To Paradise is composed of three different narratives but are connected by several aspects including setting, characters, and themes. The link is mostly the American experience in terms of social and political attitudes in an alternative reality that asks questions about turning points in history. The author probes into these watershed moments that created what America is today by introducing a different outcome. While the stories explore the national scope of history, they get personal by tackling themes such as passion, companionship, family, and illness. The same setting—Washington Square Park—and the same names in the stories emphasize that the human condition remains the same. The novel largely focuses on ideas of freedom, protection, and belonging while steering away from moral absolutism.
Set in an alternative version of the United States, in three different timelines, the novel rewrites the history of the nation. Taking place in 1893 the first story follows David, a reserved gay man set to be married to an older man named Charles in an arranged setting. The narrative showcases a version of America where there are free states that allow gay marriage in the aftermath of the Civil War. The question of identity politics forms the crux of the stories as they challenge the concepts of race, sexuality, and disability or illness. The theme of love and belonging continues in the second part which is set in 1993 New York City during the AIDS pandemic. However, the novel takes a different tone in the final story, as the world is ravaged by plagues and the nation is under totalitarian rule. While its plot tackles love, in this case, fear and angst dictate everyday life mirroring our current reality with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The narratives are based on the uncertainties of the human experience with the external forces that directly impact it through history. Author Louise Erdrich said “Hanya Yanagihara interrogates love and history in a novel that feels prophetic, but in fact rises from the oldest of human themes: ardor, shame, and our most profound protective instincts. She builds a future narrated by vulnerable yet sturdy Charlie, a merciful heart burning for all creation. To Paradise is a world of its own, a major work, and one of the rare books equipped to tell us what it means to be an American.”
