In a Town Called Paradox by Miriam Murcutt and Richard Starks
Publication Date:
3rd Feb 2021
Genre: Historical
Fiction, American Fiction
3.4 Stars
The book is set in
a town called Paradox and deals with the lives of its people. Corin is sent
from NYC to Paradox in southeast Utah after the death of her mother. She has to
live with Aunt Jessie, a spinster, and a religious rancher.
As the town’s Mayor
builds an entire new town, and names it Eldorado to attract the Hollywood, life
chances for the townsfolk. We see Corin grow up, try a hand at acting, and get
back to ranching. We see her relationship with Cal and the entry of Ark. We see
Ark’s childhood and how it shaped his ideas.
Life changes when
Corin and Ark get married and tragedy strikes soon after.
Yiska, a Navajo
Indian, enters the town, and we get to see his past struggles.
A few more POVs are
thrown in to give us more background details about different characters whose
past actions have impacted others’ lives.
The book starts out
very well, interesting and engaging. But from part two, it starts to have too
much information, literally dumped on the readers.
Around 55%, the
book picks up again, falls a bit, and gets better until it ends on a flat note.
After reading almost 300 pages, I was surprised to see that the book just
ended. The ending was incomplete, with some information left for the readers to
assume as they seemed fit.
While the
characters were etched well, the narration wasn’t as gripping. The book sure
had its moments, but the overall effect was just about average. There was a lot
of filler (imagine sharing two full chapters about a bull to set the stage for
the coming twist). I mean, give us a gist, and we’d have still understood.
A whole lot of
research has been done about Native Americans. It certainly must be applauded.
But the tone of the presentation had to suit the book. It resembled non-fiction
more than fiction. The book has quite a few places where it reads like
non-fiction rather than fiction. That made the book dry even when it was
supposed to be emotional and even passionate about the injustice faced by women
and the Native Americans.
Overall, it was a
decent book that taught me something new but not strong enough to make a
lasting impression.
I received an ARC
from NetGalley and Prestwicke Publishing.
#InaTownCalledParadox
#NetGalley
P.S: It's sad that the authors couldn’t find the contribution of ancient Bharat when talking about the stars and universe in the book. Our land gave much to the world.
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