Paradise (Contemporary American Fiction)

About this book

"No other word for it: a charming book." Peter S. Prescott Newsweek Simon a middle-aged architect separated from his wife is given the chance to live out a stereotypical male fantasy: freed from the travails of married life he ends up living with three nubile lingerie models who use him as a sexual object. Set in the 1980s theres a further tension between Simons desire to exploit this stereotypical fantasy and his (as well as the authors) desire to treat the women as human beings despite the womens claims that Simon cant distinguish between their personalities. Employing a variety of forms Barthelme gracefully plays with this setup creating a story thats not just funny although its definitely that but actually quite melancholy as Simon knows that the womens departure is inevitable that this "paradise" will come to an end and that hell be left with only an empty house booze and regrets about chances not taken.