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Book Review of Paradise Park

Paradise Park
Paradise Park
Author: Allegra Goodman
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Substores
Book Type: Paperback
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Helpful Score: 1


I loved this book! The protagonist, Sharon Speigelman, is a culturally Jewish-American woman with no religious experience, who from age 20 to her early forties, seeks spirituality in Hawaii, Jerusalem, Washington, Brooklyn and finally in Boston.

Told in the first-person, Sharon is articulate and intelligent, sensual and sexy, and also a bit ditsy. While she is serious about knowing God, she doesn't take herself too seriously. She acknowledges her mistakes and shortcomings, but never apologizes for making the choices she makes.

Goodman has a good feel for describing both Jews and Gentiles, including the Hasidic Jewish Orthodox communities in Mea Shearim in Isreal and in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She clearly yet lovingly depicts all of the characters in Paradise Park with sensitivity and affection. There are no villains in this book, although all the characters, including Sharon, are fallible and make mistakes that hurt her. Like Sharon, I forgive them all their foibles.