Description - A Drink Called Paradise: A Novel by Terese Svoboda
Clare, an L.A. ad executive, is marooned in the Marshall Islands, site of U.S. nuclear testing. Little by little, she discovers from the natives the dark side of this island paradise.. Clare, an L.A. ad executive, wraps up a South Seas photo shoot for a soft drink dubbed Paradise. Believing she has found paradise, she remains in the South Seas for some rest and relaxation. By virtue of a bureaucratic mix-up, she finds herself marooned in the Marshall Islands, site of United States nuclear testing from 1948 to 1958.Stranded and spooked, Clare looks to Harry, her fellow castaway, for solace, but Harry, who has by now accumulated a harem, has no patience for Clares growing fears. Barclay, an enigmatic islander, wont reveal anything either. It is the island women--Breasts for Three, Clam Hold, and Mouse Touch--who draw Clare, whom they call Vagina Mouth, into their circle and reveal the islands terrifying secrets. Clare finally departs, only to learn that she cannot escape the dreadful realities of the island or those of her own past. Sex and death haunt this new novel from Terese Svoboda (author of Cannibal). Clare, an L.A. ad executive, wraps up a South Seas commercial for a soft drink called Paradise and decides to remain in the Pacific for a well-earned vacation.
By virtue of a bureaucratic mix-up, she finds herself stranded on one of the more remote South Pacific islands and slowly discovers that life there is not what shes hoped.Barclay, an enigmatic islander, cannot tell Clare when the next boat is coming, nor will he unravel the disturbing mysteries that pervade this so-called paradise. Why is her hostess, Ngarima, indifferent to the intruder who attempts to rape Clare? Why does Ngarimas son brave the sea in a homemade boat in a desperate attempt to escape the island? Why do the native women swarm Harry, her fellow castaway? And what has happened to the eerily misshapen boy who inhabits the lagoon?Clare seeks solace in her colleague Harry, but he plans to remain on the island and has little patience for her growing fears. Stranded and spooked, Clare digs herself into the sand and stares out over the sea, desperately scanning the horizon for a ship.It is the island women--Breasts for Three, Clam Hold, and Mouse Touch--who reveal a life force gone awry and the terrifying secrets that force Clare to confront what she herself has shut away forever.In this lyrical and understated novel, Svoboda evokes the wet, lush decay of an island inhabited by living ghosts, shaping their story through the eyes of an outsider struggling to hide from all she sees.
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