What Kind of Paradise

Research one of the philosophers whose work Saul/Adam or Jane/Esme quotes. How do their ideas underpin this book?

Analyze the importance of setting in the novel, such as Jane/Esme’s childhood cabin or the Signal headquarters in San Francisco. How is this setting described? What is its wider significance in the text?

The novel examines different attitudes to parenting and the ways in which parents can sometimes fail their children. How are Saul/Adam and Tess different or similar in their parental behavior? What does the novel suggest about the pitfalls and rewards of parent-child dynamics?

What Kind of Paradise is, in part, a coming-of-age story. How does Lionel’s coming-of-age process compare to Jane/Esme’s? How does the novel conform to, or subvert, common tropes of the coming-of-age genre?

Discuss the tension between technology’s potential benefits and drawbacks in the novel. What does it suggest about the nature of technology? How does it problematize ideas and assumptions about “progress”?

How does this novel depict isolation? How does isolation impact each of its main characters and shape who they are as individuals?

There are several parallels between Saul/Adam’s character and the Unabomber. Research Ted Kaczynski. In what ways do they align? What elements of Kaczynski’s backstory does the author adapt or fictionalize for the novel?

The past and present have a close connection in the lives of various characters, such as in how Tess and Saul/Adam have been impacted by their upbringings and how Jane/Esme must wrestle with her memories of childhood and young adulthood in her narration. How does the novel’s narrative structure examine the connections between past and present? How does Jane/Esme’s understanding of the past change over time?