
Review of Borders in Paradise

James White’s Borders in Paradise opens in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in West Hollywood, California. The year is 1939. The tiny bungalow is the Gaines family’s version of paradise, after twenty-two-year old Juno (John) and his brother Chassy (Charles) “ran away from that den of thieves and malcontents in Texas to start a new life in California”–the den of thieves and malcontents being their extended family, of course. Their mother and sister Anita (Neet) join them shortly thereafter.
The novel is divided into four parts, with several changes in narrative stance to provide the reader with multiple perspectives on the Gaines family dynamics and the brothers’ coming-of- age struggles.
Part I is narrated in first-person, alternating between Juno and Chassy. Given the resentment Juno expresses toward his “tall, blond, and handsome” younger brother, alternating first-person narration between the two of them was a wise choice on White’s part. Is Chassy as irresponsible and selfish as Juno says, or does the root of Juno’s discontent really lie elsewhere?
Chassy immediately gets himself ensnared in an ill-advised marriage with a young woman from a well-to-do family who works hard to smooth over his Texas roughness. When Chassy realizes that she has had an ulterior motive from the start, he reacts badly and has to beat feet out of town. He joins the US Border Patrol, where he is blown far from paradise to the Arizona desert.
Parts II and III are in third-person from Chassy’s point of view. He is referred to in these two sections as Charles, reinforcing the need–if not his own desire–to extricate himself from his youthful mistakes and forge some kind of future for himself. By the end of Part III, the Draft Board and another ill-advised encounter with a woman put that future in question. Part IV is narrated by Juno in first-person to bring the novel full-circle to its surprising and satisfying conclusion.
Ultimately, Borders in Paradise is a novel about belonging and personal identity, with family, lovers, and even the government all working to make us over into someone we’re not sure we want to be. The question is, when we finally come to that realization, will it be too late? In the case of the Gaines brothers, you will have to read the book to find out. I would strongly encourage you to do so!
From the Author
As for inspiration, Borders in Paradise was inspired by a collection of family letters, spanning from 1905 to a few years after 1947 when I was born. I found them while cleaning out my father’s apartment after he died. 511 letters all in a jumble, stuffed into grocery sacks. I spent two years organizing them, then annotating and finally transcribing every hand-written line to digital files. It was a transforming experience learning about my father’s family and getting familiar with everyday life on ranch land in central Texas during the depression.
Most of Borders in Paradise is fictional, but my father and his brother did run away to California as boys and later encouraged their sister and mother to join them. All of the major segments in the story are based on actual events I either heard about around the dinner table or gleaned from the letters.
Currently, I’m writing a prequel to Borders in Paradise, covering the boys’ early years in Texas and their trip to California.
Creating novels based on family stories and letters, etc. is a great technique 🙂
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Yes, it is! I have a couple of boxes of letters if I ever run out of the family stories I haven’t yet written about. As James notes, transcribing the letters will be a bit of a chore.
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I’ve made a note of this one. Thanks for the review.
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You’re welcome! I so glad you’ve made a note of the book.
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Excellent review, Liz, of an intriguing novel with an even more intriguing back story: those real-life family letters!
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Thank you, Dave! I have some real-life family letters to delve into, but not nearly as many as James had!!
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Great interview Liz!
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Thank you, Cindy!
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You’re so welcome!! ❤️
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Super review, Liz.
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Thank you, John!
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Sounds quite intriguing, Liz. I admire anyone who manages to write from different points of view. By the way, I like the “den of thieves and malcontents” reference.
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Thanks, Pete. I admire that ability as well. I’ve tried over the years but haven’t been quite able to pull it off. I thought readers would appreciate “den of thieves and malcontents.” It’s a great line.
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Thanks for the great review, Liz. I’m saving this one on my list.
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Oh, good, I’m glad to hear it, Jill!
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Another great review, Liz. One to add to the list I guess.
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Thank you, Goff! It’s a good one to add to your list.
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Cheers. Happy Thursday.
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Happy Thursday, Goff!
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Cheers.
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It sounds interesting, Liz. Thanks for sharing.
And quite a treasure trove for the author to find those letters, and quite a task and journey to go through them.
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Thanks, Merril! I can only imagine the excitement of finding grocery bags full of letters.
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I agree!
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Sounds like an interesting read Liz – there certainly is so much material in family letters, as I know!
Thanks for a thoughtful and measured review.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Louise. Yes, you know all about the lives in family letters!
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Thanks Liz,
It’s still an excellent review and I’m grateful to be the recipient!
Best, Jim Made Up Stories
On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 7:01 AM Elizabeth Gauffreau wrote:
> Liz Gauffreau posted: ” Review of Borders in Paradise James White’s > Borders in Paradise opens in a one-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in West > Hollywood, California. The year is 1939. The tiny bungalow is the Gaines > family’s version of paradise, after twenty-two-year old J” >
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You’re welcome, Jim!
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I echo Dave Astor’s response to your review Liz, thus so to just now having placed an order for a paperback copy with Amazon. Having lived in West Hollywood on Alta Loma Rd, back in 1982 when I first arrived in California from Montreal, I’ve no doubt James White’s book will stir up fond memories of my near 5 years adventure in that part of my life.
I am most thankful for your review, as I’m sure Mister White must be, and look forward to reading his book!
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I’m so pleased that my review prompted you to buy the book, Jean-Jacques!
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This is an excellent review, Liz. This book sounds right up my street. I am thinking of doing my next historical book without the paranormal elements i.e. just historical family drama. What do you think of that idea?
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Thank you, Robbie! I’d encourage you to go with the historical family drama without the paranormal elements. I think you’ll enjoy the challenge of character motivation coming from the family’s past history with each other, current interactions, and reaction to what is happening in the culture during that historical period.
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I’m always so impressed with writers who can weave together different perspectives like that. It sounds great.
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Thanks, Chris! I’m always impressed, too. I haven’t been quite able to pull it off.
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Clever way to get around the ‘unreliable narrator’ issue–changing POVs. Of course, then you have to decide, using clues I suspect, who to trust. Sounds pretty good!
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Yes, it is. The changes in POV also increased the narrative tension.
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Cheers to everyone. I’m looking forward to comments, reactions and corrections! The edits never stop.
Best,
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Sounds like a labour of love with a twinkle of cheek thrown in.
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That’s a good way to describe it!
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Sounds like a fascinating book, Liz. And I loved reading about the background from the author!
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It is! The image of stumbling upon grocery bags full of letters is really quite something!!
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So amazing!
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An enticing, thorough, review, Liz
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Thank you very much, Derrick.
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The setting and the historical time are enough to intrigue me! And the themes of belonging, identity, and transformation would make it an even more interesting read. Thanks for this review, Liz.
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You’re welcome, Ranee! Thank you for reading and commenting.
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The effort of sorting, transcribing, and organizing the family letters to write a novel is admirable. A wonderful to preserve the family legacy based on the facts even though it’s written as fiction. Thank you for sharing the review, Liz!
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You’re welcome, Miriam! Yes, the thought of transcribing that many handwritten letters is very daunting, but, as you say, an admirable endeavor.
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I transcribed several entries of my journal, I can’t imagine doing that for hundreds of letters, Liz.
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I love how this book was inspired by real life events. What a fascinating and overlooked segment of time and people.
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Excellent review! I find it fascinating that the premise for the book began with this bag of letters…It sounds like a very interesting book!
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