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Synopsis
Book by Morrison, Toni
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Review
Oprah Book Club® Selection, January 1998: Toni Morrison's Paradise takes place in the tiny farming community of Ruby, Oklahoma, which its residents proudly proclaim "the one all-black town worth the pain." Settled by nine African American clans during the 1940s, the town represents a small miracle of self-reliance and community spirit. Readers might be forgiven, in fact, for assuming that Morrison's title refers to Ruby itself, which even during the 1970s retains an atmosphere of neighborliness and small-town virtue. Yet Paradises are not so easily gained. As we soon discover, Ruby is fissured by ancestral feuds and financial squabbles, not to mention the political ferment of the era, which has managed to pierce the town's pious isolation. In the view of its leading citizens, these troubles call for a scapegoat. And one readily exists: the Convent, an abandoned mansion not far from town--or, more precisely, the four women who occupy it, and whose unattached and unconventional status makes them the perfect targets for patriarchal ire. ("Before those heifers came to town," the men complain, "this was a peaceable kingdom.") One July morning, then, an armed posse sets out from Ruby for a round of ethical cleansing.
Paradise actually begins with the arrival of these vigilantes, only to launch into an intricate series of flashbacks and interlaced stories. The cast is large--indeed, it seems as though we must have met all 360 members of Ruby's populace--and Morrison knows how to imprint even the minor players on our brains. Even more amazing, though, are the full-length portraits she draws of the four Convent dwellers and their executioners: rich, rounded, and almost painful in their intimacy. This richness--of language and, ultimately, of human understanding--combats the aura of saintliness that can occasionally mar Morrison's fiction. It also makes for a spectacular piece of storytelling, in which such biblical concepts as redemption and divine love are no postmodern playthings but matters of life and (in the very first sentence, alas) death.
From the Publisher
Praise for Toni Morrison reading Sula
"Toni Morrison's speaking voice contains the same musicality as her prose, and the combination of the two results in a nearly sublime experience."
- The Chicago Tribune
". . . it's a storyteller's voice - older than sound recording, older even than print itself."
-The Trenton Times
"Morrison's remarkable talent for storytelling naturally lends itself to the spoken word."
- The Arizona Republic
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- PublisherTRAFALGAR SQUARE +
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0099768216
- ISBN 13 9780099768210
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages336
- Rating
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Paradise
Published by
Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random, 1999
ISBN 10: 0099768216
ISBN 13: 9780099768210
Used
Softcover
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Paradise
Seller: HPB Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
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paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_404497340
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Paradise
Published by
Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random, 1999
ISBN 10: 0099768216
ISBN 13: 9780099768210
Used
Paperback
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
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Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 4.45. Seller Inventory # G0099768216I5N00
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Paradise: Toni Morrison
Published by
Vintage Publishing, United Kingdom, London, 1999
ISBN 10: 0099768216
ISBN 13: 9780099768210
Used
Paperback
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Four young women are brutally attacked in a convent near an all-black town in America in the mid-1970s. The inevitability of this attack, and the attempts to avert it, lie at the heart of Paradise. Spanning the birth of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, the counter-culture and politics of the late 1970s, deftly manipulating past, present and future, this novel reveals the interior lives of the citizens of the town with astonishing clarity. Starkly evoking the clashes that have bedevilled the American century: between race and racelessness; religion and magic; promiscuity and fidelity; individuality and belonging. When Morrison writes at her best, you can feel the workings of history through her prose Hilary Mantel, Spectator Morrison almost single-handedly took American fiction forward in the second half of the 20th century, to a place where it could finally embrace the subtleties and contradictions of the great stain of race which has blighted the republic since its inception Caryl Phillips, Guardian BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF BELOVED Winner of the PEN/Saul Bellow award for achievement in American fiction. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001245227
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Paradise
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paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_411956117
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PARADISE
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Vintage Books, UK, 1999
ISBN 10: 0099768216
ISBN 13: 9780099768210
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First Edition
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Soft Cover. Condition: Very Good+. First Edition. pictorial card covers, 318pp. Mild rubbing, creasing to covers, inside has a hint of tanning to page edges, else square, clean & tight. Tthe story of a brutal attack on four young women in a convent in the mid-1970s. But it is a tale that also examines race, religion, freedom and promiscuity, and the notion of 'community'. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # jen001254
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Paradise: Toni Morrison
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Paradise: Toni Morrison
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Seller: Reuseabook, Gloucester, GLOS, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Used; Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading. Seller Inventory # CHL4237556
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