It should not be so hard to write both poetry and fiction. Both arts, after all, make use of the same materials, words and punctuation. Poems...
Continue »
As a devoted member of three book clubs, it's not often that I immediately care about the heroine of a new novel. But Stevie had my heart from Chapter One. Randy Sue Coburn's A Better View of Paradise then takes off with the kind of poise, attention to detail, emotional authenticity and straight-up fine cultural detail work that defies its "REDBOOK Red-Hot Summer Read" status. And yet, the story is, indeed, a red-hot read heated and honed by smoldering familial micro-dramas and the eternal (and eternally important) search for a mate. We know about these things. And Randy Sue's rendition rings true as true love. So does her astoundingly natural ear for dialogue. And when she evokes the fire-power of Madam Pele it's just the right touch of island enchantment...and girl-grit! Not to mention her super-smart throw-away lines. Now who would expect this in a "beach read": "The Welsh got all the consonants, but the Hawaiians got a better deal with all the vowels." That's because A Better View of Paradise is no beach read. It's a small masterpiece of intimate modern fiction that has you caring all the way to its bittersweet sweet ending, which I loved. And that's rare too, with all the cop-out gut-punches passing for literary conclusions these days. This book is #1 on my Christmas List for Smartest Girlfriends...and on my 2010 to-reads for all my book clubs!
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Don't Miss
Customer Comments
Violet Van der Meer has commented on (1) product.
A Better View of Paradise by Randy Sue Coburn
Violet Van der Meer, December 16, 2009
As a devoted member of three book clubs, it's not often that I immediately care about the heroine of a new novel. But Stevie had my heart from Chapter One. Randy Sue Coburn's A Better View of Paradise then takes off with the kind of poise, attention to detail, emotional authenticity and straight-up fine cultural detail work that defies its "REDBOOK Red-Hot Summer Read" status. And yet, the story is, indeed, a red-hot read heated and honed by smoldering familial micro-dramas and the eternal (and eternally important) search for a mate. We know about these things. And Randy Sue's rendition rings true as true love. So does her astoundingly natural ear for dialogue. And when she evokes the fire-power of Madam Pele it's just the right touch of island enchantment...and girl-grit! Not to mention her super-smart throw-away lines. Now who would expect this in a "beach read": "The Welsh got all the consonants, but the Hawaiians got a better deal with all the vowels." That's because A Better View of Paradise is no beach read. It's a small masterpiece of intimate modern fiction that has you caring all the way to its bittersweet sweet ending, which I loved. And that's rare too, with all the cop-out gut-punches passing for literary conclusions these days. This book is #1 on my Christmas List for Smartest Girlfriends...and on my 2010 to-reads for all my book clubs!(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)