The Last Good Paradise

A Novel

by Tatjana Soli

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Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lotus Eaters and The Forgetting Tree comes a black comedy set on an island resort, where guests attempting to flee their troubles realize they can’t escape who they are.

On a small, unnamed coral atoll in the South Pacific, a group of troubled dreamers must face the possibility that the hopes they’ve labored after so single-mindedly might not lead them to the happiness they feel they were promised. Ann and Richard, an aspiring, Los Angeles power couple, are already sensing the cracks in their version of the American dream when their life unexpectedly implodes, leading them to brashly run away from home to a Robinson Crusoe idyll. Dex Cooper, lead singer of the rock band, Prospero, is facing his own slide from greatness, experimenting with artistic asceticism while accompanied by his sexy, young, and increasingly entrepreneurial muse, Wende. Loren, the French owner of the resort sauvage, has made his own Gauguin-like retreat from the world years before, only to find that the modern world has become impossible to disconnect from. Titi, descendent of Tahitian royalty, worker, and eventual inheritor of the resort, must fashion a vision of the island’s future that includes its indigenous people, while her partner, Cooked, is torn between anarchy and lust. By turns funny and tragic, The Last Good Paradise explores our modern, complex and often, self-contradictory discontents, crafting an exhilarating and darkly satirical story about our need to connect in an increasingly networked but isolating world.

Advance Praise

“Funny, sad, and hauntingly moving, Soli’s brilliant new novel is about fractured dreams, broken people, and our desperate yearning to grab for that elusive second chance, no matter the cost. Drenched in a sunny paradise climate, Soli’s novel asks, what’s enough in life to be happy, and then delivers an answer that’s as spell-binding as it is profound.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

"The Last Good Paradise is at once a study in ambition, and a rollicking entertainment...and a page-turning survey of modern technology. Just when you think you know where this novel is going, Soli fascinates and surprises at every twist and turn." —Jonathan Evison, author of West of Here

"Hilarious... melancholy... Tatjana Soli's new novel is a wild ride across the ocean and a dangerous dive into desire and greed and revelations about revenge and ultimately, love." —Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist, author of Highwire Moon

“Funny, sad, and hauntingly moving, Soli’s brilliant new novel is about fractured dreams, broken people, and our desperate yearning to grab for that elusive second chance, no matter the cost...

Marketing Plan

*National Print Publicity
*Pre-pub Trade Advertising
*Online Promotion & Advertising
*Widespread ARC Distribution
*Early Reader Reviews
*Discussion Guide Available Online
*Reading Group Gold Newsletter Feature
*Indiebound Whitebox Mailing
*Library Marketing Campaign
*Blog Outreach
*Social Media: @TatjanaSoli; facebook.com/tatjanasoliauthor
*Author Website: tatjanasoli.com

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9781250043962
PRICE	$25.99 (USD)

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Additional Information

Average rating from 20 members

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Featured Reviews

Rosemary S, Librarian

My Recommendation

What happens when your shiny, expensive life turns to crap? You run away. That’s what Ann and Richard did after their life in L.A. hit the skids. They are now living at a remote resort on a tiny island in the South Pacific. With them are the lead singer of a washed up rock and roll band, along with his flighty girlfriend, the resort owner who can’t get away from the 21st century, no matter how hard he tries and the woman who will inherit the resort. The local who needs to find a way for the island’s indigenous population to be able to stay on the island all the while keeping the tourists providing desperately needed cash.

Who hasn’t thought of ditching it all to run away to a deserted island? But as Soli shows, our problems tend to follow us, no matter where we are. A bittersweet, sad and wry look at life

My Recommendation

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Renee W, Educator

My Recommendation

There are many things to like about this novel about escaping to an island in the South Pacific.  The story is told from multiple perspectives and characters often misread / misinterpret each other's intentions.  Although the characters are types:  rock star, lawyer, chef, "muse" . . . they each also have unexpected qualities.  Overall, this book was engaging and funny.

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Jennyfer D, Bookseller

My Recommendation

Set on an island resort in the South Pacific. Ann and Richard's lives are not what they hoped they would be, Dex, a lead singer for a rock band is losing some of his fame and Loren, the owner of the resort finds it impossible to ignore the rest of the world any longer. A satire that is both funny and sad at the same time.

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Elyse W, Reviewer

My Recommendation

Escaping Civilization , "living-off-the-grid", is often maddening, exhausting, and complicated.

The castaways in "The Last Good Paradise", endure competing desires, revenge, and love.

You'll take a journey, --from L.A. to a Polynesian remote resort -small island in the South Pacific--
Cut off from Cell phones -electrical devices and social media.
Innumerable Challenges!
Quirky rhythms!
Seductive & funny Several Twists & turns Epic storytelling--emotional intensity!
Heroes and villains--
Nuclear testing -----radioactive poisons imprisoned in the rock....(leakage)
Plutonium fallout --
Gourmet meals-
Luxurious bungalows--
Drinking-dancing- drumming-eating-music -["Rock & Roll Will Save Your Life"]..
History of the island's cannibalism --
Tourists love to be fussed over--
Abduction French Government, mired in paranoia with a increasingly hostile electorate Paparazzi Generations of mistreatment Polynesian wedding party ....

This is Tatjana's 3rd novel. Tatjana writes with literary elegance. Each of her books lovely -all different.
This new novel explores the complexities of relationships ---mysteries of the unexpected --and even the morality of entitlement.

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