Laura van den Berg's State of Paradise is a wonderful, enigmatic novel that effortlessly blends the commonplace and the extraordinary. A true-to-life narrative about a woman learning to navigate the world after a strange pandemic, dealing with her work as a ghostwriter, and experiencing a devastating storm in her native Florida, this novel is also a surreal exploration of memory and the lingering effects of trauma seasoned with elements of mystery as well as science fiction. A nameless woman and her husband are living with the woman's mother in a small Florida town in the aftermath of a strange pandemic that left some people with odd dreams — and changed the color of the woman's sister.
The woman worries about her work as a ghostwriter for a bestselling author as well as about sinkholes and the way people are going missing. Meanwhile, her husband works on a nonfiction book about pilgrimages, and runs a lot, becoming a bit of a celebrity in the small town. But these concerns aren't the only ones that occupy the woman's thoughts.
There is much more right under the surface: an eerie virtual reality headset given out by the government that has people hooked and ignoring the real world, her mother's secrets, the haunting memories of her time spent in a psychiatric hospital, and her belly button, which is getting deeper and deeper every day. To make matters worse, the woman's sister goes missing during a bad storm. When she finally reappears, she speaks of a different dimension.
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