This short, mind-bending novel was an absolute trip. Set in the aftermath of an alternate pandemic, State of Paradise follows a ghostwriter who has moved back to her home state of Florida. She lives next door to her sister who has become addicted to the virtual reality headsets that were distributed during the pandemic. Somewhere in the middle of the story we go off the rails in the best way possible; people are vanishing, sinkholes swallow the earth, there are storms of biblical proportions, belly buttons become endless voids, and portals open up to new worlds. This was an engaging meditation on trauma, memory, mental illness, technology, and climate change. A surreal, poignant, and insightful read.

“Our father had a gift for convincing people
to follow him into the wilderness, a quality that made him both dangerous and magical. He spent the whole of his adult life in Florida and that is how I have come to think of this place too, as equal parts danger and magic. I think this is what my half brother's story must have been intended to demonstrate at the funeral, that hell-heaven state.”