To Paradise: A powerful novel of love, freedom, and family, from the author of the Booker-shortlisted A Little Life

This book is large and complex and bleak and brilliant. It is effectively three stories that are linked - we see members of two of the same families at the end of the 18th, 20th and 21st centuries. The first two parts are shorter and most of the second half of the book is the future segment. You could almost argue that the story is set in a parallel universe. In 1893 our main character is a gay man who is looking to have an arranged marriage - arranged by his grandfather, who is also a gay man, which is a socially acceptable thing in this America. Only it’s not really America - the states have coalesced into five distinct nations - the state of Maine is a country of it’s own, Texas and many of the southern states have formed The United Colonies, the three states on the west coast have formed The Western Union, and the rest (pretty much) has become America. New York is part of the final country, the Free States, which is everything south of Maine down to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The first story is about the main character trying to avoid his arranged marriage when he falls in love with another man, who, it turns out, has gad a history of getting together with rich men and stealing their money. We leap forward to 1993, where the descendants of the characters in the first book are living with the Aids epidemic. The final story is set in a bleak future where there are constant pandemics and global warming has happened to truly terrifying proportions, again following members of the same family. The author has made some interesting choices. There is no family tree shown, so you have to speculate how many generations have passed in the time between each story. The only thing that links them all is the surname Bingham, and a property in New York. Also, we never really find out what happens at the end of two of the segments. Does the David get ripped off at the end of the first book? (Even worse we are teased with finding out the resolution to this story in the third book but that never pans out either!) Who is in the boat on the final page of the penultimate chapter? It’s bleak but the final segment is page turning stuff. Even here, the narrative has two strands - one set in 2093 and 2094, and the other giving background to those characters from fifty years ago to seven years ago. The flashback segments sometimes warm you of what is about to happen, or the other way around. It’s amazingly constructed and also horrifically plausible. The third segment is easily the best, but they are all good. We are left on a cliffhanger and I suppose it is up to the reader to decide whether things work out well or not. I have my own theory, but having scoured the last few pages for clues as to which way it goes, I realise that the author has left it deliberately ambiguous. The end chunk is about a pandemic (or rather a series of them, which is one - albeit bleak - theory about what is going to happen in the next few decades). I have no idea if that was the plan for the book before we actually had one but it certainly feels powerfully relevant. It also shows how people turn on each other in unexpected ways when life gets hard. I read most of it in two days, and at 700+ pages that’s no mean feat. The characters are amazing and I will be checking out other titles by this writer.

This requires a long time read, and quite a lot of thought, the story unfolds slowly but is utterly compelling.

A little life is my favourite book for the last 15 years and I was very much looking forward to reading To Paradise which I downloaded and jumped into on its publication day The book did not let my expectations down in any way , it is another master piece of modern literature I was immediately grabbed and found the book un put down-able . I loved the multiple stories over many generations in multiple parallel worlds all linked subtly and cleverly , I particularly enjoyed the very first section telling of a world set I. our past with differences in the way LBGQ relationships were seen and accepted . The book continues with world where gay relationships were the norm or were frowned upon or penalised travelling between the past present and future between Hawaii and USA or what might have been the same country in other lives . The characters appeared and reappeared different and similar in varying amounts , the common themes of relationships of overpowering parents and underachieving adult children were mingled with a strong sense of place both country ,city and house . As a book written during the 2020 Covid pandemic the echos of similar episodes through the century and of a future where recurring significant pandemics are the norm made difficult reading on occasion but our familiarity with the language of quarantine and vaccine development helped in understanding the significance of the episodes discussed I thoroughly enjoyed this book it is beautifully written filled with detailed character descriptions and with the beautiful prose style of the author . A gem of a book if I can use this description for such a weighty novel of distinction, I will be strongly recommending it

This is 3 separate stories in one book which was not clear to me. The first story is really good, fairly well written, set in new york at the turn of last century but with a twist - set in a time where gay marriage is legal and accepted in society. It builds a story around 3 siblings who are raised by their grandfather and focuses on the one grandson who remains at home. Its a good story and the characters are interesting and enjoyable to read their story unfold. The second book is so different Set in current times (i think) uses many of the same names as book 1 for the main characters which totally confused me and had me thinking this was follow up but had nothing at all to do with previous story. it would probably have been better if it was as the story is quite boring, irrelevant and not very interesting. Its not until near the end i was able to understand its just really ramblings of a father looking back on his life and relationships with his mother and son. I skipped pages and pages of it, parts that seemed really irrelevant to the book and bored me. The third book is set in the future and whilst interesting its not really gripping. The characters are not wholly interesting or deep. The futuristic world is interesting… Im not a short story fan and thought tge 3 books would have stronger threads. - ie a book set over three centuries but interlinked so i am disappointed and would not have read it if id know.

