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tee3's review against another edition
2.0
I bought this book from a bargin bin years ago and never actually picked it up.
It was a quick and easy read. I enjoy a book that (mostly) wraps everything in a neat bow to finish.
I actually didn't know about the Bali bombings in 2002 and was shocked to see how many Australian's died. I appreciate the book incorporating some history which led to me exploring it more.
It was a quick and easy read. I enjoy a book that (mostly) wraps everything in a neat bow to finish.
I actually didn't know about the Bali bombings in 2002 and was shocked to see how many Australian's died. I appreciate the book incorporating some history which led to me exploring it more.
attytheresa's review against another edition
4.0
A moving story about 2 people who meet during a terrorist attack in Bali in 2002, she injured, he one who rushes to help the injured. The story opens a year later with Jamie, the young woman injured in the attack, returning to Bali for a special commemoration, and perhaps to find Gabe again, the man who saved her. Jamie is reluctant, fearful, eager, compelled. The past year has not been easy.
Ultimately we flash back to the year before, living through the events mostly from Gabe's eyes. Gabe has been living -even hiding- in Bali mourning his son's death and the end of his marriage and life as a result.
By saving Jamie, it soon becomes clear that she saves him, starts living again. Yet the time is not right for Jamie.
The story ends after the commemoration ceremony in Bali a year later, with healing and the promise of a mutual life together, in Bali, one hinting to relationships not just based on having experienced something horrific together, but on deep emotion and connection.
It brings to mind another novel about those surviving terrorism and the aftermath: 'Bel Canto' by Ann Patchett.
Ultimately we flash back to the year before, living through the events mostly from Gabe's eyes. Gabe has been living -even hiding- in Bali mourning his son's death and the end of his marriage and life as a result.
By saving Jamie, it soon becomes clear that she saves him, starts living again. Yet the time is not right for Jamie.
The story ends after the commemoration ceremony in Bali a year later, with healing and the promise of a mutual life together, in Bali, one hinting to relationships not just based on having experienced something horrific together, but on deep emotion and connection.
It brings to mind another novel about those surviving terrorism and the aftermath: 'Bel Canto' by Ann Patchett.
unabridgedchick's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure how to describe this book exactly: it's a beach-y romance at heart (literally featuring Bali's gorgeous beaches) featuring a hero and heroine damaged by loss and pain, set during and immediately after the October 12, 2002 terrorist bombings in Bali. I described this to a friend like chick lit for those who know a little about current events; it's emotional and weighty, but not crushingly so, punctuated with some sweet levity.
The novel opens a year after the bombings, but flashes back to those days in 2002 just before and after the bombing. Hero and heroine are thrown together under the gruesomest of circumstances, two people injured long before getting wounded in Bali.
Our heroine, Jamie, a 30ish American, is an adventure guide for a Berkeley company, and she pursues her highs -- sex, adrenalin, fun -- relentlessly. Three days into her trip in Bali, she walks into a club just moments before the first bomb goes off and is seriously injured. Our hero, Gabe, is a 40ish American, an ex-pat teaching at a Balinese school who fled the US after a personal tragedy. Gabe is having dinner with a friend when the bombs go off; he stumbles over Jamie and pulls her to safety. In the resulting tumult, Gabe cares for Jamie until her emergency flight to the U.S. and out of that develops something sweet, sad, and confusing.
Although this is a story of ex-pats, Sussman doesn't ignore the Balinese victims and survivors, and in fact, articulates some of the anger and rage felt by Balinese when the (white) foreign tourists received priority medical treatment over native Balinese. I was grateful for that awareness and balance.
I confess I teared up constantly while reading this book. It's not cloyingly sad or agonizingly miserable; Sussman conveys huge emotions neatly and carefully, respectfully. As with Sussman's other book, French Lessons, I wasn't sure how she would tie things up in the end, but what results is refreshingly real.
The jacket blurb says this is for readers who liked Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Alex Garland’s The Beach. I suppose it has the redemption and love found in Eat, Pray, Love but other than ex-pats and ocean, I don't see the comparison to The Beach. If you like movies in the vein of Beyond Rangoon and The Impossible, you'll like this book, I think.
The novel opens a year after the bombings, but flashes back to those days in 2002 just before and after the bombing. Hero and heroine are thrown together under the gruesomest of circumstances, two people injured long before getting wounded in Bali.
