In a Town Called Paradox- Book Review

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

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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.