In a Town Called Paradox is a very complex and engaging story. I was captivated at once by the opening of the book: “I wasn’t looking for Marilyn Monroe when I bumped into her, even though I knew she was in town filming River of No Return.”

When Hollywood comes to this small town to film western movies, the whole place is transformed, as are the hopes and dreams of so many of the residents. Some just appreciate the uptick in economics as more people stay in local motels and eat at local restaurants, but for some the call of stardom is strong.

The story, told from the primary POV of Corin Dunbar, who is sent to live with her aunt in Utah after her mother dies, asks the question: If each of us has a life story, then who determines how it unfolds and how it should end? Is it the fiction ending of so many of the movies that Corin and her friend go watch being filmed? Or is it an ending determined by our choices and actions?

The answers to those questions don't come easily, challenging Corin and the whole cast of characters at every turn.

This is not a lighthearted read, but a very satisfying one.

I was fascinated by the history of Hollywood studios filming in Utah, and I really enjoyed (and had my heartstrings tugged by) the well-developed characters. The subplot about treatment of the Navajo was also timely and though-provoking.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"After her mother’s untimely death, young Corin Dunbar is banished to live with her aunt Jessie, an obsessively religious spinster who runs a failing cattle ranch near a speck of a town called Paradox in southeast Utah."

Nice saga, overall a great read. There were several sections of info dumps that didn't add much to the story, imo, (bull semen, astronomy, et al) which slightly lowers my rating.

3.5☆

A lot of interesting questions asked and pondered in this book by diverse characters. I enjoyed it quite a lot. And get much appreciate being given the opportunity to read it

I don’t usually give a two star rating, but this book was very boring. The book covers police corruption, racism and the role of women in the 1950s and 1960s. I skipped lots of pages during the very lengthy description stars and astronomy. I was also flying through when the same character went on page after page with his strange version of afterlife. I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I found the book interesting and I wanted to keep reading to see where it went. I found the characters interesting and inspiring as many of them overcame adversity and loss in their lives. I was hopeful for a more stratifying ending but it rather fell flat for me. There were several great bits throughout the book and I enjoyed reading it.

“I wasn’t looking for Marilyn Monroe when I bumped into her, even though I knew she was in town filming River of No Return…”

So begins In a Town Called Paradox, which asks the question: If each of us has a life story, then who determines how it unfolds and how it should end?

Set in the mid-1950s, in Utah. Around the time when Hollywood and Westerns were being filmed on location in old western towns or ones just built to look like an old town.

Corin Dunbar. After her mother died young, her father ships her off to her Aunt Jessie in Utah. On a cattle ranch with few cattle and a lot more projects than money.

Corin is angry that her father sent her away and has been letting that fester for a while now. Aunt Jessie seems very religious and has rules. Corin is the main person telling this story.

First, she hates Utah. She hates her circumstances. Until Hollywood arrives putting money into the town and bringing all the hot stars to town. The studios are in love with the scenery so almost overnight Paradox becomes something of a Paradox.

She isn’t interested in being in the movies. Not a fan of the casting couch, she instead decides to save the ranch. As she falls in love with the area, she also is falling for a stranger. A man raised by missionary parents who wants to see the West. Throw in the mix an escaped Native American, put in jail for a crime he never committed and there is some excitement going on.

I enjoyed this book so much. It asked some very interesting questions and I admit I pondered on them a lot. Through tragedies and surprise announcements, this had everything from police corruption, the good old boy network, how little power women had in this time, and the question.

Who does control my future choices? And everyone has an agenda.

Very Well Done!

NetGalley/ February 3rd, 2021 by Independent Book Publishers Association

This book includes a varied cast of characters and some vivid scenes. There’s a clear sense of place in this small town in southern Utah. The storyline kept me reading to find out what happened.
But I have some issues with the book. Part I begins in the first person, narrated by protagonist Corin. Then Part II abruptly switches to the third person to tell the backstory of a new character. Obviously, his story is going to intersect with Corin’s at some point, but I found the shift jarring and irritating. Subsequent chapters move back and forth between Corin’s viewpoint in the first person and that of various other characters in the third person. I would have much preferred if the entire book had been written in the third person, shifting the point of view to different characters in each chapter as the story dictates.
Some of the third-person chapters expound upon subjects ranging from history to astronomy to religion. These sections provide context and explain the motivations behind the characters' actions, but they sometimes break up the pacing. Also, the book chimes in on what feels like too many issues in society: racism, suicide, the role of women, police brutality, gay rights, and more. Characters make some statements that seem out of character for the time and place.
The authors do an excellent job of creating scenes, but the book as a whole didn’t live up to my expectations.

Set in the 1950’s in rural Utah, this is a story of struggle, hardship, relationships, ranching, and the glamour of Hollywood using this small town to make cowboy films.
There are so many rich strands to this story, and such diverse characters within it, that it’s impossible for me to give more of an outline than other reviewers have already given without almost telling the story!
This book is well researched, well written and I loved it. It grabbed me and didn’t let go until the very end. I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

This book is set in 1950s frontier town, a father lures Hollywood to the town to be used as a set. Overnight the town is transformed. Marilyn Monroe and Rock Hudson are common sightings and money is flowing in the town.
Told mainly by Corin whose mother passed away when she was young. She is enthralled with the Hollywood life and her future seems bright but an accident forces her to make a decision that will change the course of her life.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as I was hoping, it is a love story overall and I loved the setting and time period. It was a quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley for my ebook copy.

I read In a Town Called Paradox shortly after reading Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire, set in the same geographic area. Paradox is, in part, the story of how cowboy movies began to be made in Utah—which is diametrically opposed to Abbey’s vision of the West, particularly those areas set aside in National Parks. I grew up in Blanding, Utah during the time in which both books were set—which might explain why I enjoyed them.

In a Town Called Paradox three lives intersect: Corin, who, when her mother dies, is sent to live with her aunt Jessie on a cattle ranch that’s on it’s last legs; Ark, a young man raised by missionaries in the Amazon then sent to boarding school in England; and Yiska Begay, an innocent Navajo sent to jail on a trumped up charge, then sentenced to life imprisonment for killing another inmate in self defense.

In the 1950s, a town father decides to lure Hollywood producers into Paradox by building a fake frontier town to be used as a set. Overnight, Paradox changes. Sightings of stars like Marilyn Monroe and Rock Hudson become commonplace, and money from Hollywood pours in, allowing the little town to prosper.

Corin falls in love with Ark when he arrives to give a different kind of star-sighting—the heavenly bodies above. A tragic accident wrecks their young marriage. At this point, the third person enters the stage, Yiska Begay. Though the convergence of these three lives seems unlikely, authors Starks and Murcutt pull it off successfully.