Our heroine, Jamie, a 30ish American, is an adventure guide for a Berkeley company, and she pursues her highs -- sex, adrenalin, fun -- relentlessly. Three days into her trip in Bali, she walks into a club just moments before the first bomb goes off and is seriously injured. Our hero, Gabe, is a 40ish American, an ex-pat teaching at a Balinese school who fled the US after a personal tragedy. Gabe is having dinner with a friend when the bombs go off; he stumbles over Jamie and pulls her to safety. In the resulting tumult, Gabe cares for Jamie until her emergency flight to the U.S. and out of that develops something sweet, sad, and confusing.
Although this is a story of ex-pats, Sussman doesn't ignore the Balinese victims and survivors, and in fact, articulates some of the anger and rage felt by Balinese when the (white) foreign tourists received priority medical treatment over native Balinese. I was grateful for that awareness and balance.
I confess I teared up constantly while reading this book. It's not cloyingly sad or agonizingly miserable; Sussman conveys huge emotions neatly and carefully, respectfully. As with Sussman's other book, French Lessons, I wasn't sure how she would tie things up in the end, but what results is refreshingly real.
The jacket blurb says this is for readers who liked Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Alex Garland’s The Beach. I suppose it has the redemption and love found in Eat, Pray, Love but other than ex-pats and ocean, I don't see the comparison to The Beach. If you like movies in the vein of Beyond Rangoon and The Impossible, you'll like this book, I think.
mholles's review against another edition
3.0
Jamie is an American adventure tour guide. On a scouting trip to Bali she is in a bar that is bombed by terrorists and her boyfriend dies. Gabe is an ex-pat who helps her rescue people in the building and rescues her after she is injured. A year later, Jamie is back for a memorial. She stays at the Paradise Guest House whose owner lost his wife and unborn child in the bombing. And there is a young street boy with a dog who helps Jamie track down Gabe to see if there is osmething between them. The bombing scenes were very realistic. Jamies, the boy, and the house oenwer were all likeable characters.
whatshotblog's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. Thought this would be similar to Eat, Pray, Love but turned out to be romance that lacked substance, wrapped around a real-life tragedy in Bali.
However, I did quite enjoy the depiction of Bali and Balinese culture. Since this was why I picked up the book, it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Find more book recommendations and book content on whatshotblog.com and @whatshotblog.
However, I did quite enjoy the depiction of Bali and Balinese culture. Since this was why I picked up the book, it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Find more book recommendations and book content on whatshotblog.com and @whatshotblog.
zoe2088's review against another edition
4.0
I want to write an astounding review for this book, and although I enjoyed reading it, I cannot find the words to write a review. After Jamie survives the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, she returns exactly 1year later for a survivors and widows ceremony. She falls in love and blah blah blah.... I'm sorry but that's all I got. It was well written - in places anyway. It was a beautiful idea and would have worked very well, if it didn't seem a bit.... Forced (?) in a way.
Reasoning behind my 4 stars?? It was well written and was an intriguing storyline. I like the fact it was showing that things traumatic as what happened stays with people and it does forge bonds and love and friendships. Something brilliant and exciting can happen after something so upsetting. I would love to read my stories like this.
Reasoning behind my 4 stars?? It was well written and was an intriguing storyline. I like the fact it was showing that things traumatic as what happened stays with people and it does forge bonds and love and friendships. Something brilliant and exciting can happen after something so upsetting. I would love to read my stories like this.
audrey_nester's review against another edition
4.0
I love Ellen Sussman's writing in this novel. The way she takes a hard hitting topic and shows some of the troubles the main characters, Jamie and Gabe, overcome after this tragedy. I also enjoyed the imagery of scenes in Bali.
canadianbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed her earlier novel French Lessons, and found some of the same elements in this book.
Jamie is an American working as a guide for an adventure tourism company. She first went to Bali in 2002 to scout out a new tour for the area. She was caught up in the bombing that happened there. As the book begins, it is a year later and Jamie has returned to Bali as a guest of the government to commemorate the bombing and its victims and to assist the country in moving forward. She is being hosted by the family of a local victim. Jamie is having trouble psychologically coming back, but also has a private mission to reconnect with Gabe, the man who assisted her after the bombing.
The second part of the book takes us back to 2002, and has both Jamie and Gabe describing their experiences from the day of the bombing, to a few days later. The two met when trying to rescue others, and Gabe provided Jamie with a refuge as well as assistance in the aftermath.
The third part continues the story of 2003, with Jamie facing up to her fears, learning more about this country and what it has to offer, and letting herself heal.
