To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara: Worth It?

Posted On October 30, 2022

Hi Readers! After 2 long months, I have finally completed To Paradise. What a feeling it is to complete a 700-page book novel. Whether you love it or hate it, it always feels amazing just because you accomplished this big feat! Well, in this case, I didn’t much like the book. You all know how much I loved A Little Life. I had also enjoyed reading People in the Trees. But, when it comes to To Paradise, it will be third in the list for me. Let’s unravel, shall we?

I am not adding the Goodreads description for this one because the post is going to be long as it is. If you want to check it out, here is the link: Goodreads Description.

I will review the 3 books separately & then towards the end, I will share thoughts for To Paradise as a whole.

~~BOOK ONE~~

Book One is set in 1893 in a very different America than it actually was at the time. In the To Paradise 1893 version, America is divided in The Free States, The Colonies, The North & The West. It’s a society where there is zero prejudice if you belong to the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, it is natural. Rewriting America from this lense was like reading something refreshing. Though Book One was very simplistic in its nature of storytelling, it felt like an amazing start to the entire book.

If I was to put it in plain language, Book One was basically a love-triangle trope wherein our man main David has to choose between two men. The arranged marriage route has Charles, who is perfect on paper. The love marriage route has Edward, who comes with his various complications. David, who has been sheltered his entire life, will he choose the easier option of marrying Charles? Or for once in his life, he will choose the more brave & more adventurously unstable life by marrying Edward? From the books of Hanya’s that I have read before, this particular story felt completely different. Almost as refreshing as seeing openly gay men in 1893 Washington. But, as always, her lucrative writing style is what made this otherwise overly simplistic story really magnetising to readers.

Aside from this story, there were so many conversations; each one touching on important topics. Be it individualistic themes of freedom, choice & trust or global themes of journey of immigrants or LGBTQ+ rights. I enjoyed digging them from the many engaging conversations written in an intellectual, subtle yet museful manner.

~~BOOK TWO: PART ONE~~

Book Two contains Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 describes the life of David & Charles. To be very honest, I don’t recollect much of it, because it was immensely boring. Basically, this was another unusual love story where David (very young) is in a relationship with Charles (very old). Part 2 is about David’s father. I felt that Part 1 was entirely unnecessary. Be it the story or the characters or the connection to part 2. If Hanya wanted a connection between the two, it should have been less than 10 pages of David’s life. This book honestly needed to be edited a lot better.

There was a small part wherein the topic of leaving children as a legacy or of being immortalized through your children was discussed. I thought this was quite clever. Here is an excerpt:

“How did having a child guarantee anything? What if your child didn’t like you? What if your child didn’t care about you? What if your child became a terrible adult, as association you were ashamed of? Then what? A person was the worst legacy, because a person was by definition unpredictable.”

~~BOOK TWO: PART TWO~~

Now, Part 2 was mind blowing. It’s peak Hanya Yanagihara writing that makes you feel & think on a number of matters. It is in the form of a letter (bingo) written by David’s father who is also named David to his son David. And it’s about his life with Edward who he loved. In the first half of the story, you get an insight into the life of Hawaiians. When anyone thinks about Hawaii, their first thought is luxurious fun beach vacation. But, form now on, I will always think about the life of locals. This book talks about how they tried to preserve their history to their feelings of being a part of the USA. It also touches about the dilemmas that Hawaiins face when it comes to making a decision about their life: Should they stay in Hawaii or go the metropolitan cities in America? They are judged by other locals either way. There is also so much talk about the beliefs they hold as apposed to the stereotypes which is soon followed by discrimination towards them if they move to cities like Washington from Hawaii.

After this, comes the second part of insights, which I think are more relatable to a majority of people. Towards the end, Edward & David live on a land which is called Lipo-Wahe-Nahele, which translates to To Paradise. And ironically, the way they live in this land is nothing short of poverty. Edward’s philosophy was to live like real Hawaiins did back in the day, which is, without construction or plumbing or shelter or infrastructure or anything. Basically living on the land like our Homo erectus era people lived.

Firstly, what is the point of living like this? Homo Erectus changed to Homo Sapiens for a reason. Fire, wheels, transportation, shelter, stove, technology were all born out of necessity. What’s the point of not using it then? This theme of importance of urbanization was masterful. It did touch upon facts as to what we can live about, but also what we cannot.

Secondly, this lifestyle was Edward’s idea & David just went along with it. To give away your own son, your family, your businesses & your comfort just to follow a man & live together poorly? It wasn’t love. It was cowardice. David did just this one thing very firmly all throughout & that was to do nothing at all. He stubbornly refused to make a single decision about his own life, even when his life was unsurvivable & closer to death. Now, this decision to not take any decision is what I thought is a universal theme. Be it staying at a job you hate or staying in an abusive relationship or in a country that has done nothing for you. It relates to so many people. Reading those absolute callous states of living made me wonder quite a lot. And this wondering also lead me toward mental health. If you don’t have the courage to take control of your own life in significant ways, then you have mental health problems.

