Well written and moves at a good pace. I read Angela's Ashes a few years ago and decided it was at the top of my list for books about misery. It's saving grace was it was sprinkled with homour. Not so, A Thousand Splendid Suns. No humour here. However, if you like despair, sadism and unrelenting misery; this is for you. It got to the point where I began second guessing the author as to what horror he would inflict on his protaganists next. He never disappointed. Makes you wonder if the sacrafice of 83 Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan is worth it.

I've just finished reading "paradise" and am still mulling over what I have experienced. At the outset let me say I am male, white and a Canadian. My knowledge of the black experience is limited. I first saw the movie version of "Beloved", and knew there must be more. I then read the book. I became a Toni Morrison fan. Next came a birthday gift in a book called "Paradise". From my standpoint I ask was there a place or is there a place like Ruby? Were there all black towns in America? Morrison says yes and we find a town really without color. Only casual reference to the war between the races. But the conflicts in Ruby are all too familiar. I think Morrison is holding up a mirror and daring all of us to look in. We might not like what we see. But what we see is familiar. The element of mystery is disconcerting. The resolution is not clear. But so is life itself. Without the mystery there is no point in seeking. Toni Morrison has no more answers to the mystery of life than anyone reading this review. She has the courage to venture forth in her mind to offer her insight. And her insight makes it worthwhile to keep turning the pages. In Beloved and now Paradise; I have learned something about the black experience in America. Paradise shows that what we are and what we believe is behind our color and lodged in our mind. A thousand Rubys will not make the world right. That problem is our own. All of us. Paradise waits...