The Paper Palace (Reese's Book Club): A Novel
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE THE PAPER PALACE IS: "Filled with secrets, love, lies and a summer beach house. What more could you ask?"--Parade "A deeply emotional love story...the unraveling of secrets, lies and a very complex love triangle." --Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club July '21 Pick)
"Nail-biting." --Town & Country "A magnificent page-turner." --Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author "[An] irresistible placement of a complicated family in a bewitching place." --The New York Times A story of summer, secrets, love, and lies: in the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades. "This house, this place, knows all my secrets."
It is a perfect August morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at "The Paper Palace"--the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families.
"Nail-biting." --Town & Country "A magnificent page-turner." --Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author "[An] irresistible placement of a complicated family in a bewitching place." --The New York Times A story of summer, secrets, love, and lies: in the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades. "This house, this place, knows all my secrets."
It is a perfect August morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at "The Paper Palace"--the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families.
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Community Reviews
"There are some swims you do regret, Eleanor. The problem is, you never know until you take them."
this read was not a regret, but also *not* a recommendation. every time a character got close to redeemable or empathetic, they did something unlikeable again. I can understand the symbolism of the ending, but after the whole book leading up to her decision idk I was expecting to see her make that decision definitively
this read was not a regret, but also *not* a recommendation. every time a character got close to redeemable or empathetic, they did something unlikeable again. I can understand the symbolism of the ending, but after the whole book leading up to her decision idk I was expecting to see her make that decision definitively
This book was a little confusing with the way it jumped around in time. It was also a bit triggering for me personally with talking about sexual assault, etc… other than that it was a great read!
"Does letting go mean losing everything you have, or does it mean gaining everything you never had?"
OMG, this book... I wish I had known about the triggers in it before I started.
There's a lot of trauma; multi-generational sexual assault and rape, pretty much right of the bat. Heller has a knack for bludgeoning you with trauma (not just the sexual assault; toxic step parent relationships, self-loathing, death, adultery, etc.) almost half to death and just as you get good and squirmy with it, she throws in some humour that draws you back in -- expect a lot of that. I was all over the place between liking and hating this book. While I have strong feelings about infidelity, I can certainly understand the complicated nature of being caught between the comfort of an old familiar and easy relationship that never had the chance to grow and a newer relationship that somehow feels like a strange combination of perfect-fit and unsatisfying. I really loved the relationships between Elle and her sister Ana, Elle and Peter (he is funny, well-read, good with kids and mothers-in-law, and had a British accent; what more could you want in a husband?), and Elle and Jonas (for the most part). They were so relatable with their iterations of complicated love. Also, I got very nostalgic for the days when I was a kid and we used to visit my stepfather's family cottage in Vermont.
"Nice is the enemy of interesting."
In the end, I think I enjoyed more than I was uncomfortable with.
Should have had a trigger warning ⚠️
some very heavy/sensitive topics
But the imagery was so good I still can still see myself there on the beach with all the characters. This book lives rent free in my head.
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