This Part Two of Book Two was likely one of the most insightful stories, written in the most gut-wrenching manner that forces you to put the book down & think. This is where I felt like I read original Grade A Hanya Yanagihara writing.

~~BOOK THREE~~

Now is the critic truth time. Book Three was the downfall for me. Set in a dystopian world riddled with pandemics. Firstly, some authors can really make wonders with a dystopian world. But, this was not it. The fact that it was all about pandemics was depressing after the entire population having lived through it for the past 3 years. Also, it continued on the theme of “Let’s see how much we can confuse the readers!” It has two parallels; one is Charles’ life in 2043 & the second is Charles’ granddaughter’s Charlie’s life in 2093. It continues like this until the first timeline finally reaches the beginning of the second one. This book has 10 parts alternating between these two timelines, and it isn’t until part 4 or 5 that you actually understand how they are related to each other. Funnily enough, you also don’t understand that one of the protagonists is a female with the name of Charlie until the end of Part 3. Talk about annoying.

In Charles’ timeline, we see his life with his husband Nathaniel & their “baby” David. David is referred to as the “baby” even after he is over 15-years-old. It’s the story of their married life, just more so of the day-to-day living in the constant looming threat of a pandemic. And this part is in the form of letters from Charles to his friend Peter.

In Charlie’s timeline, we see her newly married life with her gay husband. Because Charlie had been through illnesses as a child, she struggles to live a normal life. If it weren’t for the illnesses & a dystopian world, she would have been a neurodiverse character.

What I thought was the dumbest thing in Book 3 set in 2093 was how much it was like the 1950s. There is no access to internet allowed to the public. You cannot access books either. People who did not identify as straight were frowned upon. There are literally laws to incentivise straight couple marriages, but nothing for LGBT couples. There were also added incentives if you had children. There is a dowry & a Marriage Act. There is also something called as Enemies Act. I mean, hello? This sucks, big time! Not only was the foundation of the dystopian world unhinged, but it was also something no one would want to read. Even if it is backed with an iota of sense, I will not find myself actually liking this in the least. Throughout this Book 3, it feels like Hanya wants us to struggle while reading it. And it’s not like an emotional rollercoaster of a struggle, which would be welcome. No. It is more of a basic struggle, in the sense that why are they all named the same.

The only part I liked about Book 3 was the portrayal of pandemics. Because we have lived through one, we know exactly what went down. We know how people were selfish, stocking up on necessary supplies. We know how Governments of various countries behaved in this time of chaos. On a more individual level, we all knew to stay away from our beloved but sick friends & family. In Book 3, this is shown very well with a 360 degree perspective. The dilemmas from a personal viewpoint or about disease positive people knowing they are positive & yet roaming around town spreading the disease or about the feeling of being trapped in a house which makes you smaller & smaller each passing day. I felt that all of it was captured well. And, this being set in a dystopian world full of pandemics should be a wakeup call because is we don’t put in efficient systems in place, this could easily be where we are headed.

~~OVERALL THOUGHTS & THEMES~~

To sum it up, I liked Book One and Part Two of Book Two. This accounts for less than half of the book. Book Three which is actually the half of the entire book was not my cup of tea. I did not enjoy it at all.

I have no idea why To Paradise is 3 books. I was not able to form connections between them. The only connection was the recurring names of David & Charles & Nathaniel & Edward & Peter. It was extremely annoying, needless to say super confusing. Hanya’s writing is anyway tough to navigate & on top of that we have all these multiple threads of confusion.

Aside from the names, I felt that there was one consistent theme going on in the background: trust. In Book One, does David trust Edward enough to leave everything behind to be with him? In Book Two, does David trust Edward so much to abandon his entire life for him? In Book Three, does Charlie trust this stranger to leave behind a country? Another consistent them is of belonging, whether it’s with a person or a country.

It took me the longest time to complete this book. And even more time to pen my thoughts into this review. I wouldn’t have devoted so much of time to a book if it were any other author. But, you know me. I need to write down everything about a book otherwise it gets lost in my brain!

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

If you want to read To Paradise because you loved A Little Life, then you should not read it. Both the books are very different. They don’t provide a similar reading experience nor do they invoke feelings of the same strength. If you are looking for another character like Jude St. Francis, then you should not read this book because you will not find him here. If you want to read a romantic story, a historic story & a dystopian story in one book, then you should read To Paradise. If you want to read something that’s lyrical & will make you want to continue reading without wanting to question where it leads, then go for it. If you want to read a thick book, then there are other better options out there, so don’t go with this one because it will really test your patience. On the other hand, the book is actually 3 books, so if you want to split it & read that way, then go for it.

I have rated To Paradise at 3/5 stars!

Until next time,