I knew when I chose this book that it was a out of my normal genre but the premise sounded interesting and I decided to give it a shot. This was not for me. I honestly have no idea what I read. The story felt all over the place and many times I literally had no idea what was happening.

A twisty dive into a pandemic battled state of Floria. We don't know what pandemic has ravaged the world this time, but it still felt eerily similar to one we went through not too long ago.

The only thing that stuck with me from this book was MC recognizing her outie turned into innie and she pulled a chapstick (at perfect temperature and consistency, nothing less!) from that said innie. Not sure if I can wipe that image from my mind for a very long time. I feel stabbing pain in my belly just thinking about it.

MC was a ghost writer. She had a normal life until she started to realize things were not so normal in her town. People were spending more time with this VR goggles shipping them into a new dimension, a new life. As more and more people fell into VR trap including MC's sister, she decided to look into it herself. What she found out in this virtual world was probably more than she bargained for.

It was meant to be thriller presented as sci-fi, but (as you can tell from what stuck with me from this book) it did not really agree with me. I liked the storytelling, but I didn't love the story.

I don't really know how to explain what I just read---it felt like a fever dream.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for the ARC.

STATE OF PARADISE by Laura van den Berg is a genre-bending meld of autofiction and speculative fiction that takes place in the swampy climes of Florida. Through stream of consciousness vignettes, we follow a ghostwriter as she navigates unintentionally prolonged proximity to her mother and sister when the pandemic hits. Now that she’s back home, memories of her childhood and young adult life resurface, particularly the time she spent in a local mental institution and what that time means to her now. Things get increasingly wackier: Is her belly button infinite in depth? Has her mom become a voluntary human extinction cult leader? Why is her sister spending a worrisome amount of time in MIND’S EYE, a virtual reality headset? And, finally, where did her sister go?

The search for her missing sister takes the protagonist through floods, sinkholes, virtual reality, and portals to other worlds. Climate change, dramatic weather events, state government, AI, and the purpose of literature all flit into and out of the narrative. The writing flirts with apocalyptic elements while remaining tongue-in-cheek, reminding me of Marcy Demansky’s HURRICANE GIRL. Don’t read this if you need a perfect plot or deep character development; it’s about the journey and the exploration and the vibes. The audiobook’s apt narration is done by Megan Tusing, and is a great way to immerse yourself into this fever dream of a novel.

I’d recommend STATE OF PARADISE to anyone looking for a fresh, weird, utterly Floridian read with a bizarre yet touching ending. I’ve never read anything quite like it!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.

“A heart-racing fun house of uncanniness hidden in Florida’s underbelly, from a reality-warping storyteller.”

In “State of Paradise,” Laura van den Berg masterfully blends the commonplace with the surreal. Along with her husband, a ghostwriter for a famous thriller author, the protagonist returns to her mother’s house in the Florida town where she grew up. As the summer heat envelops them, family secrets resurface, and memories of her troubled youth haunt her.

The mercurial sister next door immerses herself in MIND’S EYE, a virtual reality device provided by ELECTRA, a tech company. But something is off—the ominous cats, her mother’s burgeoning cult, and the posters of missing citizens lining the streets.

When her sister disappears and returns speaking of another dimension, the writer investigates the uncanny connections between ELECTRA, the famous author, and reality itself.

Laura van den Berg’s “State of Paradise” is a true-to-life narrative seasoned with mystery and science fiction. It’s a sticky, rain-soaked reckoning with storytelling’s elusive nature—a whirlwind that leaves us questioning what’s real and what lies beyond. 🌴🎧

This book was definitley not for me, although it was well-writen and the narration was well done.

Thank you to NetGalley aan the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"State of Paradise" by Laura van den Berg is listed as literary fiction. Part of it is speculative fiction. Most of it is her diary about Florida, describing unpleasant things like sink holes, tons of insects, humidity, and the conservative governor. Most of the story seems to be stream-of-consciousness.

During a severe weather incident of days of heavy rain, her sister goes missing. It is days before she shows up. The sister is addicted to using this virtual reality headset called Minds Eye. These sets were given out during the pandemic to help people meditate.

I had trouble following the last part that turned rather sci-fi. I went back and listened to this section all again. It still didn't make much sense. I've listened to a lot of sci-fi that made far more sense.

Characters - 5/5
Writing - 2/5
Plot - 2/5
Pacing - 2/5
Unputdownability - 2/5
Enjoyment - 1/5
Narration - 4/5 by Megan Tusing
Cover - 4/5
Overall - 22/8 = 2 6/8 grounded up to 3 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Spotify Audiobooks, and Laura van den Berg for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Honestly, I could not tell you what this book was about. I found the narrator to be unengaging and found myself having to re-listen over and over. It's a great premise, and I might enjoy the physical book better.

Ghosts fill this speculative auto-fiction-ish novel. It's set in that strange state that is Florida, with its bizarre politicians, its right-wingers, its swamps and humidity and insects and snakes and cats and more, set after the pandemic, or a pandemic, where those stricken, like the unnamed first-person narrator and her sister, experienced serious fevers and strange reactions afterwards.

July Release - 🎧 Audiobook Review 📖 State of Paradise by Laura van den Berg 🌴🌧🌊👻⌨️

I love books that have quirky and inventive narrative styles and I really enjoyed this one. And then there are the creative storyline(s?) as well as oddball while endearing characters and the contemplative musings about life in these times where real-life seems to push the boundaries of reality anyhow.

