This Other Eden – Paul Harding

We met on June 1, 2024 at Dick’s. Most of us preferred Tinkers, Harding’s debut novel. Eden was far from Carolyn’s favorite. She found the author’s use of language to be almost a barrier to the story. He seemed to idealize and glorify the island residents who suffered from intellectual and/or physical limitations, which seemed to be an oversimplification of what could have been thought-provoking issues and discussion. Karen commented on the many Biblical references, e.g. Eden, Apple, the old artist who carved Biblical scenes on the tree trunk. Also it reminded her of Paradise and Matrix in that there was a marginalized group who were presented as spiritually superior and were hunted down.

Goodreads:

Inspired by historical events, This Other Eden tells the story of Apple Island: an enclave off the coast of the United States where waves of castaways – in flight from society and its judgment – have landed and built a home. Benjamin Honey- American, Bantu, Igbo- born enslaved- freed or fled at fifteen- aspiring orchardist, arrived on the island with his Irish wife, Patience, and made a life together there. More than a century later, the Honeys’ descendants remain, with an eccentric, diverse band of neighbors. Then comes the intrusion of ‘civilization’: officials determine to ‘cleanse’ the island, and a missionary schoolteacher selects one light-skinned boy to save. The rest will succumb to the authorities’ institutions or cast themselves on the waters in a new Noah’s Ark. This Other Eden explores the hopes and dreams and resilience of those seen not to fit a world brutally intolerant of difference.