Source: St. Martin’s Press and TLC Book Tours
Hardcover, 320 pgs
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The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli is about learning how to change direction when the path you’re on no longer suits, makes you miserable, or merely a new opportunity presents itself. Part environmental cause, part journey to happiness, Soli creates a multilayered story with deeply flawed characters who not only create havoc in their own lives but in the lives of others. She brings to life the dream many corporate drones dream of, running away to paradise, but even that is fraught with contradiction and disappointment.
“As was her new habit, Ann got up early and walked to the far side of the island where the camera was. She sat behind it and stared at the view that it stared at, a veritable Alice behind the looking glass. It was the real thing and its abstraction. She felt she was on the verge of some grand truth while being suckered at the same time.” (page 150 ARC)
Ann and her husband, Richard, must face the reality that their business partnership with Javi, El Gusano, is a pipe dream dragged down by their philandering, spendthrift partner who expects their assets to shoulder the debt burden. As they flee Los Angeles in search of an escape, they end up on an island near Tahiti with no WI-Fi or outside connections. Soli examines the idea of perception — the view we have of our lives as we live them and the view that we have of those lives when on vacation or examining our chosen path. The two views either can be nearly identical or they can be vastly different. It is up to ourselves to change the courses we choose and to create the lives we want. While there will always be an obstacle that challenges us, we must be inured to rise up and take the horse by the reins.
The irony of The Last Good Paradise is that the only paradise we will have is the one we make ourselves. It is not a place that can be arrived at by plane, bus, or train, but a sense of peace from within ourselves that must be fought for and cultivated over time.
About the Author:
TATJANA SOLI lives with her husband in Southern California. Her New York Times bestselling debut novel, The Lotus Eaters, won the 2011 James Tait Black Prize, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a New York Times Notable Book. Her stories have appeared inBoulevard, The Sun, StoryQuarterly, Confrontation, Gulf Coast, Other Voices, Third Coast, Sonora Review and North Dakota Quarterly. Her work has been twice listed in the 100 Distinguished Stories in Best American Short Stories.
Sounds like an interesting premise. Glad you enjoyed it.
I liked it a lot more than I thought by the end.
Thanks for being a part of the tour Serena!
you’re welcome.
Serena, I am also on the tour for this book. It sounds like a thoughtful book, although my opinion is based on your review. I haven’t started the book yet, but I look forward to beginning soon.
It took me a little bit to get into it because the characters are so eccentric….but its good.
This sounds like a thought provoking read.
it was