Paradise Park

Average customer rating:

Excellent

Gimmie a break!

Most Reviewers Seem to Have Missed the Point

Annoying character but excellent message...

Waiting for God...or Just Another Guy

Paradise Park
Allegra Goodman
Manufacturer: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Kaaterskill Falls

Total Immersion

The Family Markowitz

Intuition

Joy Comes in the Morning: A Novel

ASIN: 0385334184
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Amazon.com

Ditched by her boyfriend, estranged from her family, the protagonist of Paradise Park wakes up in a Waikiki fleabag on the first day of the rest of her life, dreaming of God. This is in the 1970s, and Sharon Spiegelman doesn't initially strike the reader as a likely candidate for religious conversion. She's a 20-year-old hippie folk dancer from Boston, with a guitar and a crocheted bikini and hair down to her hips. Finding herself in paradise, however, Allegra Goodman's heroine begins a quest that lasts a quarter of a century.

Seldom proceeding in a straight line, Sharon begins by counting red-footed boobies as part of an ornithological census. Soon she's cultivating marijuana in the jungles of Molokai. In these adventures and subsequent ones, Sharon displays a sweet nature but questionable judgment when it comes to romance and gainful employment. Drifting through a string of dead-end boyfriends and jobs, she eventually has a vision of God during a whale-watching cruise. And this enlightenment leads her into the fold of the Greater Love Salvation Church, a Pentecostal revivalist sect, where's she left in a state of temporary beatitude:

I'd heard the expression before of walking on air, but this was the real thing, because when I left that church, my feet were so springy that as I walked, they barely touched the ground. It was like my head had floated up and my neck had gone all long and slender like a giraffe's so my face was a little giraffe face up there, bending and bobbing in the breezy night air. And I walked all the way back from Manoa to Waikiki, back to the hotel in the darkness, and smelled the flowers and just caressed the whole world with my eyes.

Suffice it to say that the Greater Love congregation is only the first stop in a quest that eventually leads Sharon to spiritual and corporeal fulfillment in Hasidic Judaism. As always, Allegra Goodman has a light touch with serious matters, and in Paradise Park she creates a surprisingly complex and endearing heroine. --Victoria Jenkins

Book Description

Allegra Goodman has delighted readers with her critically acclaimed collections Total Immersion and The Family Markowitz, and her celebrated first novel, Kaaterskill Falls, which was a national bestseller and a National Book Award finalist.

Abandoned by her folk-dancing partner, Gary, in a Honolulu hotel room, Sharon realizes she could return to Boston—and her estranged family—or listen to that little voice inside herself. The voice that asks: “How come Gary got to pursue his causes, while all I got to pursue was him?” Thus, with an open heart, a soul on fire, and her meager possessions (a guitar, two Indian gauze skirts, a macramé bikini, and her grandfather’s silver watch) Sharon begins her own spiritual quest. Ever the optimist, she is sure at each stage that she has struck it rich “spiritually speaking”—until she comes up empty. Then, in a karmic convergence of events, Sharon starts on the path home to Judaism. Still, even as she embraces her tradition, Sharon’s irrepressible self tugs at her sleeve. Especially when she meets Mikhail, falls truly in love at last, and discovers what even she could not imagine—her destiny.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-09-20

Best novel I've read in a long time. The author does the impossible: portrays a young, confused, naive, even silly character without judging her in the least. As a result, I feel compassion for her instead of ridicule. When I laugh at things she says (Jesus "still lives with his father"), I'm partly laughing at my own young, deluded self. It's a characterization that is generous to both the character and the reader. I love this book.

Gimmie a break!.......2007-03-20

Luckily I did not buy this book. Putting the unlikable main character, Sharon aside, nothing else redeemed the novel. Her religious journey seemed superficial and empty simply following her whims. In the end when she has found her "purpose" with Mikhail it seems they don't even know each other. They spend their days working to make ends meet and never hold any meaningful moments (perhaps outside of the book?) What exactly made that the moment she stopped looking? If we caught up with her in 2 years perhaps she would be a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Don't waste your time..Sharon will make your stomach turn.

Most Reviewers Seem to Have Missed the Point.......2006-07-08

Granted the protagonist in this novel may not be the most likeable personality, but it seems as if many of the reviewers have allowed their dislike for Ms. Spiegelman to cloud their judgment.

Fortunately, somebody got it right; the message of the book "...is about finding yourself and not letting anybody stop you." Furthermore, several reviewers' claims that the main character does not change at all throughout her spiritual quest, is also incorrect. For, in the final scene, when Sharon runs into Gary at the Oldies' Night, she says: "I realized I didn't need to go on looking anymore...So I've decided to be a receptor. I've decided to be more of a listener, and a sounding board..."
Would that we all could say the same thing!

