The Last Good Paradise: A Novel - Softcover

Soli, Tatjana

2.97

544 ratings by Goodreads

9781250095015: The Last Good Paradise: A Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1250095018 ISBN 13: 9781250095015

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2016

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

On a small, unnamed coral atoll in the South Pacific, a group of troubled dreamers must face the possibility that the hopes they've labored after so single-mindedly might not lead them to the happiness they feel they were promised. Ann and Richard, an aspiring, Los Angeles power couple, are already sensing the cracks in their version of the American dream when their life unexpectedly implodes, leading them to brashly run away from home to a Robinson Crusoe idyll. Dex Cooper, lead singer of the rock band, Prospero, is facing his own slide from greatness, experimenting with artistic asceticism while accompanied by his sexy, young, and increasingly entrepreneurial muse, Wende. Loren, the French owner of the resort sauvage, has made his own Gauguin-like retreat from the world years before, only to find that the modern world has become impossible to disconnect from. Titi, descendent of Tahitian royalty, worker, and eventual inheritor of the resort, must fashion a vision of the island's future that includes its indigenous people, while her partner, Cooked, is torn between anarchy and lust.

By turns funny and tragic, Tatjana Soli's The Last Good Paradise explores our modern, complex and often, self-contradictory discontents, crafting an exhilarating and darkly satirical story about our need to connect in an increasingly networked but isolating world.

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About the Author:

TATJANA SOLI is a novelist and short story writer. Her New York Times bestselling debut novel, The Lotus Eaters, was the winner of the James Tait Black Prize, a New York Times Notable Book, and a finalist for the LA Times Book Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel The Forgetting Tree was also a New York Times Notable book. Her stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, Boulevard, and The Sun, and have been listed in Best American Short Stories. She lives with her husband in Northern California.

Review:

""The Last Good Paradise" is at once a study in ambition, and a rollicking entertainment...and a page-turning survey of modern technology. Just when you think you know where this novel is going, Soli fascinates and surprises at every twist and turn." --Jonathan Evison, author of "West of Here"

Praise for "The Forgetting Tree"

"Daring...haunting."--Jane Smiley, "The New York Times Book Review"

Praise for "The Lotus Eaters"

"A haunting debut novel...quietly mesmerizing." --Janet Maslin, "The New York Times"

"A splendid first novel . . . Vivid battle scenes, sensual romantic entanglements and elegant writing add to the pleasures of "The Lotus Eaters."" --Danielle Trussoni, "The New York Times Book Review" (cover)

"Steeped in history . . . gorgeous sensory details enliven the prose." --"People"

"Funny, sad, and hauntingly moving, Soli's brilliant new novel is about fractured dreams, broken people, and our desperate yearning to grab for that elusive second chance, no matter the cost. Drenched in a sunny paradise climate, Soli's novel asks, what's enough in life to be happy, and then delivers an answer that's as spell-binding as it is profound." --Caroline Leavitt, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Is This Tomorrow" and "Pictures of You
"
""The Last Good Paradise" is at once a study in ambition, and a rollicking entertainment...and a page-turning survey of modern technology. Just when you think you know where this novel is going, Soli fascinates and surprises at every twist and turn." --Jonathan Evison, author of "West of Here
"
"Hilarious... melancholy... Tatjana Soli's new novel is a wild ride across the ocean and a dangerous dive into desire and greed and revelations about revenge and ultimately, love." --Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist, author of" Highwire Moon
"Praise for "The Forgetting Tree"
"Daring...haunting."--Jane Smiley, "The New York Times Book Review
"Praise for "The Lotus Eaters"
"A haunting debut novel...quietly mesmerizing." --Janet Maslin, "The New York Times
""A splendid first novel . . . Vivid battle scenes, sensual romantic entanglements and elegant writing add to the pleasures of "The Lotus Eaters."" --Danielle Trussoni, "The New York Times Book Review" (cover)
"Steeped in history . . . gorgeous sensory details enliven the prose." --"People"

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.