Paradise, New York: A Novel

by Eileen Pollack

Trying to keep her family's Catskill resort solvent, Lucy Appelbaum copes with interference from her family, incensed at her love for a black handyman, from a nearby Hasid, from elderly Communists leading a hotel strike, and from her opinionated staff. UP.

Genres: Fiction

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Eileen Pollack grew up in Liberty, New York. She has received fellowships from the Michener Foundation and the MacDowell Colony, and her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, the Literary Review, the AGNI Review, Playgirl, and the New Generation. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts, and teaches at Tufts University. She won the Pushcart Prize for her story “Past, Future, Elsewhere.”

Reviews

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely yet dark testament to the Borscht Belt days. For those of us lucky to take a dip in its pool before it died, the taste of prune juice and the grins of vaudevillian-type comics are revived with this unique first novel. Mr. Jefferson is one of my all-time favorite characters. For those who love her writing but need a bit more of a manageable plot, you may enjoy The Professor of Immortality.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eileen Pollack is a talented writer, but I didn't like this book very much. The premise is interesting, but I didn't find the plot very engaging, and the relationship between Lucy and Mr. Jefferson made me cringe.

[Merrily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the Catskills in the 1970s,reflecting the setting the author grew up in, the novel spins a good story with interesting characters, although a few are too stereotyped. The grandmother was way overboard.