What Strange Paradise

The four stars is rounded up.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I found the last act to be sorta weak in comparison to the rest. There were a lot of ideas and themes focused on throughout the book, only when they all came together it really wasn't clicking, or felt lacking in finesse. For example, the attempt to flesh out the antagonist in the final act felt too little, too late. He was already a caricature, and perhaps if left like that, things would've been more impactful?

I'm not really sure. There's an argument to be made for the characters on the island feeling flat to serve the broader narrative, but I'm not sure I'm of that mind.

Still enjoyable and well worth the read.

“The two kinds of people in this world aren't good and bad — they're engines and fuel.”

9 year old Amir Utu washes up on shore amidst a mass of shipwrecked bodies, distended with seawater. Sprawled facedown, arms outstretched he is surrounded by the wreckage of the boat he once sat on. Police pull caution tape along the walkway that leads to the beach that lies in the shadow of a luxury hotel. The guest rumble about their ruined day, now confined to the hotel grounds. There are angry requests for refunds.

The boy opens his eyes and sees two men approach in baggy white containment suits. He runs.

Beautifully written with a spare storyline bisected into Before and After. After, we see Amir lost on this new island, helped by 15 year old Vanna. Before, we find out how Amir finds himself aboard the Calypso, crowded among the other refugees. They remain hopeful, armed with newly minted Western names, wielding crucifixes and memorizing mantras in English: “Hello. I am pregnant. I will have a baby on April twenty-eight. I need hospital and doctor to have safe baby. Please help.”

It's a simple story, that is devastating in its little details.