A Quitter's Paradise

A Novel

By: Elysha Chang

Narrated by: Angela Lin

In A Quitter’s Paradise, the darkly humorous debut by bold, new voice Elysha Chang, a young woman does everything she can to ignore her mother’s death, even as unearthed family secrets become increasingly inextricable from her own.

Eleanor is doing just fine. Yes, she’s hiding things from her husband. Sure, she quit her PhD program and is now conducting unauthorized research on illegitimately procured mice. And, true, her mother is dead, and Eleanor has yet to go through her things. But what else is she supposed to do? What shape can grief take when you didn’t understand the person you’ve lost?

Resisting at every turn, Eleanor tumbles blindly down a path that will force her to confront her present. After a series of incidents—and some questionable choices—it becomes clear that no matter how hard Eleanor tries, she will never be able to escape her grief, or her family, despite her wildest attempts. But will she be brave enough to withstand the reckoning she’s hurtling toward?

At once disarmingly provocative and compulsively readable, A Quitter’s Paradise interweaves Eleanor’s story with her parents’ in an unexpectedly funny study of the beauty and contradictions of family bonds and self-knowledge, exploring the ways we unwittingly guard the secrets of our loved ones, even from ourselves.

Sad

This story left me sad and uninspired. I found myself moping around the days I read it.

So-so.

After hearing Jessica-Parker raving about this book in an interview, I had high expectations. Disappointing. Additionally, the sing-song narration didn't help. Beautifully written language, but that's about it. Somehow I missed the supposed deep meanings in this book.

Disappointing

Saw interview with Author and SJP on today show was expecting big things. Book leaves lots of unanswered questions and was confusing a lot of the time. Ending felt unfinished.

Rambling and depressing

Not what i was expecting. Rambling and depressing. I was extremely disappointed it leads nowhere except into a depressing abyss of death.

Sad cliffhanger

The ending was a sad cliffhanger that I’m not sure I want to know the ending of if I had to sit through another book to get it.