Customer Reviews

At Paradise Gate: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the midst of life's uncertainties, one has always been sure of a mother's love. It's one of life's givens, or is it? The startling perspective of the aging, female narrator in this superbly written novel is certain to give you new insights on the dynamics of family relationships, particularly the intricacies of mother-daughter and sibling relationships. Like a rich and original tapestry, the novel weaves the past, present and future of its characters into a beautiful blend of sadness and joy, always affirming the value of life, but life that is never predictable or obvious. Reading At Paradise Gate reminds us that while the gate may be in view, our feet remain firmly planted on earth

Jane Smiley is at her literary best when dealing with intergenerational family issues. Three daughters and a granddaughter gather at their parent's home, concerned with Ike Robison's declining health, solicitous of their mother, Anna. After 36 seminal hours, we find that the daughters could not be more different, yet complementary in ways only close families recognize.

Each of the daughters view their parents from a personal perspective, especially their mother, Anna, projecting their own disillusionment onto her. Meanwhile Anna, mostly silent, muses about the grown daughters who surround her, wondering how they all came to live so close, gather so readily like a flock of restless birds, when she had meant to teach them to fly. Two daughters already widowed, one divorced, the women have all outlived the men, save Ike, and have lost their balance.

When granddaughter Christine comes home to visit, as well, she brings her own distractions. Twenty-three and newly married, Christine is full of the natural exhuberance of youth. The three daughters shift their attention back and forth, from Ike's worsening health to Christine's surprising announcement.

Occasionally a small voice from upstairs calls to Anna, "Mother! Mother!". Ike wishes only his wife to tend to his few needs. Moving between the two realities, Anna finds time for reflection upon her fifty-some years of marriage. In Anna's ruminations, there is a quiet revelation of her life through the years, as a young girl, as a married woman, years spent washing, cooking, cleaning. Years of service given without a thought to feelings or needs, or to the vagaries of married love. Looking back, her memories are as sharp as thorns and as sweet as new-shelled peas.

The power of the family dynamic seems at first to rest with the daughters, each pushing for her own resolution. They form temporary alliances, based on sibling rivalry, change perspective, shift yet again. Anna finds them engaged in their own busy pursuits; even the granddaughter falls into a deep afternoon slumber. Ultimately, it is Anna who holds our focus in this well crafted novel, her thoughts, her dreams. Never mundane or banal, the dialog is as sharp as the plot.

Jane Smiley managed to write a novel with unlikable characters that i enjoyed. That takes some skill!

The older you get, the more assertive you become, the more you know what to say or how to behave yourself in a tough situation. Right? Not really, if one is to look at Anna. She is just as insecure at 72 as she was in her youth. If one is to hope for invaluable wisdom as a payoff for lack of energy, strength, health, looks, etc., we are all screwed. This was my secret hope, and i am now very disappointed. Anna has been feeling weak as long as she can remember, first with her mother, then with her husband and his family, now with her daughters and even her granddaughter. What i find most pathetic is her inability to resolve her resentments towards her husband when she should have. She did not deal with whatever he did to her at its right time, and now that he is sick and almost an invalid is not the time to bring things up, yet Anna can't help herself. As a character, she infuriates me. If you don't do the right thing at the right time (in this case, deal with your husband), then let it go. Don't store it up and let it fester for decades. The rest of the family is sad and well portrayed. Ike is a sick man angry at the world for whatever obscure reason. Helen is pretentious. Claire is envious. Susanna is on the same path Anna is right now. Christine is the perfect example of why marriage and reproduction should not be allowed for anyone under 30. What's with her sense of entitlement and arrogance? At one point, her own mother calls her a 'dope'. Well put!

My two objections are Dolores, who is referred to time and time again and is never developed as a character (by comparison, Abel is very well described and understood), and Christine's final decision. It doesn't make sense, after spending half the book defending her arguments to now change her mind so quickly.

In this novel, which takes place in 36 hours, we get to know a family with generational problems and character problems. The imperfections of these characters make them real, and although none of them is lovable, they form a beautiful book. The detail and thoroughness that Jane Smiley goes through is remarkable.

It's rare that I finish a book and conclude that the author is a person I probably wouldn't like very much, but that's exactly what I experienced with "At Paradise Gate." When the characters in this humorless tale speak, they utter paragraphs at a time -- long, weighty diatribes of the sort that no one actually says (but which novelists apparently like to write). The narrator drops some real gems, too, like this one: "Unsorted images crowded Anna's mind ... herself at her best, alone, looking, smelling, hearing, all her thoughts concentrated on the quality of light or air." Now, what could this possibly mean? To me, it means "no more books by Jane Smiley."

On the upside, the story offers good, solid three-dimensional characters. Unfortunately, they're not exactly likable, and their views on marriage and family are so dated as to be at times offensive, at times unintentionally funny. But not funny enough to justify picking up this foul fossil of a novel.

Reflection on her marriage and her 3 daughters' caught up on an elderly woman as she took care of her dying husband. Relationships, excised off the romance and love notion, were given as a bitter but necessary potion to the reader.

I have listened to hundreds of audibles but this one typifies all that is good about books on cassette or CD. It is very well written and, even more important, it is read so perfectly that I wouldn't have stopped listening before finishing for love nor money. Had I picked up a print copy first I think I would have quickly put it back on the shelf, even it were in large print(I am eighty and have trouble with very small text) because I prefer books written and/or read by men. But old or young, male or female, I predict you will enjoy this one.

Anna Robison and her three daughters: artistic Helen, practical Claire and the youngest, tomboyish Susanna, plus her granddaughter Claire love to reminisce about their past. They
gather in Anna's house, where their father Ike is dying. Anna, who refuses to consider a live-in nurse, must tend Ike herself. As she goes about her every day tasks of preparing food and doing housework, she recalls her often rocky marriage and motherhood. Smiley has a keen eye for detail for these
homely tasks and the day-to-day aspects of dealing with an invalid shine through keenly.