To Paradise

By: Hanya Yanagihara

Narrated by: BD Wong, Catherine Ho, Edoardo Ballerini, Feodor Chin, Kurt Kanazawa

Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The number one Sunday Times best seller and one of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022

From Hanya Yanagihara, author of the modern classic A Little Life, To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him–and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.

These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.

To Paradise is a fin-de-siecle novel of marvellous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The power of this novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love–partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens–and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

©2022 Hanya Yanagihara (P)2022 Penguin Randomhouse LLC

Critic reviews

"A future classic.... For those captivated by Yanagihara’s A Little Life, her next is equally gripping.... Ultimately, it asks the question: is love really all we need?" (Telegraph)

"To Paradise becomes unputdownable.... Amidst the worst travails and political pressures, the primacy of human bonds is irreducible, a truth that lies at the heart of this frightening and very beautiful novel." (Literary Review)

"To Paradise is a transcendent, visionary novel of stunning scope and depth. A novel so layered, so rich, so relevant, so full of the joys and terrors—the pure mystery - of human life, is not only rare, it’s revolutionary." (Michael Cunningham)

"After the painfully affecting [A Little Life] To Paradise gives us three stories far apart in space and time but each unique in their power to summon the joy and complexity of love, the pain of loss. I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much as I miss To Paradise now I’ve left it.... It’s rare that you get the opportunity to review a masterpiece, but To Paradise, definitively, is one." (Observer)

"Awe-inspiring.... The characters are so well drawn and the plot so well paced, I couldn’t put it down." (Daily Telegraph)

Intriguing and worth listening to

Unsettling, but something we should all listen to. I loved the writing and the performances.

Mmmmm

Can’t exactly say if I thought this a great read but i am certainly sure that I’m pleased I listened to it. It was interesting, thought provoking and daunting. Pleased I won’t be around in 2093.

Brilliant and infuriating

3.5 stars.

I absolutely loved the stories especially part 3. I was hooked. Yet there were 2 aspects that REALLY annoyed me:
1. She used the same character names across all 3 stories/parts even though they were absolutely unrelated. I find this pointless and irritating especially in keeping track of the complexity if each story.
2. Part 1 and 2 ended abruptly on an absolute precipice. I was left dangling with no inkling of the outcome of the story. It feels unfinished more than thought provoking.
I wouldn't recommend the book because of these 3 aspects. I'm left feeling incomplete rather than satisfied or even dissatisfied with the novel.