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A Quitter's Paradise

A Quitter's Paradise

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A Quitter's Paradise, debut novel of Elysha Chang, follows a young woman's journey to make sense of herself, to find who she is and what she wants, and to process the grief she holds inside her heart after the death of her mother.

asks] what it means for a first-generation daughter to stop striving, to want a meaningful life on different terms. However, I think there are readers who will still enjoy "A Quitter's Paradise", since the writing flows well and is very accessible. Exploring the intersections of love and obligation, duty and commitment, the independence of new lifestyles and the appeal of old traditions, Chang's novel will appeal to fans of Helen Fisher's Faye Faraway and Tracey Lien's All That's Left Unsaid.The narration is intimate, poignant, it's almost like reading someone's deepest thoughts: truly beautiful. Overall, I did enjoy this one, even though I felt parts of the story were uneven and the characters could’ve been better developed. She’s a very traumatized woman who comes from an abusive family, and she isn’t making any attempts to recover or get help. Throughout we question many forms of love: filial love, sisterly love, practical love, a union of two compatible people and a partnership based on strengths and weaknesses.

Our protagonist in A Quitter’s Paradise is Eleanor, a fourth year PhD student whose mother has just died. As A Quitter’s Paradise follows Eleanor’s winding journey to make sense of herself and her grief, her story is interwoven with those of her family members—from her parents’ lives in the military villages of Taipei, to their early days as immigrants in New York City, to Eleanor and her sister’s childhoods. In sum, I wouldn’t recommend this novel and would encourage you to check out the titles I linked above, or other higher quality books, instead. The floundering in science and in romance, certain bits of wry prose, and Eleanor’s quirkiness and emotional stuntedness also reminded me of CHEMISTRY.

I thought that the novel started strong yet the plot felt a bit meandering at times, acquiring a more contemplative nature towards the end. I walked away contemplating the mediocrity that permeates life and the drudgery of getting through it. Instead we get a whole book of Eleanor’s avoidance behaviors with no hope for improvement, and reading it was a bleak and unenjoyable experience. In this way, she could become what her mother Rita “ envisioned a modern scholar to be: someone actively engaged in disappearing, in self-effacing, someone hermited within themselves… Eleanor never corrected mistakes, never offered opinions, convictions, suggestions, clarifications. While all this is going on, the child is told they will take care of their aging parents, grandparents?

Many described this book "hilarious": I don't agree with this, the main character is quite unique and quirky at times, but I would never say that she is funny or the book hilarious. A funny and endearing story made up of vivid characters, A Quitters Paradise tackles grief and complicated family dynamics. I find the parental/child relationship hard to take, and more of a business than dictionary definition representation of family. Lito, the story’s dying protagonist, prepares his circuitous yarn by asserting “the best way to fit one story among other stories is, I think, always wise to consider.We follow mostly along with Eleanor, whose mother has recently passed, but we flip back and forth between present day and growing up. At once disarmingly provocative and compulsively readable, A Quitter’s Paradise is an unexpectedly funny study of the beauty and contradictions of grief, family bonds, and self-knowledge, exploring the ways we unwittingly guard the secrets of our loved ones, even from ourselves.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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