{"product_id":"state-of-paradise-9780374612207","title":"State of Paradise","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A brilliant ghost story and a profoundly moving and atmospheric meditation on place, memory, and the very nature of reality, where everything is truly not as it seems.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e--Mona Awad, author of\u003ci\u003e Rouge\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A wholly original and epically engaging novel from a master of episodic oddity.\" --Rachel Yoder, author of \u003ci\u003eNightbitch\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA heart-racing fun house of uncanniness hidden in Florida's underbelly from the celebrated Laura van den Berg \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlong with her husband, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author returns to her mother's house in the Florida town where she grew up. As the summer heat sets in, she wrestles with family secrets and memories of her own troubled youth. Her mercurial sister, who lives next door, spends a growing amount of time using MIND'S EYE, a virtual reality device provided to citizens of the town by ELECTRA, a tech company in South Florida, during the doldrums of a recent pandemic. But it's not just the ominous cats, her mother's burgeoning cult, or the fact that her belly button has become an increasingly deep cavern--something is \u003ci\u003eoff\u003c\/i\u003e in the town, and it probably has to do with the posters of missing citizens spread throughout the streets. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDuring a violent rainstorm, the writer's sister goes missing for several days. When she returns, sprawled on their mother's lawn and speaking of another dimension, the writer is forced to investigate not only what happened to her sister and the other missing people but also the uncanny connections between ELECTRA, the famous author, and reality itself. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA sticky, rain-soaked reckoning with the elusive nature of storytelling, Laura van den Berg's \u003ci\u003eState of Paradise\u003c\/i\u003e is an interlocking and page-turning whirlwind. With inimitable control and thrilling style, she reaches deep into the void and returns with a story far stranger than either reality or fiction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Straus and Giroux\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/09\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374612207\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.38w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2024\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Laura Van Den Berg","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44145917526197,"sku":"9780374612207","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_f6a662ee-0621-4aa4-aee9-512098ae115c.jpg?v=1715699155","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/state-of-paradise-9780374612207","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}