Paradise Park (Magill’s Literary Annual 2002)
At a glance:
- Author: Allegra Goodman
- First Published: 2001
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 1972-1998
- Setting: Hawaii; Jerusalem; Brooklyn; Boston; Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Principal Characters: Sharon Spiegelman, Milton Spiegelman, Cathy Spiegelman, Estelle Spiegelman, Gary, Brian Williamson, Kekui, Pastor MacLaren, Baron, Wayne, Everett Siegel, David, Rabbi Simkovich, Dr. and Mrs. Karinsky, Mikhail, Lena
- Genres: Long fiction, Picaresque fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, Twentieth century, New York City, Religion, 1980’s, New England, Jews or Jewish life, Islands, 1990’s, Visions, epiphanies, or revelations, Israel or Israelis, Hawaii, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean, Jerusalem, Quest, Whales or whaling, Massachusetts
- Locales: Boston, MA, Brooklyn, NY, Cambridge, MA, Jerusalem, Hawaii
Sharon Spiegelman’s first-person narrative begins when she recounts how she and Gary, her dancing partner and lover, leave Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Hawaii, where Gary hopes to work with Brian Williamson, an ornithologist at the University of Hawaii. Gary believes Brian is interested in saving endangered wildlife, but he quickly becomes disillusioned and takes off with another woman for Fiji, leaving Sharon stranded in their hotel with barely enough money to pay their bill. Thus Sharon’s quest for identity and meaning in her life begins.
Sharon accompanies Brian and his...
[The entire page is 1824 words long]
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