State of Paradise

A Novel

By: Laura van den Berg

Narrated by: Megan Tusing

Along with her husband, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author returns to her mother's house in the Florida town where she grew up. As the summer heat sets in, she wrestles with family secrets and memories of her own troubled youth. Her mercurial sister, who lives next door, spends a growing amount of time using MIND’S EYE, a virtual reality device provided to citizens of the town by ELECTRA, a tech company in South Florida, during the doldrums of a recent pandemic. But it’s not just the ominous cats, her mother’s burgeoning cult, or the fact that her belly button has become an increasingly deep cavern—something is off in the town, and it probably has to do with the posters of missing citizens spread throughout the streets.

During a violent rainstorm, the writer’s sister goes missing for several days. When she returns, sprawled on their mother’s lawn and speaking of another dimension, the writer is forced to investigate not only what happened to her sister and the other missing people but the uncanny connections between ELECTRA, the famous author, and reality itself.

A sticky, rain-soaked reckoning with the elusive nature of storytelling, Laura van den Berg’s Florida Diary is an interlocking and gripping whirlwind. With inimitable control and thrilling style, she reaches deep into the void and returns with a story far stranger than either reality or fiction.

"State of Paradise is a weird, wild, thrilling journey through cults, addiction, messed-up families, the pandemic, the weather, and the strangeness and beauty of the great state of Florida. Laura van den Berg's writing is razor sharp and full of depth and humor, and she has an incredible imagination. This book is freaking brilliant."

—Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could Be Yours

©2024 Laura van den Berg (P)2024 Spotify Audiobooks

So confused

I couldn’t keep track of the rambling narrative and I never got close to any of the characters. Just really confusing.

A quirky gem

I love the premise of this book. It is so wonderfully absurd. Was Laura van den Berg tripping as she wrote it? I feel less grounded in reality reading it. Given all that enjoyment I do find myself a bit lost here and there. I found myself drifting from the story as I listened causing me to have to rewind and begin again. I don't know if I would have fared better reading it as opposed to listening.

Fantastic, philosophical, reflects the times

I really enjoyed this absurd/magical adventure. The craftsmanship of words is excellent. I find a kinship between this novel and Duplex by Kathryn Davis. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. I feel like I’ve struck a vein of literary gold.

A constant surprise

The story of this novel creeps up on you, as though all of the sudden you’re sprinting in what you’d expected to be an easy stroll. It’s like Katherine Mansfield had written “Sea of Tranquility,” and set it in Florida.