Birds of Paradise

With Birds of Paradise, Abu-Jaber has made an amazing, gigantic leap into rare air, that hazy stratosphere we jokingly call The Big Time. Her novel is that worthy, and that beautiful.--Christine Selk (09/15/2011)
Diana Abu-Jaber s gorgeous novel explores the waysa modern family can break down and be reborn. She writes with a precise, almostpoetic distillation of feeling, heightened in contrast to the ripe, exuberantlandscape and the unsettled feelings of a family in limbo.--Amy Driscoll
The Muirs absorbing story builds to a thoroughly satisfying climax.--Sue Corbett
This Jordanian American author writes about food so enticingly that her books should be published on sheets of phyllo dough. Birds of Paradise contains her most mouthwatering writing ever, but it s no light after-dinner treat. This is a full-course meal, a rich, complex and memorable story that will leave you lingering gratefully at her table.--Ron Charles
Miami comes alive . .. the ambitions and accents of its inhabitants become as impossible to resistas a postprandial siesta in the tropics. --Cristina Garcia
It is Birds of Paradise 's neither predictable nor merely haphazard momentum and its rich cast of characters that make us feel we re in deliciously capable hands. --Bliss Broyard
It is Birds of Paradise's neither predictable nor merely haphazard momentum and its rich cast of characters that make us feel we're in deliciously capable hands. --Bliss Broyard
Brilliant... Birds of Paradise is likely to add further luster to [Abu-Jaber's] literary reputation. ... With her evocative prose and accomplished style, Diana Abu-Jaber's Birds of Paradise explores with wisdom and insight the emotional fallout of a shattering family crisis. Yet in this profoundly moving novel, she also manages to unearth the inherent, cathartic beauty of family and individual survival in this complex and perilous new century.
It is Birds of Paradise s neither predictable nor merely haphazard momentum and its rich cast of characters that make us feel we re in deliciously capable hands. --Bliss Broyard"
An unusually satisfying read. --Susanna Sonnenberg"
Miami comes alive . . . the ambitions and accents of its inhabitants become as impossible to resist as a postprandial siesta in the tropics. --Cristina Garcia"
Brilliant Birds of Paradise is likely to add further luster to [Abu-Jaber s] literary reputation. With her evocative prose and accomplished style, Diana Abu-Jaber s Birds of Paradise explores with wisdom and insight the emotional fallout of a shattering family crisis. Yet in this profoundly moving novel, she also manages to unearth the inherent, cathartic beauty of family and individual survival in this complex and perilous new century. "
A meticulous, deeply moving portrayal of imperfect human beings struggling to do right Glorious descriptions, both of nature and Avis s mouthwatering pastry, offset yet intensify the jagged emotions of the Muirs. "
Abu-Jaber makes us wonder about more that what will happen to one girl with a guilty secret. What, after all, does it mean to be a family? Is love really exchangeable, malleable ? We can t help turning pages full of stunning prose to find out. --Sarah Nelson"