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There are currently 26 member reviews
for This Other Eden
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Dianne Y. (Stuart, FL)
Lyrical writing and exceptional imagery.
The Other Eden is a very well written book. I would highly recommend it if you have the time to take a deep dive to explore the writing and savor the lyrical writing and exceptional imagery. While I would not recommend it if you are just looking for a quick, easy read that doesn't require much effort. Many of the sentences are lengthy and complex and some may require a second read to fully gasp the meaning. However, if you take the time, it will be a memorable experience.
The characters are well developed, and the story is most thought provoking. From the title you might correctly expect the novel to include religious and spiritual references. However, the tone is not preachy, rather the references are used to further support the themes in the book.
The author adeptly describes the contrast between how the main characters view themselves and their lives and how they are viewed by those outside their community who control their future. The author leaves the reader to ponder this contrast and whether the everyday life of both may be nearly identical, yet extreme prejudice results in unjust actions.
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Anne L. (Lanoka Harbor, NJ)
The Other Eden
Paul Harding, author of Tinkers, does an incredible job telling the story of an island in Maine and its inhabitants from1800 to 1912. The residents were a self sufficient fishing community until they were tragically forced to leave their homes.
The author's lyrical style of writing is both beautiful and captivating. A very thought -provoking novel!
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Eileen C. (New York, NY)
Heartbreaking and luminous
Set in the 1910s, This Other Eden is about a mixed race community forced to leave a small island off the coast of Maine that their families have lived on for more than 100 years. By showing how great harm can come from good intentions, Harding transforms historical events into a fable about a unique community that is destroyed in a heartbreaking way. It is an empathic tale that explores what constitutes a family and what makes a life worth living. This remarkable, understated, luminous novel is well worth reading. Given the issues he explores, it would make an outstanding book club selection.
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Catherine H. (Asbury Park, NJ)
This Other Eden
When I finished this book, I immediately wanted to start it over again. Just as the characters, I too wanted to stay on Apple Island. Paul Harding's telling of a tragic tale with such beauty that I re-read sections to savor. The interaction of an older man and young boy cutting down a white pine to build a home was my favorite passage.
What happens to this very home and the people of Apple Island is based on MalagaI Island in Maine of 1912. I knew nothing of this shameful and ignored history. Therefore, this book was a catalyst for me to research the setting.
I highly recommend this book. It's small in number of pages but large in imparting emotions of grief, empathy, and love.
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Robert I. (Portland, OR)
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Paul Harding is a masterful storyteller. At the outset I was grasped with astonishment about human behavior and the extremes which set my heart yearning for the characters that would enthrall ones redeeming sensitivities for humane tolerance and forgiveness. The characters grasp your attention by virtue of their complexity and conflicting notions. It introduces your own sensibilities for their welfare and danger which cannot allow one to put the book down.
The Apple Islanders in their utopian isolation are unforgettable thru their refusal to give in to suffering and manipulation. Eha, Esther and Ethan Honey share with you being a part of their world which creates an intense involvement by the reader to cheer for their happiness, fulfillment, and love. This is an astonishing portrayal of lives sacrificial endeavors and the constant striving for change. Paul Harding keeps one always anticipating turning the next corner to satisfy your hopes and fears.
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Jill S. (Durham, NC)
Inspired by an appalling part of Maine's history
Some of the most wrenching novels are based on fact, and so it is here: this novel is inspired by rhe forced resettlement of a mixed-race population of a small island community in Maine at the start of the 20th century.
Teeming with biblical undertones, such as the story of Noah and the Ark, This Other Eden gives credence to the self-destructive and sinful state of the world that demands intervention. For craven eugenicists – such as (Leonard Darwin, who is the only child of Charles Darwin who had no interest in science – and greedy politicians and developers, Apple Island is a cauldron of sin.
The island consists of those considered perverse: incestuous siblings and their mentally impaired children, a righteous Civil War veteran named Zachary Hand to God Proverbs who lives in a hollowed tree, the formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish-born wife with their children of various hues of skin colors, and so on.
Of course, things are bound to head south when a well-meaning Christian schoolteacher-turned-missionary decides to better the lot of the island's children – particularly if that missionary holds a visceral repulsion to Blacks. As the island comes to the attention of the politicians, the missionary determines to "rescue" Ethan – a green-eyed boy who can pass as white – and foster his art talents in Massachusetts. The others are headed for institutions so that the island can be developed as a vacation destination.
The Other Eden echoes themes and events that humanity has grappled with to this day. Must those who are different and misunderstood be considered as "less than" and be deprived of dignity and community? Will intolerance always reign?
Gracefully written in magisterial and poetic language, Apple Island itself becomes a fully developed character. Despite its slimness (a bit over 200 pages), the book demands concentration and focus but the rewards are abundant.
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Krista G. (Louisville, KY)
An Eye-opening and Interesting Read
I thoroughly enjoyed reading "This Other Eden" by Paul Harding. One of the reasons I enjoy reading fiction is that it widens my perspective and teaches me things about the past that I was previously unaware of. This book is a great example of that.
There are moments that are sweet and gentle and beautiful. And there are moments that trigger anger for injustice, prejudice, and a disregard for human life. It's a book with several themes, but the main one is prejudice. Prejudice that's labeled as science and prejudice that continues despite an acknowledgement that it's wrong. This is a fascinating book that is based on a chapter of history we should go to great lengths to avoid happening again.
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