Rating: 
Summary: Too Scattered to hold my attention
Review: After Oprah bragged about what a wonderful book this was, I had to read it. However, it is sitting on my bookshelf after only reading half of the book. It is hard to follow and unless you're re-reading every paragraph and page, it is hard to understand. This one would go over the average reader's head. I think even Oprah just "pretended " to "get it" to push Toni Moorison's work.
Rating:
Summary: After a long hard day, it only gets harder!
Review: I find myself troubled by this book and how difficult it is to follow. I don't mind reading slowly, and, in fact, I have no objection to taking my time with anything, however, right now, this is simply trying my patience. I want to keep going because I've invested so much of myself into it, but, I find myself making excuses for not reading it. I wish Ms. Morrison had thought about the impact of making the reading so challenging and had eased up on us just a little bit. I am worn out from focusing on every word, but if I don't, then, from one sentence to the next, I lose site of a character, and then I'm lost too! I just hope I can hang on long enough to get to the finish line, where, I know I'll have to start all over again! After a long hard day, you really have to work hard with this one. Do yourself a favor, save it for a vacation, otherwise, the everyday stress of life, coupled with reading it, will simply wear you out!
Rating: 
Summary: A Struggle
Review: The writing is eloquent, the structure is distracting. I read *Beloved* years ago and found it soul-touching. I found *Paradise* too scattered to feel touched by it. I will reread the book and hope for more, but I resent the need to read it multiple times to "get it". Reading *Paradise* I sense that Ms. Morrison has a plethora of deeply emotional issues within her and she seeks an avenue to express them. I would love to meet her and have her lend voice to the characters. Perhaps I should have just "read" the audiotape.
Rating: 
Summary: Not her best, but a fine novel
Review: I finished _Paradise_ night before last and started it again last night. Not because I didn't understand it, but because I know there is even more there. It is very rare that I reread a book immediately after finishing it, but certainly the best books demand to be read over and over again, each time revealing something new. As others have commented, good books require active readers, people who don't need perfectly linear narration to appreciate what the author has to offer. I admit to being left in Morrison's dust a couple of times, and perhaps that is why I find myself so eager to reread so soon. The fluid nature of time in _Paradise_ is somewhat confusing, but I always felt that this fluidity was reflected in a deliberately non-linear narrative, not because Morrison wanted to bewilder the reader but rather because she wanted to render her characters' bewildering realities. If we are honest with ourselves I think most of us realize that the present, our present, is entangled with our past (history) and our futures (aspirations for/fears of). Certainly this is true of the people of Ruby, the women of the Convent. I don't think this is Morrison's finest book--it would be difficult to match the searing art of _Beloved_--but it's among her best (My own totally irrelevant ranking places it perhaps below _Song of Solomon_ but far more satisfying than _Jazz_) A few questions I wonder about (perhaps my second read will answer them): Why do reviewers talk about the 4 women at the Convent, when there are 5 (not counting all the ghosts, obviously)? Even Morrison, in the first paragraph, says that 9 men, more than half the number of the prey they're after, go to the Convent at dawn. And, perhaps an obvious question which reveals my own limitations: Which woman is the white one?
Rating: 
Summary: Some things do not improve with age!
Review: Paradise is anything but! I realize that I should probably read the novel one or two more times before I pass judgment, but the thought of having to wade through all those characters and themes, again is agonizing, at present. Of course, I said something similar of Beloved upon its initial publication and over time, came to love, admire and appreciate it as it deserves to be appreciated. Unfortunately, I don't see the same happening with Paradise ... but I'll give it another try when it comes out in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Mess
Review: Morrison, at least to judge the reviews listed here, is quickly growing to be quite a controversy. (and personal to the MA, Phd, etc... If pieces of paper counted for brain size, I would bow down in awe. Just because YOU didn't get it, doesn't mean diddly. I GOT it, and so do a lot of other people. Get off your high horse and stick to your opinion). So what is _Paradise_? Like _Jazz_ before it, Morrison is trying to put the focus on the characters, rather than a central plot, ala Joyce and Faulkner. And her characters are fabulous: The women of the convent and the townspeople are all fully formed, complex, and often surprise you. This is already an improvement over _Jazz_, which to me lacked much of any cognizance at all. The problem is the plot, and the way it is presented. By skipping around, Morrison gives us a long series of interelated short stories that is difficult to maintain interest in over this length. Joyce and Faulkner pulled this sort of stuff off, but it took Joyce SEVEN YEARS to write _Ulysses_, and he wasn't trying to change anybody's perceptions, just point out the uniqueness of life in everyday Dublin. Perhaps, then, Morrison should either give us a formal flowing book (in the history of _Song of Solomon_), or simply line up the characters of the Black South and let us take a look without the noisy background. Morrison can be great, but in the long run I don't think this will be remembered as one of her greatest.
Rating:
Summary: For readers who love to read
Review: There are some of us who eat TV dinners and frozen pizza; and then there are the others, who savor only those meals which can be created from fresh ingredients and long simmering in cast-iron pots. If you are the latter, get Paradise, dig in. If your are the former, skip past it, read Jackie Collins, and enjoy the experience of tired, frozen mush. Paradise is for the active reader. You must go to the page wanting the experience, and not waiting to be hand-fed clues and bottle-fed plot developments. You need pencil in hand, dictionary near by, and the desire to research the meaning of names and the images in portraits. You see, an author does you a favor when they allow you to take their literature, and use it to expand your knowledge. If you want that, Toni Morrison will give it to you. If you do not, there are plenty of authors who are satisfied giving you less.
Rating: 
Summary: Very difficult to follow due to poor writing style
Review: To fully grasp the meaning of what's written in this book, you would have to read and study each page like you were reading Shapespeare. It's not Shakespeare, however, just bad writing. I wouldn't complain had it not been for Oprah Winfrey's statement that it was the best book she ever read. It was one of my worst. Paragraps go to two pages, thoughts ramble dreamlike, character development is spotty and her thoughts from inside the male mind laughable. It could have been good, but fell well short of the goal.
Rating:
Summary: Profound---Thought provoking---Troubling
Review: Man is not an island unto himself. If he chooses isolation, he risks diminishing himself mentally, physically and spiritually. Isolation shrouded the citizens of Ruby, as well as the women of the Convent. PARADISE lies within each of Morrison's characters, to choose or to reject.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Her Skills
Review: The author attempts something even good writers would find difficult. Her minimal talent fails her and the reader. The result is even worse than her usual.
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