Paradise

Opening with the most chilling line in literature, "They shoot the white girl first," Paradise continues to read as haunting as its opening line. Morrison builds the story around the town of Ruby, its history and the history of its residents. When the occupants of the former Convent on the outskirts of Ruby threatens all that the town stands for, the men of Ruby take matters into their own hands.

There are scores of characters throughout Paradise. They all possess a dark secret or either they are shrouded in some type of sorrow. The twins, Deek and Steward, govern Ruby with an iron fist while Connie welcomes women into the Convent with no questions asked. The twins will do whatever it takes to protect the way of life in Ruby. Ruby is somewhat of a African-American utopia with strict age, family, class, and religious divides. At the Convent women of various backgrounds, ages, and lifestyles come and go but most can't seem to stay away. The Convent and its occupants are shunned by most of the residents of Ruby outside of them purchasing vegtables but there are a few who visit for other reasons.

The town of Ruby has a rich history and so does the Convent. There are layers of family and personal history that Morrison weaves intricately throughout each chapter. The stories that surround the Convent and the women that found refuge there were the most captivating for me. Ruby and its residents could have been totally removed from the story and I would not have missed them. The characters that made up the town of Ruby were flat with one except the midwife, Lone DuPres. The Convent women had rich stories full of life and depth.

Paradise is dark and sorrowful. There is a feminist feel about it. For me there was a lot of disconnect and places where I simply got lost in what I would describe as rambling. After a while, I found re-reading passages proved useless. I never truly found the "core" of the story. The reader can never really pin point who the "white girl" is. The race of most of the Convent women is ambiguous. I reached a bright spot in the narrative close to the end when a totally unexpected love story was brought to the light. I once thought if I read and understood Morrison's novel, Love, I could make it through any of her books. I was wrong. Paradise was torture for me.

This was masterfully written! A true gem for anyone that enjoys depth in their plots! The characters come to life, they jump off the page. The entire story sucks you in and you feel as though you are struggling with these characters as they face the torments that haunt them in life, the gut-wrenching suffering will grip your soul, and leave you feeling thankful for everything that you have in your own life. It was a wonderful and thought-provoking read, written by an extraordinary author. This is what literature is supposed to be. This author bravely pioneers her own style, while at the same time maintaining all the necessary elements of a desirable book. ( )

The first line of this book never leaves your mind. ( )

Another wonderfully told story by one of my favorites. In a town named Ruby, Ohio, a community of Black families, lead by twin brothers settle into their own segregated paradise, hopefully never to be ruined by the outside world. As time progresses the younger generation of teenagers start to want to change things and the status quo is being questioned. At the same time there is an abandoned convent that once was used by nuns looking to educate the locals. Now it is home to a collection of women in need or desperation. Each chapter title is the name of one of the women. The novel begins with the murder of one of these women and then circulates back to provide the back story to why this carnage is happening. It is an amazing intertwined saga, one that does take some concentration or in my case book notes. However the journey is well worth the effort. Morrison is masterful with her language and her depiction of characters. I have read most of her books and look forward to her newest: Home. ( )

"They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time." These powerful first lines set up this beautifully written and complex novel that explores what utopia means and the cost required to maintain it.

Ruby is a small town, founded by black families who persevered through the roughest of times to make a home for themselves away from the threat of whites and the shame of being rejected by other blacks. Built 90 miles from anywhere, Ruby has been able to preserve and protect itself from the influence of the outside world, in addition to creating a complex mythology around its founding that sustains it. The families live in peace without threat of violence, drugs, television, or the miscreant behavior of mistreated children.

Meanwhile, far on the outskirts of this small town is the Convent, once the home of nuns aiming to plant a seed of culture in young native girls, is now a last refuge for lost women, who have been shattered by their lives. Each reach the Convent, one way or another, by accident, and intending to stay only a few days, end up staying years.

The novel interweaves the history of Ruby and its founding families and the lives of these women, and true to Morrison's style, nothing is simple, not people, or towns, or history, or stories.

One of the things I remember from when I first read it in class was the question of who the "white girl" was. Race is an important question in the book, or I should say, it's an important question and focus for the townsfolk of Ruby, who pride themselves on being dark-skinned blacks, as opposed to the light skinned blacks who rejected them, not to mention the whites they were trying to escape and avoid. However, among the women who live at the Convent, the story is different. Race is less of an issue, and Morisson never makes it clear who the "white girl" is, and though we spent a lot of time in class trying to debating it, in the end, I think perhaps it doesn't matter, because these women (after a long false start), began to create a kind of paradise for themselves that was not at all built on race, but on something else entirely.

Paradise is a rich, complex book with rich, complex write that you could pick up 50 times and come away with something new each time. It requires a certain amount of focus, of paying attention to get through, but it is absolutely worth the effort, and is a beautiful read. ( )