Paradise
Paradise

Author: Toni Morrison

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2014-03-11

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0804169888

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The acclaimed Nobel Prize winner challenges our most fiercely held beliefs as she weaves folklore and history, memory and myth into an unforgettable meditation on race, religion, gender, and a far-off past that is ever present—in prose that soars with the rhythms, grandeur, and tragic arc of an epic poem. “They shoot the white girl first. With the rest they can take their time.” So begins Toni Morrison’s Paradise, which opens with a horrifying scene of mass violence and chronicles its genesis in an all-black small town in rural Oklahoma. Founded by the descendants of freed slaves and survivors in exodus from a hostile world, the patriarchal community of Ruby is built on righteousness, rigidly enforced moral law, and fear. But seventeen miles away, another group of exiles has gathered in a promised land of their own. And it is upon these women in flight from death and despair that nine male citizens of Ruby will lay their pain, their terror, and their murderous rage. “A fascinating story, wonderfully detailed. . . . The town is the stage for a profound and provocative debate.” —Los Angeles Times

Paradise
Paradise

Author: Lizzie Johnson

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0593136381

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"The definitive firsthand account of California's Camp Fire-the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century-and a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds ... A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again"--

Paradise
Paradise

Author: Donald Barthelme

Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9781564784032

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Simon, a middle-aged architect separated from his wife, is given the chance to live out a stereotypical male fantasy: freed from the travails of married life, he ends up living with three nubile lingerie models who use him as a sexual object.Set in the 1980s, there's a further tension between Simon's desire to exploit this stereotypical fantasy and his (as well as the author's) desire to treat the women as human beings, despite the women's claims that Simon can't distinguish between their personalities.Employing a variety of forms, Barthelme gracefully plays with this setup, creating a story that's not just funny--although it's definitely that--but actually quite melancholy, as Simon knows that the women's departure is inevitable, that this "paradise" will come to an end, and that he'll be left with only an empty house, booze, and regrets about chances not taken.

Sinner
Sinner

Author: Ted Dekker

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Published: 2009-06-28

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 1418580066

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Full of mystery, intrigue, and mind-blowing twists, Sinner explores what happens when the idea of tolerance leads to intolerance. Some say roll with the punches. Drift with the tide. Nothing can stop the inevitability of change. There was a time when 300 Spartans disagreed with such mindless thinking and stood in the gap. Now it's time for 3,000 to stand in the gap. Sinner is the story of Marsuvees Black, a force of raw evil who speaks with wicked persuasion that is far more destructive than swords or guns. Beware all who stand in his way. It’s also the story of Billy Rediger and Darcy Lange, two unsuspecting survivors of a research project gone bad, who discover that they are perhaps the two most powerful souls in the land. Listen to them or pay a terrible price. And it’s the story of Johnny Drake, the one who comes out of the desert and leads the 3,000. Follow him and die. Sinner tells the story of a free land where people who worship as they please and say what they believe are suddenly silenced in the name of tolerance. Most will roll with the punches. Most will drift with the tide. But not all. Not the 3,000. Full-length suspense with a thread of fantasy Includes Author’s Note and Discussion Questions for book clubs Book three in the Paradise series: Showdown, Saint, and Sinner