Wow! I loved A Little Life, which I think is the best book I've ever read, I enjoyed The People in the Trees but less so and it took me a while to get into To Paradise, but it was definitely worth sticking with it. It's three separate stories of the lives of families with the same surname who you assume are somehow related, all set in alternative versions of America. The first is set in 1893 in a world where people can marry male or females and focuses on the son of a very rich man who has introduced said son to someone he believes he should marry. The second set in 1993 at the height of the AIDS epidemic and follows a young Hawaiian man and his older, rich partner. The last is set in 2093 in an America which sees pandemics and plagues every few years and which is a country controlled by fear. It follows the story of a damaged granddaughter of a powerful scientist. If you like neat endings this book isn't for you. The endings to the three segments are left deliberately open for the reader to make their own mind up as to what happens. Like A Little Life, it is a long book, beautifully written, and you won't find an awful lot of joy in it, but wow it will stay with me for a long time. It really is that good.

The premise of this novel is intriguing, the writing skillful and engaging, but it is a whopper - it could (and should) be edited substantially. I loved A Little Life and wanted to love this novel too, but in my opinion the wordiness of it subtracted from what could have been a brilliant novel.

Wow! This is a really powerful book. The prose is exquisite although the subject matter is challenging, as you would expect from the author of "A Little Life". It is a big book and took me the best part of a fortnight to read even though I was on holiday. It is written in three parts. The first is set in the eastern states of the USA shortly after the civil war and the emancipation of the slaves. The society is, however, rather unexpected and very interesting. The second part relates to a more recent period of time around the 1980s and contains much more recognisable events and ideas. The third is set in the future. It is always difficult to represent the future although the author gives full reign to her own ideas and imagination. Everything is plausible. There are frequent pandemics, global warming and a very regimented society with a repressive regime in power - a vision of New York that resembles soviet era communist Russia. Of course the important thing is what happens to the characters in the different periods and how they are related to each other. I don't want to give the game away as the book deserves to be read. I saw echoes of "Cloud Atlas" and "Dr Zhivago". It is superb and I strongly recommend it.

It was an interesting story told over three time frames , which did get a little tedious & confusing in the middle section. I am glad I read it and wonder if some of the criticism Hanya receives is because she takes on difficult themes and dares to write about gay , white men 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ainda estou lendo o livro. Tanto quanto “A Little Life”, prende a atenção e envolve o leitor. Estou gostando muito

I read a lot of “light” literature as I have a demanding job and often just want entertaining when I read. But from time to time I fancy something more thought provoking or that makes me consider what I believe is right and wrong. This author does that with every book she writes. I’m not a book reviewer so won’t try to talk about the deeper meanings in her work or compare this book to other famous tomes. But I will say that this is certainly one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Beautiful story

Love this kind of books

Some might find the structure and/or the content of this novel challenging, but I find that it is so skillfully done that the result is an honest exploration of who we are as people, how our circumstances shape us, but do not have to define us, the risks of breaking free of the appearance of circumstantial safety, the striving towards something better, love & loss. There's three sections, but I count five distinct stories told from different POVs. The first section was difficult for me to get through because it seemed like the writer was not doing as much as she could with the alternate history she created. I found it hard to sympathize the protagonist. But, Yanagihara's prose is so strong, she is a highly skilled writer, that I kept pushing through it. Then the ending of the first section was brilliant and maybe the first spark of understanding I had of what she was doing. The next two sections I was fully engaged and quickly read through the rest of the novel. By the end, the brilliance of the framework and stories she constructed was impressive and resonated with me as a reader and human being. It's my first book I've read from Yanagihara and it makes me want more.