Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
This Vacant Paradise

This Vacant Paradise

Patterson, Victoria

Paperback

General FictionLiterary Fiction

ISBN10: 1582438056
ISBN13: 9781582438054
Publisher: Catapult
Published: Jan 10 2012
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.80
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.60 Depth: 8.70
Language: English
Patterson beautifully parses the consequences of one woman's fall in this memorable, penetrating, fully achieved novel. --The New York Times Book Review

Story Prize and California Book Award finalist Victoria Patterson revisits Newport Beach in This Vacant Paradise, examining the intersections of economics, class, race, sex, and family expectations during the mid-1990s.

Esther lives with her grandmother, a virulent matriarch who controls her family through her wealth. Esther knows that an advantageous marriage replete with social standing, familial and peer approval, and financial rewards will alleviate her struggles. But she has been known to self-sabotage, and her loved ones are rooting for her not to blow it with her latest beau, especially since she's at the ripe old age of thirty-three.

All is well until she begins a tumultuous love affair with Charlie, a local college professor known for his unconventional ideals as much as for his golf game and good looks. He sets a fire inside Esther, sparking and delivering her--whether by choice or not--from the insular, safe, and stifling confines of societal expectations to an alternate, unglamorous, and indefinable course. The result is a stunning debut novel: a powerful work of fiction sure to provoke and engage.

Patterson writes with the exuberance of a natural storyteller. Her cast is rich, her narrative sinuous and masterfully structured. --San Francisco Chronicle

Considering the subject matter--the real housewives of Orange County--Patterson's debut novel (after story collection Drift) is surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced. --Publishers Weekly

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