Content warning: this review contains discussions on sex and sexual assault.

I’ve read books that I didn’t care that much about, but I continued as an obligation. Some might say that I should do what’s in my gut and stop. I understand that sentiment. At the same time, I’m in charge of a book group, and I need to read the chosen titles to answer questions that the members who haven’t read it all the way through might have. If I didn’t have that responsibility, I would immediately stop or skim through books that I wasn’t invested in. I didn’t care much about The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller because it became too much all at once despite the interesting characters and being picked as the book of the month for Reese’s Book Club.

The Paper Palace is about a woman who has to choose between the life she’s had and the one she wants to live. It’s a nice July morning, and Elle, a 50-year-old mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” – the family summer place which she has visited every summer. But this morning is different: she had sex with her childhood friend Jonas for the first time behind their spouses’ backs the night before. Now, over the next 24 hours, Elle has to decide between the life she has made with her husband Peter, and the life she always imagined that she would have with Jonas if it weren’t for a tragic event that changed their lives forever.

I found the characters to be interesting in a mostly good way. Elle gives me Laura-Dern vibes. I’m not fully sure why, but maybe it’s in the snarky, but insecure manner that she presents herself. It’s a nice character study. However, there were times that I shouted, “Just pick already!”

Then we have her mother Wallace. Elle describes her as an a** and like Margaret Dumont – an actress best known for her work with the Marx Brothers. Those who’ve read my reviews in the past will know how much I love that comedy team. That was an accurate description because Wallace is classy, but emotionally distant, but I love her one-liners. Cowley Heller had me at Margaret Dumont.

On the other hand, I didn’t care for Peter nor Jonas. The former was kind of bland since he’s supposed to be the nice husband who provides Elle the safe haven that she needs. And yet, he is aloof and demanding at times, especially when he confronts her about bandaging Jonas’s hand in the kitchen. I wanted to care about the latter. I certainly liked him when he was a child who was highly in tune with nature. I wasn’t so sure about him as an adult. He desperately wants Elle so much that he does things to her on the beach, in which she tries to resist at first, but later gives in. The book attempts to convince readers that Elle will only truly be happy with Jonas, but what he does to her to stay with him just simply rubbed me the wrong way (no pun intended).

It contains plenty of flashbacks to show all of the events that influenced the decision that Elle is supposed to make in the present day. It also pads out the pages because if one takes away said flashbacks, not much happens in the novel. This is not a bad thing as plenty of character studies (even the good ones) tend to do this. It depends on how strong the main characters are and how the flashbacks are employed. Elle and her family are mostly compelling, so I like exploring how they came to be on the surface. In addition, the flashbacks were interwoven into the story with a smell or a conversation triggering a memory.  However, by the halfway point, this device was overused. At one point, when a lot of dramatic stuff occurred, I said out loud while listening to the audiobook, “Can we get back to the present?”

My main problem with the book was how it handles the roller coaster of emotions, mainly sadness and anger. I can grapple those feelings when they are balanced with happiness, survival, and/or humor. At first, I thought this would be the case. For example, Elle’s mom reveals early in the book that she used to give blow jobs to her first step-father when she was young. When Elle’s grandmother walked in on them in the act, she slapped her daughter instead of her then-husband. This rightfully made me angry. A chapter later, Elle gives the description of her mother that I mentioned above. 

Then later, the book becomes more sad and melodramatic at the halfway point and continues until the end. The turning point of this was when Elle’s stepbrother Conrad rapes her. Normally, I can tolerate rape or scenes involving sexual assault if they are briefly shown or mentioned. Novels like The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner, Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, and Darling Girl by Liz Michalski do this. The issue that I have with this book is that scenes involving Conrad committing sexual assault on Elle are prolonged. I understand this was supposed to show the long-term effects of that action on her, but it simply makes readers, even the ones who love the book, uncomfortable.

Afterwards, the drama kept piling and piling up like trash washing up on the shore. There was a boating accident, in which Conrad lost his life (I was glad that he was dead). Then, Leo – Elle’s stepfather – left Wallace, and she gave birth to a stillborn. Soon after, Anna – Elle’s sister – reveals that she has terminal ovarian cancer. On top of that, this book was marketed as a beach read. This was as far away from a beach read as it could get (outside of being on a beach of course). It’s like a film featuring a race where a horse breaks its neck and doesn’t get shown again. (This actually happened in a Marx Brothers film with Margaret Dumont). I had to take a break for days at a time before returning to the audiobook because it was too gloomy to tolerate. Even my husband thought that it was too sad, and he listened to it with me while we were on vacation.

I did some research on Cowley Heller, and it turns out that she’s the former Head of Drama Series at HBO. She was there when they were producing shows like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, and Big Love. This makes a lot of sense as to why The Paper Palace feels so melodramatic. It’s as if Cowley Heller was like, “What are some things that could deeply traumatize a person and make for a good story? Oh! I know! Divorce, rape, and terminal cancer!”

Let’s go back to something more positive and lighthearted, shall we? I know! We can talk about that ending! I understand that a lot of readers have their interpretations of it. For me, I didn’t care about it at first because I simply wanted the book to be over. I had lost my ability to care for Elle and the rest of the characters after what happened to her prior. However, once I re-read the last page, it all clicked to whom Elle chose in the end. In other words, it’s an ending that one really has to pay attention to in order to truly know.

Nan McNamara narrates the audiobook. She is an actress who has appeared in television shows like Switched at Birth and Criminal Minds. She has also recorded several audiobooks for fiction titles like A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante as well as nonfiction ones like Antitrust by Amy Klobuchar and This is Your Brain on Birth Control by Sarah Hill. McNamara does a good job. Part of what I said about how Elle gives off Laura-Dern vibes is because of how the narrator sounds when she portrays the character, which is extremely suitable. I also enjoyed how McNamara voices Elle’s mom as refined and smug. The male characters have a similar tone, but Leo and Conrad are standouts. The former has a relaxed Southern accent. While the latter has the same dialect, he sounds emasculated despite his need to feel dominant. This definitely suits his character. Additionally, McNamara does the kid voices well except for Elle’s oldest son Jack, for he’s supposed to be a teenager, and he still sounds like he’s 10.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is a novel that really tested my patience. I wanted to like the book for its characters, but its use of flashbacks and emotional manipulation made me want to put the book down for days at a time despite Reese Witherspoon making it a book club pick in 2021. I know that there are people out there who love it because of the premise and the complex characters, and I respect that. For those who want to read it, I will ask you one question: can you handle a lot of sadness? If you can, that’s great! If you can’t, go read something else that tackles that plotline better like Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

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