Product Description

The theme of this novel is the anatomy of an internecine war, cultural, religious and racial. It is waged between a community of nuns and the strays and misfits who arrive at their convent for safe haven, and those who dwell in the surrounding black township in Oklahoma.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66023 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 318 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time. No need to hurry out here. They are 17 miles from a town which has 90 miles between it and any other. Hiding places will be plentiful in the Convent, but there is time and the day has just begun." So begins Paradise, Toni Morrison's first novel since winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1993. As one would expect from the author of such brilliantly imagined novels as Song of Solomon, Beloved and Jazz, Morrison's Paradise is ambitious, political, deeply spiritual and peopled with characters as complex as they are unforgettable. Time is fluid in the universe of this particular novel; though set in 1976, Morrison travels easily between eras, taking the reader back in time to the founding of Ruby, an all-black township in Oklahoma, at the end of World War II, then further back to the establishment of its predecessor, Haven, which parallels the story of Exodus: a band of former slaves wanders the Oklahoma territory in search of a homeland. Overlying the strong sense of character and place that imbues each page is a touch of the supernatural--ghost children skitter through the halls of an abandoned Catholic girl's school and "unseen friends" visit lonely women by night.

Even as Morrison deftly limns the history of the town and its inhabitants, she lays the foundation for the conflict brewing in the present-day story: A new minister has come to town, bringing with him a whiff of the politics that engulfed that era--civil rights, student uprisings, rioting in the streets--activities which speak to the restlessness of the town's youth. Meanwhile, 17 miles away at the former girls' school nicknamed "the Convent," a small group of unconventional women have moved in. Their stories, told in individual chapters bearing their names, are also stories of exile, exodus and eventual homecoming. For the men of Ruby, however, these women represent everything that is dangerous about the outside world and as the sanctity of Ruby's traditions begin to crumble, nine men go on a deadly hunt.

As always, Morrison is not afraid to explore the relations between the races or the genders and she is particularly adept at creating characters who, though frequently not likable, are always sympathetic. Paradise is a book you'll want to read more than once and each time you'll find something new to haunt and amaze you. -- Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Riveting and satisfying
I could hardly stop reading this book. Toni Morrison really is an amazing writer - it almost felt as if someone was singing this book to me as I read it. I was interested to read the comments in the other reviews about the ending. I am a bit of a 'hard to please' reader. I like to know what happens to my characters, but I really don't like it when authors string together improbable plot twists to make it all 'make sense', or scrunch years into the final chapter to give a sense of what happened next. I think Morrison, however, gets the mixture just right in the ending of Paradise. It closes on a mystery, but gives you distinct clues about what happens to the crucial characters. How you interpret the clues is entirely up to you and the beliefs you hold. Fantastic - she includes us in the process of creation at a crucial moment. We make this book ourselves, as the men and women of Ruby made their worlds.

tremendous but confusing
I am a huge fan of Toni Morrison and this book did not disappoint. I thought it was interesting how she explored closed minds and prejudice among an all black community and then challenges the idea of temptation in Paradise coming from "evil" by having the minister help sow seeds of knowledge and discontent. Her writing is lyrical and is the closest thing to poetry in novel form that I have come across. I did find the ending confusing though and re-read it several times. I still don't truly understand it, but have come to the conclusion that you are not meant to. Who does understand the mystery of life and death? Obviously not me!

Morrison's best work so far
In 'Paradise' Morrison's writing is even more beautiful and provoking than in her previous novels. Probably not the best for a first time reader, but absolutely incredible.