Helpful Score: 3
Paradise was such an oddly written book. It did jump around a little between characters and events. It's sad how distorted the townspeople's view of the Convent was because they were not aware of its history and how the focus changed many times. I liked the supernatural aspect of the healers. Also, I liked how segregation was touched on by the way the townspeople were identified by their family lineage.
Helpful Score: 3
Like all of Morrison\'s novels, thought provoking, disturbing and beautiful...
Helpful Score: 1
I tried several times to get into this book and could not. I finally gave up, which I hesitate to do at any time.
Helpful Score: 1
Could not get into this story from the first couple of pages.
Helpful Score: 1
I still have trouble reading some of Toni Morrison's books after all these years. This was one of those and I hate to admit that I couldn't finish this one. I think it's more about writing style that I can't get along with rather than this particular book. So, I've enjoyed a few of her books, just not this one.
Helpful Score: 1
It took me a little while to start enjoying this book, but when it happened, it happened well! Not Morrison's usual novel that immediately engages you with the ability to idientify with her characters, this book starts out with a dark image of murder and transitions to disturbing history of a town that really isn't. It brings up many interesting subjects about seclusion, moral compass and to whose or by what should you set yours, political freedoms that are tied to morality and so much more. Very good, in the end, if you can get over the expectations of Morrison's other works. I liked it and it is an important work, so therefore I recommend it.
The story is one big puzzle, full of flashbacks that are intertwined and developed, leading to even more puzzlement. I never got all the characters straight, even the major ones. I found it almost impossible to follow the story line. And I found myself falling asleep after just a few pages. However, I plodded on. After all, wasn't this book recommended by Oprah? Didn't this book get rave reviews? Isn't Toni Morrison a Pulitzer Prize winner and a professor at Princeton?
It's 318 long long pages and I had to push myself to read it. Halfway through the book I almost put it down. Why was I still getting the characters mixed up. Why wasn't I moved by some of their stories? I hoped it would get better after I passed the half-way mark. It didn't.
The tone is heavy and depressing. The characters each have deep dark ugly secrets. There is rarely any relief from the long artistic, somewhat poetic sentences. I didn't understand the ending, but at least it was over.
It's 318 long long pages and I had to push myself to read it. Halfway through the book I almost put it down. Why was I still getting the characters mixed up. Why wasn't I moved by some of their stories? I hoped it would get better after I passed the half-way mark. It didn't.
The tone is heavy and depressing. The characters each have deep dark ugly secrets. There is rarely any relief from the long artistic, somewhat poetic sentences. I didn't understand the ending, but at least it was over.
Like this. Oprah picks good books.
In Oklahoma back in the late 70's 9 men from a small town assault a nearby convent and the women in it and the story of a people mindful of the relationship between the ancestral origins to that fateful day.
A classic and a must-read!
"In PARADISE - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. [...] As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop.360), in defense of 'the one all-black town worth the pain,' assault the nearby Convent and all women in it. [...] Richly imagined and elegantly composed, PARADISE weaves a powerful mystery."
"They shoot the white girl first. With the others they can take their time." Toni Morrison's first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature opens with a horrifying scene of mob violence then chronicles its genesis in a small all-black town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by descendants of free slaves as intent on isolating themselves from the outside world as it once was on rejecting them, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But seventeen miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and their murderous rage...
Paradise is a tour de force of storytelling power, richly imagined and elegantly composed. Morrison challenges our most fiercely held beliefs as she weaves folklore and history, memory and myth, into an unforgettable meditation on race, religion, gender, and the way a society can turn on itself until it is forced to explode.
Paradise is a tour de force of storytelling power, richly imagined and elegantly composed. Morrison challenges our most fiercely held beliefs as she weaves folklore and history, memory and myth, into an unforgettable meditation on race, religion, gender, and the way a society can turn on itself until it is forced to explode.
This book is a good read. I like Toni Morrison's style of writing and this book was great.
This is one of my all-time favorite books. Showing how even in recent times women can be demoized, especially when they are in groups, by the fears of men.
The first time I read it was in a women's literature class, we ended up skipping the last book in the class and re-reading this one to get a better grip on it. I've since read it a couple more times, and everytime I do (and I never re-read things), I get deeper into the complexities and message of the book.
The first time I read it was in a women's literature class, we ended up skipping the last book in the class and re-reading this one to get a better grip on it. I've since read it a couple more times, and everytime I do (and I never re-read things), I get deeper into the complexities and message of the book.
The 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Toni Morrison has forged a hard-edged and lyrical portrait of the American story, exploring the experience of black Americans in her fiction, tracing slavery's roots and the reach of it into life today. Her previous novels include THE BLUEST EYE (1970); SULA (1973); SONG OF SOLOMON (1977), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; TAR BABY (1981); the successful BELOVED (1987), which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize; and the beautiful and brilliant JAZZ (1992). Admirers of this previous work will recognize in "Paradise" an affecting undertow of redemption beneath the vivid pull of violence. As with her other novels, it is in Morrison's attention to language that she is able to show her obvious love and respect for the characters in "Paradise". The lyrical intensity and poetry of her language will be familiar, as will her unflinching portrayal of the town's life. With all of their passions, lusts, grudges, dreams, fears, and loves laid bare, the men and women of Ruby and of the Convent seem as fragile and as morally ambiguous as any of us.
Paradise opens with a horrifying scene of mass violence and chronicles its genesis in an all-black small town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by the descendents of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. -People
I simply loved it.
I simply loved it.
Oprah's book club. Starts with: "They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time".
from back cover:
"Paradise opens with a horrifying scen of mass violence and chronicles its genesis in an all black small town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by the descendants of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But seventeen miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and murderous rage."
"Paradise opens with a horrifying scen of mass violence and chronicles its genesis in an all black small town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by the descendants of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But seventeen miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and murderous rage."
"They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time." This is a provocative book about race, rage, and religion and gender. The writing is complex, but rewarding.
Founded by the descendants of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is build on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But 17 miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and their murderous rage. As with all Tony Morrisons's books -- AWESOME!!!!!
Interestingly vauge; lacks settling conclusion. Subject matter startling enough to (kinda) make up for that.
I have not read this book. I bought it last year and it just continues to collect dust. It is a book from Oprah's book club.
I didn't like this book at all.
