captivated by Yanagihara’s A Little Life, her next is equally gripping' – Telegraph
‘Not only rare . . . revolutionary’ – Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This gorgeously sprawling epic by the author of A Little Life cleverly plays with ideas of utopia and dystopia. To Paradise follows three different storylines in three different time periods: an alternate version of 1893 New York, where a wealthy heir must fight for the man he wants to marry; 1993, as a Hawaiian man struggles with his background amidst the AIDS crisis; and 2093, where a woman fights to solve her husband’s disappearance despite a totalitarian regime and a global pandemic. We were impressed by the way Hanya Yanagihara cleverly connects these three compelling stories through recurring themes of relationships, race and inheritance. And although the novel is brilliantly complex, its characters’ journeys are defined by relatable feelings like loneliness, uncertainty, and hope. This is one of the most absorbing and thought-provoking novels we’ve read in ages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Yanagihara's ambitious if unwieldy latest (after National Book Award finalist A Little Life) spins a set of three stories in New York City's Washington Square over 200 years. David Bingham lives in the utopian "Free States" of 1893. He rejects a proposed arranged marriage with another wealthy, older man, opting to pursue a love match with a music teacher who lives a hardscrabble life. At a dinner party in 1993, the host's oldest friend is dying from AIDS as the other guests consider the meaning of one's legacy. One of them, also named David Bingham (this one a native Hawaiian paralegal), is cautiously optimistic about his relationship with his wealthy older boyfriend, Charles Griffith. A century later, a woman named Charlie Griffith deals with dystopian conditions such as a series of pandemics and a totalitarian society in which the press and homosexual relationships have been outlawed, and struggles to build a meaningful relationship with her husband. The stories are united by the characters' desire for love as their freedom is diminished. The prose in the first section effectively conjures the style of Henry James, but there's too much exposition and not enough character development in the final section, where the author spends too much time building out the future world. There's a great deal of passion, but on the whole it's a mixed bag.
Customer Reviews
Stick With It
If you’re anything like me, Book One was fine, Book Two warmed but, but Book Three was fantastic. Book Three could be a book on its own, but it wouldn’t be the same without the context of the previous two. It ended up being a joy to read!