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State of Paradise: A Novel

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Description

One of Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Named a Best Book of 2024 by Vanity Fair, NPR, ELLE, and Kirkus. Longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. "A brilliant ghost story and a profoundly moving and atmospheric meditation on place, memory, and the very nature of reality, where everything is truly not as it seems." ―Mona Awad, author of Rouge "At once an adventure and a treat, a deep study of Florida's psychogeography and a creepy story about ghosts, missing people, cults, and technology. Don't miss it." ―Gabino Iglesias, NPR A heart-racing fun house of uncanniness hidden in Florida’s underbelly from the celebrated Laura van den Berg It’s another summer in a small Florida town. After an illness that vanishes as mysteriously as it arrived, everything appears to be getting back to normal: soul-crushing heat, torrential downpours, sinkholes swallowing the earth, ominous cats, a world-bending virtual reality device being handed out by a company called ELECTRA, and an increasing number of posters dotting the streets with the faces of missing citizens. Living in her mother’s home, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author tracks the eerie changes. On top of everything else, she’s contending with family secrets, spotty memories of her troubled youth, a burgeoning cult in the living room, and the alarming expansion of her own belly button. Then, during a violent rainstorm, her sister goes missing. She returns a few days later, sprawled on their mother’s lawn and speaking of another dimension. Now the ghostwriter must investigate not only what happened to her sister and the other missing people but also the uncanny connections between ELECTRA, the famous author she works for, and reality itself. A sticky, rain-soaked reckoning with the elusive nature of selfhood and storytelling, Laura van den Berg’s State of Paradise is an intricate and page-turning whirlwind. With inimitable control and thrilling style, van den Berg reaches deep into the void and returns with a story far stranger than either reality or fiction. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux


Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 9, 2024


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 037461220X


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 07


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #172,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #278 in Southern Fiction #2,192 in Family Life Fiction (Books) #6,583 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#278 in Southern Fiction:


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If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Friday, Aug 22

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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Love this crazy book!
The main character of this novel is Florida. Our narrator is a ghost writer who has moved to the state with her Economics professor husband to tend her mother who may be dying of cancer. The world has lived through pandemic, but climate change and virtual reality are turning the state into a creepy, dystopia. Just read it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2024 by Susan Bass

  • Totally worth a read!
There is a creepiness that permeates Laura van den Berg's, State of Paradise. It gets under your skin and seeps into your brain so that when you look around the world feels uneasily different. Every thing is not as it seems. I couldn't put it down.
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2024 by Laura R.

  • Lit fiction with a little bit of sci-fi
In this book, our narrator recounts her life in post-pandemic Florida and her struggles with addiction. She often goes off on tangents about her family life and the wilderness of Florida. In the beginning of the novel, there isn't a clear central focus, which made it hard for me to stay engaged. Interspersed with her stories and recollections, the narrator faces a series of weather events in Florida, her sister's disappearance, and a mysterious VR headset. Things start to get weird in the second half and I found myself much more interested in what was happening. While there are some sci-fi elements, they aren't the focus of this novel. This definitely leans more towards literary fiction. Overall, the first half was a bit of a slog for me, but things definitely picked up in the second half. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2024 by Alix

  • Left wanting an ending
All the positive things reviews said are all true and I was actually enjoying the read. But suddenly I turned the page to see what happens next and was faced with the acknowledgments page. There was no ending. The book just stopped. Is there a part 2? Is my kindle version missing pages? Very disappointing! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2025 by Amazon Customer

  • Loved this book
Hilarious
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2025 by Kathryn Cunningham

  • The actual nefarious act was a publishing company foisting this garbage onto a clueless public.
I honestly believe this book may be the WORST book I have ever read. Was there even an editor? This book was selected by one of my book club members for our March meeting. We are all friends and have always accepted each others suggestions without question (though we all tend to be on the literary side). Following this month, however, we may change that policy. I did my best to keep an open mind while reading, waiting to see if the words would develop into anything - a story, perhaps? Then suddenly the book ended. Nothing ever did happen, except perhaps someone's very bad dream. The book was incoherent, pretty much plotless, with some weird suggestion of a thinly sketched technology company doing SOMETHING nefarious - it was never clear what. I wonder if the actual nefarious act was the publishing company foisting this onto a clueless public. If I had purchased a paper copy rather than a kindle copy, I would put, no, THROW it in the trash. That being said, we did have a very interesting book club discussion about this book. One of seven enjoyed it originally, and a second of seven hated it originally, but changed her opinion somewhat on rereading. I suggested it was perhaps intended as a written version of performance art. We all worried about the potential death of conventional novels and the stories they tell. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2025 by SusanB

  • cute and quirky
I picked this book based on its covered. It is funny and a little random but definitely enjoyed reading it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2024 by Amy Gallo

  • First part captures Florida wonderfully
I bought this book because it was mentioned in a Gulfport paper. I had not read anything by the author. She writes very well. She knows Florida. The first part of the book gripped my emotions. She captured the essential earthiness, weirdness, sweltering reality of Florida and the people who live there. I found myself falling into reverie. But then the plot moved into the man-made surrealism, alternative worlds of the main story. I rushed to finish. I don't think I will read more by this author but I thank her for the reminiscences. People do disappear. All is not as it seems...unless it is. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2024 by Kindle Cat Customer

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