This book felt intimate, like talking to an acquaintance you just met but click with and they are oversharing their weird thoughts and observations and little stories about the people in their life. It pulled me in and I couldn't say where it was going but I was all in on joining the MC on her bizarre journey.

The themes on capitalism and environmental collapse and the impact of technology were juxtaposed with more personal themes surrounding addiction, trauma, and mental health. This book is a wild ride that explores a whole lot in its short volume and I am here for it.

Loved listening to the audiobook, gifted to me by Spotify Audiobooks in exchange for my honest review. Narrator Megan Tusing's pitch and tone are on point - moving from light and funny to wry and understated to serious and heartfelt to dreamy and even wacky. I'm sure it was a challenge deciding how to voice-act the bizarre thoughts and conversations, anecdotes and goings-on. She really nailed it.

Fans of Florida (and making fun of Florida too), speculative fiction, and weird shit that makes you laugh and think should absolutely pick this one up. I feel like people (like me) who loved No One Is Talking About This are especially likely to enjoy this bizarre, insightful, and poignant read.

I admire writers that can blend everything they want to say into a single fluent narrative. In 'State of Paradise' Laura van den Berg certainly explores an extremely wide range of ideas (addiction, the role of technology in our lives, storytelling, ghostwriting, sectarianism, time travel, to name just a few), but they don't necessarily coalesce into a coherent whole.

And in a way that doesn't really matter, because - this being a Covid-novel too - yet another idea is that our reality is changing and we are no longer able to make sense of it. And what better setting for such a tale than the surreal state of Florida.

I struggled to make sense of it, but once I chose to go with the flow I ended up finding it quite enjoyable and interesting.

(Excellent narration, but the tone was sometimes a bit light for the heaviness of the subject)

STATE OF PARADISE is my first time reading Laura van den Berg and I am humbly smitten.

Narrated by Megan Tusing, this story follows a ghostwriter who travels back to her mother's Florida home with her husband. I don't even know how to describe the slow oddities that begin to occur that stretch the bounds of reality. When her sister, seemingly addicted to the VR headset MindsEye, disappears and then reappears after a few days, she relays a story that is beyond strange.

I loved listening to this surreal story. I found myself lulled into feeling a cavernous bellybutton, in which to store all sorts of items, is felt to seem perfectly reasonable and practical. I don't imagine my reading alone could impart such peace.

I also found myself a bit lost at times. In a story like this, I find this to be a compliment. I kept listening to this shorter story in the hopes that the absurd would make sense, and sometimes it just didn't. There was a loveliness about that. I want to listen again, preferably without multitasking, and enjoy this literary funhouse even more.

Thank you to @spotify and @netgalley for sharing this special book that published July 9th! This will be a treat for those who, like me, enjoy a bit of the bizarre with heart!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an odd audiobook. It was not what I expected per the summary and while I finished it, it was a struggle as I kept waiting for something to actually happen.
Just not for me.
Decent narration.

Speculative, genre bending book where I had trouble following what the exact point at times was. It just didn't work out for me.

This book takes such a dramatic left turn midway through that I began to question my sanity. While I enjoyed this turn, the first half the book was rather slow moving and then suddenly and abruptly accelerates into oblivion. Perhaps to a more keen reader and observer would notice the bread crumbs the author leaves along the way, little cognitive clues that should add up to something bigger. I took the story at face value with a few “that’s odd” moments along the way, and this is where I made my mistake. Without divulging any spoilers or key plot elements. I will say if you struggle with pacing in the first half of this book know that it dramatically changes midway through. Pay attention to the details in this story, and play detective, as the end result will leave you mind blown.

I have read something of Laura van den Berg's before, but this wasn't my cup of tea. I did a combination of reading and listening, and I just couldn't get into the story here.

I immediately connected with State of Paradise because I currently live in Florida, and also have experience with "the institute."

What I loved about this book was the mix of contemporary themes (AI taking over, the political state of Florida right.now, complicated family relationships) and literary fiction (how we process grief of losing loved ones, the consequences of climate change, no one had names!).

Ok actually let's come back to the no one having names thing. I confess it took me a while to catch on, but I loved it. People were often reduced to their role in *her* which gave us more of an idea of the narrator's frame of mind. But we only knew as much about the secondary characters as she was willing to describe. Really enjoyed that about this book!!

The addition of the AI world people were literally disappearing into added another layer of the narrator's analysis of how she understands her world and different versions of herself she could be given she made different choices. For example, her attitude towards her dying father from multiple POVs provided a much deeper exploration of grief than I was anticipating. Not only that but also observing how others process grief and the things we miss while caught up in our own emotions.

This book also had some humor, and I loved her husband's obsession with the pilgrimage and her mom's cult.

Overall I recommend this book if you're into lit fic and like a splash of AI sci-fi.

I loved this book. The narrator did a good job of pacing and bringing life to the story. I loved the auto fiction feel mixed with the surreal. Laura van den Berg brings so much beauty to the messy Florida setting.

Wow, I’m not sure what I was expecting when I read A State of Paradise, but I had no idea what I was getting into. This story was a wild thriller that I loved!