Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I made a beeline for this book after Oprah's glowing review and was deeply disappointed. The first paragraph was a grabber, but it soon fizzled. The convoluted prose and disjointed characterizations did not entice me to dig deeper or leave me wanting more. By the end of the book I could have cared less who was killed or who did the killing. Ah well, I guess after having just read the literary masterpiece "Cold Mountain" anything else was bound to be a real let down.

Rating:
Summary: Not as bad or as good as I thought it would be.
Review: I've read many reviews before I decided to tackle Paradise. I didn't find it as unorganized or shallow as others, but it does require a lot of concentration to follow the story. I think too many authors write their novels with the movie in mind. In return, we the readers become almost offended when we read something a little deeper than a script. Paradise is hard to read because you have to think while you read. Not something many authors challenge us to do these days. I did enjoy the novel (as I always do). Paradise was a little different from Morrison's other novels. It was more of a history lesson than the others, but I'm still glad I read it.

Rating:
Summary: Definately not a crescendo of Morrison's brilliant career
Review: This horrific excuse for a novel was, perhaps, the most blatant example of "trying to be profound" that I have ever seen in my literary career. Ms. Morrison so visibly is striving to make her transparent symbolism and pained allegory immediately manifest, it becomes frighteningly irksome to any reader, regardless of his or her ability to read the twisted and idly complex plot. This novel totally lacks any sort of linear progression that might have given it some sort of unified feeling of going in a certain direction. Albeit written in a fascinating style, this book lacks that which defines the great books of our time: a character with which the reader can identify. Morrison's characters are so revoltingly flat that one finds it almost physically painful to labour through this horrendous novel. And such is a horrific surprise coming from an author who has shown such incredible promise. This book is no reflection on her other works, which are perhaps among the greatest works of American literature. This was, as I strongly hope, just a fluke--Stockholm Syndrome perhaps.

Rating:
Summary: Sad to Consider
Review: It is sad to consider the true literary greats never honored with a Nobel and then see a writer of such limited talent and intellect so rewarded. This novel is particularly pedestrian, obtuse, and lifeless. Very sad indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Toni Morrison's "Paradise" is astonishing!
Review: Like all of Ms. Morrison's novels, "Paradise" is powerful, complex and brilliant. What a joy to come across a book which can resonate such power and intensity as this novel achieves. Ms. Morrison is brilliant in weaving a complex narrative to heights very few writers achieve, but who many desire. The complexity of "Paradise" is partly due to Ms. Morrison's use of time which is a key element in the construction of her characters. We are all a product of time - our lives are shaped by past, present and future events. Therefore to write about onself is chronological order is, perhaps, misleading. Consequently, Ms. Morrison chooses to illustrate her characters with narrative and dialogue that are not necessarily a part of the precise moment but are elements, nevertheless, that have shaped their behavior, their lives. As this becomes confusing when reading one soon learns, as the story unfolds, the continuity of the characters. Equally complex, is the story about Ruby itself- a town steeped in tradition. A town that wants to maintain order so much so that it becomes dangerous and unhealthy. A town where male dominence rules over everything, even its progress to move forward. These are only some of the elements in this incredible work. Spirtiuality, God and love are also key, here, so aptly told through the four major women in this novel - it is through the women that we see the balance that Ruby can achieve but that the town will not allow. To experience this monumental work is to take a journey - a journey to "Paradise."

Rating:
Summary: Thoughts are not oraganized.
Review: Having read all of Toni Morrisson's books, this one by far is not her best novel. Her chapters do not flow from one thought to the next, they jump around and you(the reader) have to make the connection. No, I don't think this book is dificult to read, just difficult to follow because you have to work at putting it all together. It started out as a great idea, but somehow it got lost in the rambling of Ms. Morrisson.

Rating:
Summary: A mosaic of prose that lingers and stirs long after it ends
Review: I've read most of Toni Morrison's works -- some more than once. All have offered profound histories and experiences of the African American's external and internal journeys through the evolution of America. The precise obliqueness of Toni Morrison's words, particularly in Paradise have made me more knowledgable, more appreciative, more connected to myself and to the African American Woman. The power of this book is in its ability to make the reader feel emotions, contemplate perspectives after the words have already been read -- absorbed. The women of this book via the author's overt landscaping of their pain subtley crept into my head and heart and have stayed there. And lately when I observe, interact, or challenge parts of my everyday life, they linger in the background -- affecting me and others. I closed the last page of Paradise gently -- respectfully. I didn't want to the book to end, but I knew the women of Paradise would not leave me. How often can you say that about a bestseller.!

Rating:
Summary: A rich tapestry of disturbing characters
Review: The journey through this novel left me in a reflective mood. Toni Morisson has created a powerful depiction of human frailty and redemption and cast those attributes in the shell of a black township whose premise was noble, but reality was an opaque facade. "Paradise" is therefore cast as an attainable goal or ideal that is not, nor ever can be a finite set of circumstances. To achieve paradise one must mutate. The characters are multifaceted, the scenarios are sometimes contrived, the retelling of their lives is laced with the humanity that we all grapple with. What makes Paradise is its ability to hold the reader up to a mirror and cause him/her to gaze deeply into a looking glass. Superb fiction by a gifted voice.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!!
Review: I just finished Paradise and cannot wait to reread it to get to know the inhabitants of Ruby, Oklahoma, on an even deeper level. No character, and there are many, is one diemnsional. Ms. Morrison's characters are lush and complex, the prose brilliant. Morrison does not try to win the reader's sympathy for any one character over another; the women in the convent are equally as moral and equally as repugnant as the most upstanding citizens in Ruby. Ms. Morrison leaves all judgment to the reader. Admittedly, the novel will not appeal to those accustomed to the easy reading of most of today's popular fiction. I spent more than one week intensely reading this book, studying its characters, and wrestling with its nuances. It was well worth the effort. I think the reading public has been too long deprived of great literature, and I applaud Ms. Morrison's attempt to reacquaint us with fine literature. Truly great literature requires work, rereading, deep attention to detail. This novel embodies all of that, and more. A definite must-read!!

Rating:
Summary: Does "Paradise" fully achieve its purpose?
Review: When reading a novel and determining its greatness, we must ask, "How fully does it achieve its purpose?" Every chapter, every character and every literary stradegy, including its narrative style, must all work. Does "Paradise" accomplish this? I will argue that it does in most cases, but not in all. The difficult prose and non-chronological style was perfectly appropriate and works brilliantly. I am not sold, however, on every minor character and story. While I was reading, I couldn't wait to get to the stories of the women. Their lives and struggles were moving and powerful, thereby dwarwfing the rest of the narrative. I will never forget the chapter "Divine", for example, and that remarkable scene when the women made a fuss at the church ceremony. These scenes and many others involving the Covent women work just as well if not better than any in her other novels, but the rest of the story has fewer scenes of raw power and energy, leading to a successful but not completely successful novel.