This has romance, but because of the circumstances offers a more complex story of a difficult time for this area that relies heavily on tourism. I found it a quick engaging read, that I truly enjoyed.
Jamie is an American working as a guide for an adventure tourism company. She first went to Bali in 2002 to scout out a new tour for the area. She was caught up in the bombing that happened there. As the book begins, it is a year later and Jamie has returned to Bali as a guest of the government to commemorate the bombing and its victims and to assist the country in moving forward. She is being hosted by the family of a local victim. Jamie is having trouble psychologically coming back, but also has a private mission to reconnect with Gabe, the man who assisted her after the bombing.
The second part of the book takes us back to 2002, and has both Jamie and Gabe describing their experiences from the day of the bombing, to a few days later. The two met when trying to rescue others, and Gabe provided Jamie with a refuge as well as assistance in the aftermath.
The third part continues the story of 2003, with Jamie facing up to her fears, learning more about this country and what it has to offer, and letting herself heal.
This has romance, but because of the circumstances offers a more complex story of a difficult time for this area that relies heavily on tourism. I found it a quick engaging read, that I truly enjoyed.
zoe2088's review against another edition
4.0
I want to write an astounding review for this book, and although I enjoyed reading it, I cannot find the words to write a review. After Jamie survives the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, she returns exactly 1year later for a survivors and widows ceremony. She falls in love and blah blah blah.... I'm sorry but that's all I got. It was well written - in places anyway. It was a beautiful idea and would have worked very well, if it didn't seem a bit.... Forced (?) in a way.
Reasoning behind my 4 stars?? It was well written and was an intriguing storyline. I like the fact it was showing that things traumatic as what happened stays with people and it does forge bonds and love and friendships. Something brilliant and exciting can happen after something so upsetting. I would love to read my stories like this.
Reasoning behind my 4 stars?? It was well written and was an intriguing storyline. I like the fact it was showing that things traumatic as what happened stays with people and it does forge bonds and love and friendships. Something brilliant and exciting can happen after something so upsetting. I would love to read my stories like this.
abookishaffair's review against another edition
4.0
"The Paradise Guest House" takes place in the fairly recent past in 2002 and 2003 in Bali, Indonesia. The story follows Jamie, a once carefree woman who makes a living as a adventure guide writer, who had the misfortune of being in the nightclub bombing that happened in Bali in 2002. She's still trying to keep that carefree and adventurous spirit but it's so difficult for her in the aftermath of the bombing. She is still deeply haunted by all of the terrible things that she witnessed that night (and understandably so). All she wants to do is to be able to put together the pieces of what happened that terrible night, why she acted the way that she did, and why things happened that she happened. She's looking for comfort and closure from the bombing but also from Gabe, the American ex-pat who saved her life on that night.
The book started a little slowly for me. It takes a little while for us to figure out why Jamie is going back to Bali when such a terrible thing happened not all that long ago (the story opens in 2003, a mere year after the bombings took place). It took me a little while to get into the book also because it is written in the third person present, which is always a little jarring. I wasn't a fan of this. However, the book really picked up for me as we begin getting more information about Jamie and why she has returned and what the night of the bombing was like for her and Gabe. We get to see how they met. I wish we had gotten some more detail on how/ why they were attracted to each other and what happened between them.
The setting was really enjoyable for me to read about. I really love books that are set in exotic locations. Bali is most definitely exotic to me. Sussman makes you see what Bali is like and what the guest house and its inhabitants are like. You see the streets and markets alongside Jamie, which is very cool and definitely added a lot to the book for me.
Overall, this is a very touching story of trying to find closure even if it means confronting the scene of where something really horrible happened.
The book started a little slowly for me. It takes a little while for us to figure out why Jamie is going back to Bali when such a terrible thing happened not all that long ago (the story opens in 2003, a mere year after the bombings took place). It took me a little while to get into the book also because it is written in the third person present, which is always a little jarring. I wasn't a fan of this. However, the book really picked up for me as we begin getting more information about Jamie and why she has returned and what the night of the bombing was like for her and Gabe. We get to see how they met. I wish we had gotten some more detail on how/ why they were attracted to each other and what happened between them.
The setting was really enjoyable for me to read about. I really love books that are set in exotic locations. Bali is most definitely exotic to me. Sussman makes you see what Bali is like and what the guest house and its inhabitants are like. You see the streets and markets alongside Jamie, which is very cool and definitely added a lot to the book for me.
Overall, this is a very touching story of trying to find closure even if it means confronting the scene of where something really horrible happened.