To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

From Goodreads

From the author of the classic A Little Life, a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him—and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.

These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.

To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvellous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love – partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

My thoughts

As I was reading the book I saw this bit that reminded me of a song from my youth that we used to sing:

'Yellow bird, up high in banana tee/ Yellow bird you sit all alone like me ...' 

It was a song that was sung to him (one of the characters) by Jane when he was a boy.  As I read the words I began singing it in my head.  I am not sure whereabouts in the book it appeared as all I did was take a screenshot of the part in the book, not the page number.

This was one hell of a read at around 700 pages and took me some time to read.  Split into several parts and covering three different centuries all in the year 93.  It offers us an alternative life to live, at the heart of the story though is not only same sex relationships but illness and how we cope with illness as a race.  Having just suffered the COVID era, the story was quite topical really in many ways.  The author named several characters with the same name which did make it hard to keep track of them at times, it made me wonder whether time travel was involved in some way.  

Having not read any books by this author before, I have nothing to compare it with.  I will read more by her, if only to see what they are like in comparison to this one.