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Birds of Paradise: A Novel Paperback – May 7, 2012

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Diana Abu-Jaber (Author)
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Diana Abu-Jaber (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars 59 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (May 7, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 039334259X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393342598
  • Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDiana Abu-Jaber captures a family's grief and a cookie's soul
By Susan Tunis on September 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Tolstoy said, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In Diana Abu-Jaber's fourth novel, the Muirs of Miami are a deeply unhappy family. The tale is set in the days leading up to daughter, Felice's, 18th birthday. Her mother, Avis, is a talented pastry chef, running a high-end bakery out of their home. Her father, Brian, is a successful real estate attorney. And at 23, her older brother, Stanley, is running a business he's passionate about. These are privileged people with every reason to be content, but when Felice was only 13 years old, she ran away from home. She didn't run far. She's still in Miami, a "beach kid," sleeping outdoors or squatting in houses. But there's been virtually no contact with her family since she left, and it's torn them apart.

This is not a story of abuse or addiction--although there is abuse and there are drugs in her story. No, Felice was a supremely lovely and loved child being raised by flawed, but essentially good, people. And part of the suspense of the novel is the motivation for Felice's actions. No one can understand why this young girl went off the rails. At one point her father asks himself:

"What. What should he and Avis have done? Put their girl's face on a milk carton?
Missing: Felice Muir, Age 13.
Kidnapped by herself.
Motivation: Unknown
What child does such a thing as that? Could she have been that unhappy?"

The story is told in chapters that alternate between Avis's, Brian's, and Felice's points of view, until Stanley has his say near the novel's end. Based on this overly simple summary, Birds of Paradise sounds like a Lifetime original movie. Nothing could be further from the truth!Read more ›
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1.0 out of 5 starsBirds of Pardise
By Kate Runyan on September 24, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I really wanted to like this book as I loved Diana Abu-Jaber's first 3 books, but I didn't like Origin or Birds of Paradise. To me, this latest book seemed very flat with cardboard characters, and much of it wasn't believable.The more I got into the book the less I liked it, and it seemed very disjointed; including Felice's reasons for running away , her being able to survive for 5 years as a run-away but still be lovely and unharmed by the experience that seems totally nuts. In reality she probably would have been on hard drugs, eating from trash cans, and turning tricks none of which is really dealt it. it's very lyrical and poetic, but it's not realistic or believable, and ultimately it became very tedious and annoying. I totally agree with some of the comments that were made, this is really annoying book.
Crescent and Arabian Jazz were very good books, and I loved them, and I also loved Ms. Abu-Jaber's family memoir - The Language of Baklava. I wish she would get back to writing other books similar in style to her earlier books as they were far more interesting and more engaging than her later 2 books, and additionally the characters in the earlier books were much better portrayed.
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3.0 out of 5 starsSlow, painful read
By A. Winesett on November 3, 2011
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Let me preface by saying, while this book felt slow and cumbersome, it has an amazing story. I'd actually like to know MORE of the story. Just not written in this way. It feels painful at times, and was difficult to just sink in and live the story in my normal manner.

I was left with an overwhelming feeling of sadness and heaviness, despite the author's attempt at leaving this book on an uplifting note.

I personally read as a form of escapism. My book club elected to read this book, though, so I dug in eagerly, hoping to discover a gem I would learn to love. Although I connected with the characters individually and in their interactions with one another, I was left feeling as though all of them were being sheltered, shrouded, and treated as incomplete entities. Perhaps this was deliberate, in order to emphasize their disconnection.

I would actually rate this a 3.5 star, not just a 3. But that isn't an option Amazon is giving me. And, while the jumping back and forth between memory, the four main characters, and the timeline (sometimes re-living the beginning of a particular time with different characters, therefore feeling as though you're re-creating scenarios) was a little disconcerting, I did enjoy the writer's voice. Had I not been left feeling unfulfilled at the end of the book, I probably would have given 4 stars
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4.0 out of 5 starsLUSH TREATS SET AGAINST A BACKDROP OF FAMILY DISARRAY....
By Laurel-Rain Snow TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on November 27, 2011
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Replete with beautiful settings and lush desserts, the world in which the Muir family dwells seems wonderfully lovely and filled with all that is good. In fact, they might seem to have it all. But then as we soon learn, life is definitely not perfect for this family. Avis, the mother and baker extraordinaire, manages her home business with all the gusto one might expect from a perfectionist; and the father, Brian, a successful real estate attorney, sustains the family like many a workaholic: from a distance.

And yet there is much to enjoy about the family life. Except for the fact that one day, when she was just thirteen, beautiful daughter Felice ran away for the first time. And over the next five years, she continues to inexplicably disappear.

After the first few times, the family members seemingly go through a kind of disconnect, perhaps in self-protection. Like soldiers living parallel lives while maintaining individual battles, Brian, Avis, and son Stanley nourish their little corners of the universe on separate islands of grief. While out on the streets and the beaches of Miami, Felice struggles to survive and battle against the elements and the dangers.

Meanwhile, a storm called Katrina lurks, threatening to dismantle the world around them. In some ways, the raging storm seems like a metaphor for the wreckage of this family.

But set against this austere backdrop of disarray, Avis's delectable treats offer a glimpse of beauty, delight, and perhaps hope. The author describes the concoctions down to each delicious detail until we can almost taste them.

What do Avis, Brian, and Stanley share as they struggle against the loss of Felice? And what led Felice to this dramatic and dangerous lifestyle?Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDeep thoughts and troubled families

People did not like this book. However this is the first Abu-Jaber book I have read and although at first the people seemed annoying, the more I delved into the book the more I... Read more

Published 9 months ago by louise
5.0 out of 5 starsA beautiful story of an unraveling family

This book examines a family that has unraveled - mom and dad are living alone in a home, their adult son living a completely separate life from them (for example, the parents have... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Jonathan Robbins
2.0 out of 5 starsone redeeming quality (which isn't really redeeming at all)

I listened to this on cd's from the library. I sometimes struggle with this format as my mind gets occupied with driving and I miss a minute and have to go back and listen to the... Read more

Published 19 months ago by go bucks
4.0 out of 5 starsgreat read but somewhat unbelievable

Great read, you could feel allot of the families emotion, pain, and sense of loss however, a young girl on her own that many years to romanticized, it had to be much tougher, hard,... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Linda L. Baral
5.0 out of 5 starsBirds of Paradise

Loved the south Florida setting and the glimpse into the darker side of the South Beach scene. Enjoyed the baking sections, their lyrical description. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Bonnie Flynn
4.0 out of 5 starsDon't Read on an Empty Stomach or While Dieting!

Diana Abu-Jaber's novel Birds of Paradise is a gut-wrenching family drama set against the backdrop of the tropical suburbs that surround Miami. Read more

Published on March 28, 2014 by Karen Lea Hansen
5.0 out of 5 starsenjoyed book

I thought this was a good book to think and talk about with my book group. Will recc. It to others

Published on September 2, 2013 by mkline
3.0 out of 5 starsThis story is okay, not the best

I think why I didn't care for it that much was because I never felt anything for the characters. The daughter leaving home, it made no sense to me why she would. Read more

Published on August 30, 2013 by Kathleen Steele
5.0 out of 5 starsA page-turner

You might become exasperated by one of the characters in this story, but it's a captivating read by a great story-teller.

Published on August 24, 2013 by Barbara L. Johns
2.0 out of 5 starsCharacters from cable TV shows

The structure of this novel consists of the standard alternating narratives--here's the father (give him a chapter), here's the mother's chapter, each teenager gets a chapter, then... Read more

Published on June 20, 2013 by Lexicron

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