Overall,, I found Goodman's writing to be superb, and her character develop outstanding. I dare say she is one of the best female Jewish writers alive today.

Annoying character but excellent message..........2005-02-15

The main character of Paradise Park was Sharon, a folk dancing hippy who follows her boyfriend to Hawaii. When she is abandoned on the island with nothing, instead of going home and starting a new and better life and reconsiling with her family, she stays in Hawaii to wander. At times the reader is drawn to her, feeling sorry for her and her situations. However, she is extremely self-absorbed and cannot stop whining about her situation. I believe that this character was supposed to be like that, and was written very detailed by Allegra Goodman, in a poetic and thought-out manner. This woman is going on a journey to find God and religion, but NOTHING ends up working for her, fulfilling her. Finally she finds Judaism, but even that isn't good enough for her. In the end she still critisizes the religion. People tell her that she hasn't changed, and she hasn't, but she doesn't see it that way.
However, the overall message in this book is excellent. It is about finding yourself and not letting anybody stop you. She went through many things, which were essentially the same situations with different names and places, but in the end, she found what made her happy.

Waiting for God...or Just Another Guy.......2003-02-07

"Paradise Park" purports to be about Sharon Spiegelman's search for God which eventually leads her to Orthodox Judaism, marriage and a baby. At the end of the book she encounters the man who had abandoned her at the beginning of the book...could a sequel be far behind? Dancer that she is, she just seems to keep changing partners.
Throughout the book, Sharon never matures: she merely changes direction. Her marriage and motherhood seem very unfulfilling despite what we are led to believe.

On the up side, Allegra Goodman's depiction of the various religious and social organizations through which Sharon tries to find God are depicted with honesty and wit. None of them, even Judaism, are held up to be perfection.
I just don't think I've ever met a character that I wanted so much to shake and say "Grow up!"

Average customer rating:

Seedier side of life

Not What It Seems

Fabulous Summer Read

Easy read

Not What I expected...

The Bingo Queens of Paradise
June Park
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Patty Jane's House of Curl

ASIN: 0060931280
Release Date: 2000-05-02

Book Description

In Oklahoma, where Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is a staple and Bob Barker is king, twenty-eight-year-old Darla Moon struggles to break free. But as she plans her escape to New York City, turmoil erupts and the demands of family stand between her and her suitcase. Darla must, for the first time in her life, cast an unflinching eye on the hard-to-accept truths regarding love, responsibility, and survival. The Bingo Queens of Paradise lyrically blends a powerful comic voice with a poignant tale of a woman who longs to pursue her dreams.

Customer Reviews:

Seedier side of life.......2006-10-25

This book was flat out depressing. The characters in the book are all typical "trailer trash" with no hope of better lives.

Not What It Seems.......2005-09-21

I bought this book thinking it would be a folksy story about life in a small town, and ladies enjoying their togetherness at the local bingo parlor. Something light and cheerful, and--- funny. This book is about as far away from funny as you can get. It is sad, pitiful, irritating, and the main characters are, without exception, all pretty unlikeable. Even Darla Moon,who tells the story and whose mother is the town prostitute, comes across as hard as nails. Underneath, of course, she has a heart, but she is so tough, it's hard to have any sympathy for her. The only likable characters are Elijah, a black friend of the family, and a preacher who sweeps Darla off her feet. It is NOT an easy read-- on every page there is something sad,-- these people live in squalor and hopelessness. I felt totally down in the dumps when I finished it. I wish I had my time back.

Fabulous Summer Read.......2005-06-29

A summer/beach book should be one that is easy put down and easy to pick up. It should have characters that intrique you and make you think of them when you aren't reading about them. It should cause you to assess your life, dreams, inner feelings. This book does all those things. It is ripe for a sequel or even a prequel to explore the characters more. Highly recommended.

Easy read.......2005-03-11

This is a pretty interesting book in my mind because it's definitely not your typical story line. It's different because the characters aren't your typically happy-go-lucky people where everything ends up just peachy at the end. The family lives in extreme poverty, and the mother was a prostitute in her earlier days while she had young children. The children were often abused by their "uncles," and this has left quite an impression on them. Growing up in a small town, everyone knew the mother was a prostitute, and this led to men assuming that the girls were just as easy. The story shows the family grown up and the effects that the mother's lifestyle had on the children.
I would definitely recommend this book!

