Book Review: This Vacant Paradise by Victoria Patterson

Victoria Patterson is a first-time novelist (she also has one collection of short stories, Drift, to her credit), and if This Vacant Paradise is any indication, she has a bright literary career ahead of her.

I picked up This Vacant Paradise on a whim, because the summary on the book jacket appealed to me.  I'm so glad I did.  It's a great read, quick and effortless, but makes you think a lot along the way.  The characters are (almost too) real, the writing is crisp and descriptive without being overly flowery, and there is a strong plot.  The novel is a modern version of Edith Wharton's masterpiece, The House of Mirth, but you need not have read that book to enjoy this one.  The setting of This Vacant Paradise is affluent Newport Beach, CA, in the early 1990s.  I found it refreshing to read a book set during the time of my early adolescence (although in a far different locale than the one in which I grew up), and the pop culture and news references that Patterson sprinkles throughout brought back memories.

The main character of This Vacant Paradise is Esther Wilson.  She is 33 years old and a stunning beauty.  She is also single and lonely.  Esther has been raised with one goal, "to marry well," but things are not going according to plan.  Although she has dated a series of wealthy duds, her heart belongs to Charlie, a college professor who simply does not have the financial means to offer her the lifestyle she believes she must have.

At first glance, you may think that this novel has a simple premise: will Esther choose wealth or love?  However, there is a lot more at play in Patterson's novel.  Questions of beauty and age, social standing, greed, and familial acceptance are all raised.  Esther is absolutely beautiful, but she's also perceptive and savvy.  She knows that in another seven years, her looks will not serve her in the same way they currently do.  There is a sort of desperation, as she tries to use her assets to secure her future, before she is left to rely on other methods.  As a reader, you know that Esther is certainly smart enough to get by when her looks fade, but because of her surroundings and the way in which she was brought up, she has not yet realized this fact for herself.  Whether or not she learns what we already know is something you'll have to find out by reading this great novel.

There are some interesting supporting characters in Esther's world, including her racist, verbally abusive Grandma Eileen; drug addicted brother, Eric; and Rick, a selfish man who works as Eileen's caretaker and turns her against the rest of her family (who, truth be told, are a bunch of selfish ingrates).  Ultimately, though, This Vacant Paradise belongs to Esther.  She is a flawed character, possessive of some of Grandma Eileen's prejudices, but more sympathetic since we are allowed a peek into her background (tragic childhood, etc.).  Esther has a certain detachment that lends itself well to this book.  At times, you feel she is living in a dream, but perhaps that's what happens when one's goals are so single minded and superficial.

Patterson is a talented, insightful writer, and I look forward to seeing where her career takes her.