The Paper Palace

What a delicious read!!! It was evocative and lusty and achey and suspenseful all in one. Cowley magnificently crafts characters that feel real and complex and the dynamics between them are palpable on the page. I became Elle. I could not put this down.

The story weaves between the past and present in a way that feels satisfying and whole. Heavier themes are explored right alongside lighter ones, all expertly balanced.

I want a cabin by the pond :(

“That woman is so unpleasant. Every time I see her I feel like shitting on her shoes”
~
I came into this story with no expectations and it immediately drew me in. The raw emotions and decades of life embedded into the pages was captivating.

The imagery in this book is a1

The book is about an affair, so the main character is a trash human being but at the same time it's beautifully written so I couldn't help but like it anyway.

This book was difficult for me to rate. I liked it, but I didn't like some of the content. I also read it several months before reviewing, and honestly, I forgot much of it. So it didn't really capture me the way a good book does (or should). I'll give it three stars, but don't think I'd recommend it to others.

4.5 ⭐️

this devastated me

–

And I thought: now there is no turning back. No more regrets for what I haven't done. Now only regrets for what I have done. I love him, I hate myself; I love myself, I hate him. This is the end of a long story.

This book! I lost myself in it. I noticed I'd been reading it for a while and looked down, shocked to find myself on page 199! Terrific plotting. Whenever an author can make me desperate to read backstory, I have to tip my hat to them. I loved the ambiguity, the theme, the characterizations. I admire Miranda Cowley Heller's restraint in writing the subtext. Often, she allowed us to put together what was happening though the setting, the physical responses, the tertiary characters. I loved how she gave me the space to dive deep and interpret for myself. The ending was deliciously ambitious and imperfect and I thought, completely fitting with the characterization.
While I enjoyed the pacing of the short scenes, I felt there were two downsides to this approach. Even if you tell me what year it is, I'm not going to do the math to figure out how old Elle was, and her age has a significant impact on the context of the scene. Secondly, nearly every scene begins with grounding the reader in the setting, which yes, is essential, but with so many short scenes, it also got very repetitive. By the end of the book I found myself instinctively skipping the first paragraph, skimming the second, then settling in where the action started. Other than those things, I thought The Paper Palace was the perfect read.

“Flip a coin, Eleanor. If the answer you get disappoints you, do the opposite.”We already know the right answer, even when we think we don´t.”

I liked it a lot! It made me feel a lot of things, many of which I am still digesting and ruminating.

I finished and immediatly wanted to find someone to discuss the story and its ending.

Ultimately, I feel this is a book about the beautiful and the ugly of life, family and love. About the long lasting impacts of choices and forgiveness.

This book was not what I expected after reading the jacket but it was “great” in an unexpected but also devastating way. A lot of people DNF or didn't like it because of the subject matter, which I can understand, especially since it can be very triggering. It gave me a perspective on generational trauma that I, thankfully, never experienced in my own life.