Paradais

PARADAIS

by Fernanda Melchor

 

Nominations: Booker Longlist 2022, Dublin Finalist 2023, LA Times Finalist 2022

 

Date Read: March 14, 2023

 

Without much thought or care, Polo embarks on a brutal mission to prove himself to his uncle. Spurred on by Franco, also known as Fatboy, Franco is hell-bent on having a rich resident of Paradais. Since Franco can’t have her by any other means, he decides he will rape her and then kill her and her family. Polo is enlisted as an accomplice and he is there to earn enough money from robbing them to leave his sponging mother and pregnant cousin.

 

Polo is a gardener in Paradais, a community for wealthy homeowners in a Mexican suburb. Franco is the grandson of two residents of Paradais. After-hours, to avoid returning home, Polo hangs out with Franco on the dock of the complex. Polo quickly realizes he loathes Franco and everything he stands for. Yet, as Franco spins his plan over time, Polo at first doesn’t take him seriously. As Franco’s seriousness begins to sink in, Polo is already in over his head.

 

As their ill-conceived plan unfolds, Melchor’s long sentences portray a nightmare without end. Both Franco and Polo plod forward without evaluating what is happening or the morality of what they’re doing. When everyone winds up dead, the husband, wife, two sons and Franco – everyone except Polo – the horrific nature of the crime he committed never totally dawns on him. Polo feels blameless because it was Franco’s obsession and Franco’s plan.

 

Paradais has been called a “fever dream,” which I agree with. It has also been called “brilliant,” which I am not as certain of. Either way, this is a great follow-up to Hurricane Season and still the infancy of what will undoubtedly be a stellar writing career.

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