Paradise (Vintage Contemporaries)
Description
Hannah Luckraft sells cardboard boxes for a living. Her family is so frustrated by her behavior they can barely stand to keep in touch with her. Each day is fueled by the promise of annihilation, the promise of a reprieve, the paradise that can only be found in a bottle. When Hannah meets Robert, a kindred spirit, the two become constant companions. Together and alone Hannah and Robert spiral through the beauty and depravity of a love affair with alcohol. Paradise is a spectacular novel of desire and oblivion.
Praise for Paradise (Vintage Contemporaries)
"Paradise breaks new tonal and dramatic ground for Kennedy. . . . Full of descriptive perspicacity and poetic beauty." –The New York Times Book Review"In this tour de force, which exceeds even her stunning Original Bliss, Kennedy exposes the sad blend of hope, loneliness and lust that can bind one refugee from dreary everydayness to another." –Newsday"It is Hannah’s voice–wry, insightful, and often hilarious–that animates this astonishing book. . . . This is a wiser, braver, sweeter work than we have yet seen--Kennedy's greatest achievement to date." –The Boston Globe" A stunning depiction of alcoholism, as funny as it is sad, as ironic as it is romantic. If you drink you will understand its bravery; if you have been wounded by the disease you will flinch at its honesty. . . . You won't find finer prose than this anywhere in English." –The Seattle Times"A. L. Kennedy writes with such power and dark humor that it is impossible to look away. . . . Paradise is a rare achievement." –The Denver Post