Not What I expected..........2004-08-27

Reading the back cover of this book, you don't realize fully what your getting into. This is a very dark and depressing look at a poor family in Paradise, Oklahoma. I thought this was going to be another light southern fiction book that I'd love, but instead I got a book filled with prostitution, sex, rape, murder, child and spousal abuse. I could only take this book in little doses, seeing as how it's such a downer.

It took me a while to finish, the story was intersesting enough to make me want to know how it ended, but not enough for me to read it in one day. I don't know that I'd recommend this to anyone, it being such a dreary book and all...but if your interested in reading it, it's not a bad story, I just wasn't expecting it.

Mara-Serengeti: A Photographer's Paradise

Average customer rating:

Wonderful Journey
The most beautiful book ever published
Beyond the Photo Safari!

Mara-Serengeti: A Photographer's Paradise
Jonathan Scott , Angela Scott , and Caroline Taggart
Manufacturer: Voyageur Press (MN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Kenya | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0863433987

Book Description

The Mara-Serengeti is a vast tract of land lying astride the Kenya-Tanzania border in Africa. This book celebrates the diversity of life to be found in the Mara-Serengeti: the great predators, the wonders of the migration, the people. It is a book of personal memories and favorite photographs of animals that the authors have followed throughout their lives--the ultimate safari.

Jonathan and Angie achieve an intimacy with their subjects that is born of infinite patience and insatiable fascination with the lives of the animals and the people. This book is a tribute to their accomplishments and a lasting record of a land that is truly A Photographer's Paradise. For wildlife lovers, photography buffs, and those interested in Africa.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Journey.......2003-09-27

This book was more than I had hoped for. The moments captured are extrordinary, some of the best photos of African Wildlife I have ever seen. I haven't read the text yet, but the captions by the photos are very informative and contain little interesting tidbits I didn't know. I have a lot of coffee table books and this is definitely a favorite.

The most beautiful book ever published.......2003-04-06

Having been to this area of Africa three times, twice in the Masi Mara and once to the Serengeti this book brings me back over and over again to this heaven on earth. The combination of drawings, photographs, and writing of Jonathan and Angela Scott are outstanding. This is my all time favorite book. The love these authors feel for this area and the animals and people who live there comes through on every page. For anyone who has the slightest interest in wild animals, ecology, photography, art, travel or Africa this book is a must have. Awesome!

Beyond the Photo Safari!.......2001-06-18

Mara-Serengeti captures the essence of living in the Mara-Serengeti region in a way that you would not experience in a dozen safaris to Africa. The images of predators, prey, wildlife migrations, and the Masai bring you close up during moments of blazing color in the sky and dramatic action in the grasslands. The images are improved by thoughtful essays that draw on the photographers' many years of experience with these subjects.

The animal photographs are mostly grouped by subject and include lions, leopards, zebras, wart hogs, impalas, cheetahs, wildebeest, hyenas, crocodiles, vultures, and wild dogs. The subjects are usually of animal families, migration, killing, and eating in often symbolic settings for these activities. The Masai images come at the book's end, sort of completing the evolutionary progression of the food chain.

You probably have heard of the Serengeti. It's a vast grassland in Tanzania, and is now protected as the Serengeti National Park there. The Masai Mara National Reserve is in neighboring Kenya, and the two lands are connected geographically, if not politically. A map in the book will display all of this for you. This site is the area where humans probably first walked the face of the Earth, and the dwindling of these remarkable spaces marks the potential for us to lose our ability to visualize our roots.

The name, Serengeti, in Masai means "land of endless space." The closest we have to this habitat in the United States that I have seen is the brief enclosure in the wild animal park that the San Diego zoo maintains near Escondido, California.

The action photographs impressed me the most. These show predators literally flying and spinning in the air just before they land while the terrorized prey wheels desperately away. The action is captured almost like a key play in a sporting event. That's pretty typical of the photography here. The images emphasize action and perspectives that you do not yet have, and this book will add wonderfully to your sense of the special nature of the grasslands of Africa.

After you have finished expanding your vision of natural selection, I suggest that you think about the ways that our lives are enhanced by understanding our origins and how our lives are not. How can we draw inspiration from nature and stand in our most meaningful role?

Look for what few have seen . . . always! Truth will emerge from your trial.

Book Description

A guide to 558 state parks throughout America's South, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Texas Panhandle—14 states in all. With this book in your auto, RV, airplane, boat, saddlebags or backpack, you'll always find interesting places to visit close at hand. This guide freatures information on locations, events, accommodations, facilities, activities, and much more.

