Customer Reviews

Paradise (Contemporary American Fiction)

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

 

 

"Paradise", although out of print, is worth the search. Barthelme's neurotically postmodern and pre-millenial prose never fails to astonish in its originality. The completely unlikely tale of 53 year old Simon, an architect from Philadelphia, and his three concubines is made realistic through terrific dialogue and bang-on sarcastic humour. If you enjoy authors like Martin Amis or Russell Banks, "Paradise" is worth the trip to the library--or the wait until it is back in print.

PARADISE was worth reading to the end, but I could hardly say there was any narrative drive to it. It's the story of an architect who's taking a year off, which he spends in a large apartment in New York City. Three young women (two blonds, one brunette) move in with him.

This has the makings of a dinner theater comedy, but it's not funny. The characters are articulate, but not terribly interesting. Imagine an episode of Seinfeld with no laughs, and that pretty well sums it up.

Sometimes the women spout feminist rhetoric. In some chapters Barthelme tosses in a few four letter words to spice up things. Occasionally we see intimate moments between the architect and the young lady which echo the Playboy philosophy.

Barthelme was a talented writer, but he seemed to be writing to get the approval of the New York literati. PARADISE is out of print. No great loss.