A Review of Paradise

With Paradise, Sam Frykenberg '16 has written a superb debut novel that scintillates as brightly as the stars and glowing gossamer webs that feature as key motifs in this hypnotic narrative. The novel is an unusual combination of the intimate and the epic, a story of six young castaways set adrift by forces they do not understand and delivered at the shores of a new land where, under the guidance of a mysterious, mouthless stranger who may or may not be trustworthy, they must rely on one another to survive on an island paradise that is not what it first seems. In elegant, sometimes whimsical, and often delicately lyrical prose, Frykenberg demonstrates a capacious imagination and an admirable dedication to craft. 

Beginning with its own creation myth, this is a self-contained realm that feels complete, and its richly detailed, immersive world-building is just what readers of philosophical fantasy crave. This is a world of strange rituals, dark secrets, and shifting allegiances as the band of unwitting adventurers comes to understand what is required of them to build sustainable lives—and perhaps something of far greater consequence.  Frykenberg takes his time exploring both this island and his characters’ inner lives (the novel unfolds through their shifting perspectives); there is no rush toward climactic action set-pieces but rather a gradual accretion that has a transfixing effect on the reader. Although echoes of the classic adventure and survival tales of Daniel DeFoe and Robert Louis Stevenson abound here, I was often put in mind of early colonial American writing and its intertwining of spirituality, community-forging, and the vagaries of basic survival. Like all the most enduring contemporary fantasy, this is both a fresh vision of an alternate world and a story that feels as though it has been passed down through the mists of time, replete with elemental themes of loyalty, trust, faith, rebellion, betrayal, and the tensions between individual will and common purpose. The puzzle-box structure and sense of dreamlike foreboding will remind readers of a cross between the television series Lost, Alex Garland’s The Beach, and Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and the broader allegory of coming-of-age, making sense of one’s place in the world, and working collectively toward a greater good will appeal even to readers not typically drawn to fantasy. In short, Paradise is a real achievement that offers the careful, thoughtful reader many contemplative pleasures.