12 Short Hikes Mount Rainer National Park Paradise

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12 Short Hikes Mount Rainer National Park Paradise
Jeffrey L. Smoot
Manufacturer: Falcon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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12 Short Hikes Mount Rainer National Park Sunrise

ASIN: 1575400170

Book Description

Written for families, newcomers, and anybody looking for easy access to an outdoor experience. Each book describes in clear graphic scenic hikes of less than two hours.

Average customer rating:

Cirminally Underrated
Soldiers of paradise
Beautiful written,
Come Read the Best!
Some cool ideas, but no coehesion

Soldiers of Paradise
Paul Park
Manufacturer: Avon Books (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0380705818

Book Description

Where the seasons last for generations, hard winter makes for hard religion. The worlds of the solar system are the hells through which all souls must incarnate on their journey to Paradise; all, that is, but the Starbridges, nobles who serve to enforce the "divine will." In the lowest slums of the city-state of Charn, a Starbridge doctor and a drunken prince defy the law to bring medicine to the poor and hear the story-music of the refugee Antinomials, a wild people who shun words, infidels pressed to the edge of extinction. As a decades-long pitched battle approaches the city and the Bishop of Charn herself is condemned for impurity, the doctor and the prince will follow their compassion into the heart of a revolution, just on the eve of spring, with its strange and treacherous sugar rain.

This is the first book of the Starbridge Chronicles, and is followed by SUGAR RAIN and THE CULT OF LOVING KINDNESS.

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Customer Reviews:

Cirminally Underrated.......2003-01-06

I happened upon this book because I was starving for something to read on one very cold winter night. Wanting instant gratification, I found Soldiers of Paradise on Amazon's e-books, and bought it simply because it had interesting cover art. I read the first few pages, stopped, went back to Amazon and immediately bought the rest of the trilogy.

Soldiers of Paradise is the first book of the Starbridge Chronicles trilogy, a tale that starts in late winter and ends in the second half of summer of the same year. During the months in between, wars are waged and empires fall. And not because the change is so quick, but because the year is that long; longer than many years of our own time and Earth. The Author never tells us how this came to be. It could be that the Earth of the Starbridge Chronicles is our own cast into the future, or that she is a refuge that our race has sought after her original namesake fell into ruin.

And this is just the beginning. The journey through Paul Park's earth is a torturously delicious striptease. He never tells, he just shows. And he never shows too much, just enough to set the reader's imagination aflame, puzzling over the possibilities, the explanation, and the meaning of it all. In the end, each reader will come out with his or her own version of the Earth of the Startbridge Chronicles.

Another aspect that is strongly present, and one that I find to be very relevant to our current times, is that of religion. The inhabitants of Paul Park's Earth all follow a single religion for the most part, the symbol of which is the profit Angkhdt. As the seasons change, the people's perception of Angkhdt changes as well. In winter, the time of hardship, he becomes the dog-headed Angkhdt, the prophet of obedience and war. In summer, he becomes the well-endowed Angkhdt, the prophet of love and harvest.

So we too change our perception of religion in accordance to circumstance. To some, religion preaches peace and tolerance. To others, it demands blood and sacrifice. Perhaps then no religion is above corruption once it falls into human hands.

Soldiers of paradise.......2001-11-27

The book I read for free reading was Soldiers of paradise and it made the most of my time. It was wrtten by Paul Park which is also a very intresting man and his past life will amaze anyone. the book is like a fantasy in the distant future but alot of war and illeagel drugs is involved.This book was a great choice because there were always surprises that poped up from evey cornor when you least expected it. This book was like no other because none the action never stops, theres always something intresting going on. A qoute from Thankar explains how much he hates alot of people in his world because everyone has to be a real hard case to survive and he dosent want to be one " I know him and I always hated him. we'll hang him higher than any bird can fly". That explains how Thanker doesnt like anyone because he knows that his friends can even stab him in the back just to survive. The future is so bleak with war and drugs its explained as med-evil times because castles, tourture and death is just business in the world he has to suffer in. in conclusion the book was great and the ending is what you least suspect.

Beautiful written,.......2001-02-06

This was a beautiful way of telling a story. Musical. I think the whole book should of been spoken the way the storyteller had spoken it. It may be hard to understand once you start reading it, but once you dove into it, it's hard to put down. I havn't finished it yet, but close to it, and so far it's beautiful, that 's all I can say. If you need a book just to pick up and read, try this one. Magical, ~Isirah~Weasel~

Come Read the Best!.......2000-04-01

An aging star begins to swell toward red giant stage. The "humans" of many worlds, all likely descendants of a common ancestor, the hypnogogic ape, ride from hot doom to the outermost world of the system, soon the only one habitable. The spaceship that rescues them over the millennia continues to fly its programmed rounds empty, while the "Starbridge" crew becomes top caste on a planet of centuries-long years and winters. The unique thing about this background to the Starbridge Chronicles is that you'll never discover it by reading the books -- and I say this to Paul Park's credit. He constructs a story so deep that it has roots you'll never know, whereas lesser authors like myself go around flashing our explanations for everything.

