Paradais (Paperback)
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Staff Reviews
Welcome to "paradise," the name of a luxury housing complex in Mexico. Here, two teenage boys form an unlikely friendship that soon spirals out of control. Melchor, the author of the wickedly good Hurricane Season, is a bold and daring writer, and uses this strength not to shock (though admittedly, her novels are quite shocking) but to deftly explore class and masculinity with unyielding intensity. Melchor's characters exist in a fractured society, and she recognizes that the most dangerous people are those with nothing left to lose. With propulsive pacing and language spilling out recklessly like a nightmarish fever dream, Melchor doesn't care about her readers' comfort level. For those who can handle this ferocious little beast, you will find chilling revelations and surprising complexities and nuance in the depraved. Shane recommends!
— ShaneDescription
Inside a luxury housing complex, two misfit teenagers sneak around and get drunk. Franco Andrade, lonely, overweight, and addicted to porn, obsessively fantasizes about seducing his neighbor - an attractive married woman and mother - while Polo dreams about quitting his gruelling job as a gardener within the gated community and fleeing his overbearing mother and their narco-controlled village. Each facing the impossibility of getting what he thinks he deserves, Franco and Polo hatch a mindless and macabre scheme. Written in a chilling torrent of prose by one of our most thrilling new writers, Paradais explores the explosive fragility of Mexican society - fractured by issues of race, class and violence - and how the myths, desires, and hardships of teenagers can tear life apart at the seams.
About the Author
Born in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1982, Fernanda Melchor is 'one of Mexico's most exciting new voices' (Guardian). Her novel Hurricane Season was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, longlisted for the National Book Award, and was a New York Times Notable Book.
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