Park creates a rich fictional "charnal house" filled with all manner of mystery, decadence, death and rebirth. Meanwhile the great wheel of time rolls on, incapable of caring. But the reader has the pleasure and pain of caring very much what happens to many very imperfect people. (Who gives a damn about the perfect ones?)

Paul Park is a revolutionary. When he shows you that the great systems of the universe are heartless and wrong, he's also condemning the great systems we all live under. Some writers advance the revolution by envisioning better ways, but somehow the truths of human nature get in the way of utopia. Perverted utopias, perverted good deeds, and perverted religions are also part of Park's universe. As of ours.

Some cool ideas, but no coehesion.......2000-03-02

Definitely dark and a bit surrealistic. The setting is very harsh (and I like that) but it seemed to me more like a string of events with no characters - all extras. I didn't care about the characters and they didn't care about themselves. There was no interaction. These ideas put together by someone like Iain Banks would be absolutely fabulous, but by himself it needs work.

Mount Rainier National Park: Including a Perilous Paradise (Pocket Portfolio)

Average customer rating:

Great Pictures

Mount Rainier National Park: Including a Perilous Paradise (Pocket Portfolio)
Ron Warfield
Manufacturer: Sierra Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Features spectacular color photography and exquisite reproductions. Expanded interpretive captions and beautifully written essays provide in-depth information on the human and natural histories of the Park.

Customer Reviews:

Great Pictures.......2000-08-21

I met the book's photographer at Mount Rainier National Park, so I bought the book at the gift shop there. It has some great pictures. You can tell from the description of it (32 pages) that it's a tad short.

Average customer rating:

Adventuring in Paradise
Gene Jones
Manufacturer: Pineapple Press (FL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Instructional | Hiking & Camping | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

History of Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Adventuring in Paradise has the information you need to best enjoy the bountiful outdoor recreational opportunities available : • Parks and other outdoor recreation areas • Canoe and kayak launch sites • Biking, hiking and walking trails • Equipment checklists • Suggestions to "get involved" to help preserve, protect, and enhance the environment • Historical and ecological overviews • Details about Myakka, one of Florida's largest state parks and its "Wild and Scenic River" • Safety and comfort tips • Resources for further information

War's Wake: How a GI-Bill veteran and a sophomore lost their way in the time of Harry Truman and Alger Hiss and fell into paradise on a magical island in Washington Park

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War's Wake: How a GI-Bill veteran and a sophomore lost their way in the time of Harry Truman and Alger Hiss and fell into paradise on a magical island in Washington Park
Allan Wilford Howerton
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 141349210X

Book Description

"War´s Wake" is an ethereal re-creation of an obsessive romance in the aftermath of World War II. On a university campus bulging with ex-GIs, a traumatized combat veteran and a sophomore fell madly in love. Years later, the long-dead sophomore, invading his computer as he tries to make a novel of his life, lures him back to reprise what went wrong. Their bittersweet reassessments and besotted indulgences provide a wacky tour of Truman-era, greatest-generation morality, a sobering look at postwar USA, and a passionate time-travel love story about memory, commitment, and decisive decisions that frame our lives.

Set on the campus of a western university and a magical island—a sort of Garden of Eden—in a nearby city park, War's Wake is a bittersweet story of lost love. As the tale plays out it is also a bit of subtle spoofing of compulsive romance and the manners, mores, and politics of the greatest generation's immediate postwar period. For the old infantry sergeant, reentry into civil society was not all beds of roses framed with white picket fences.

Lost love, however, is not always to be lamented, particularly when transformed to a fairytale in the blurred light of a bygone time. Drawing upon imagination stimulated by a bevy of old photographs from his high school and college years before and after World War II, the author has created a seductive novel of autobiographic fiction taking the reader into fantasy worlds that never were but might have been. The photographs, appearing at the end of the narrative, give a powerful authenticity to the fiction, making it almost believable amid all of its bizarre fancies and contradictions. We accept because who among us has not envisaged lives different from those we have actually experienced?

Average customer rating:
3 Titles By John Cheever : Bullet Park - Oh What a Paradise It Seems - The Brigadier and the Golf Widow
John Cheever
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VJ6I7Y

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

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