A review by lauraleafromthelibrary
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3 ⭐️
  • Set in Cape Cod (NY + England) 
  • Two timelines — the present (24 hour timeline) + past multi-generational storytelling (50 years)
  • Secrets are at the heart of this story.
  • Main Characters:
    • Elle + Peter
      • Jack + Maddy + Finn
    • Jonas the BFF + Gina
    • The grandmother, Wallace
    • Anna, the cranky sister
  • Story Outline:
    • Book One: Elle
    • Book Two: Jonas
    • Book Three: Peter
    • Book Four: This Summer
    • Book Five: Today 6:30PM to 6:30AM

  • Page 24: “On the outside, the cabins are solid — watertight saltboxes that have withstood endless harsh winters, nor’easters, and generations of squabbling families. But my grandfather was running low on funds, so he built the interior walls and ceilings out of pressed paperboard, Homasote, cheap and utilitarian, and nicknamed the camp the Paper Palace.” 

  • Page 25-26: “The odd thing is, my mother lost her respect for women but not for men. Her stepfather’s perversion was a hard truth, but it was her mother’s weak-willed betrayal that made her go cold. In my mother’s world, the men are given the respect. She believes in the glass ceiling. Peter can do no wrong.”

  • Page 64: “In my mother’s family, divorce is just a seven-letter word. Letters that could easily be replaced with I’m bored or bad luck. Both of her parents married three times.”
    • The book has an interesting discussion on marriage.
    • Generational trauma.
    • “Wives moved in and out, but the pond remained his.” — the grandfather
    • The cabin has stood the test of time but the marriages, have not. 
    • Is this a metaphor?

  • The third base scene on the beach page 88; both of their sex scenes so far have been in public — the second more than the first but both times they could have been caught. The risk is worth the reward; or is it? Elle is obviously having a crisis of some sort.

  • Page 114: “I picture my stomach cavity filled to the brim with little pieces of bitten fingernails. A lifetime’s worth of pain that never got digested. When they cut me open, that’s what they will find. Strange deposits, sharp and brittle.” 
    • A lifetime’s worth of trauma.
    • Grotesque language; she doesn’t shy away from writing very descriptive, realistic things. It’s very honest. Although it vulgar, It’s kind of refreshing.
    • Elle panicking over Jonas.

  • Page 166: Conrad, the step-brother sexual abuses Elle — “Everyone in my family would be stuck with that disgusting image in their heads. I would be tainted forever — an object of pity. So, I will carry the weight of this shame rather than tell on him. I know my silence protects him. But it also protects me: Conrad is terrified of getting caught — exposed to his father, rejected forever. That is the one power I have.”
    • So tough to read that scene.
    • She carries that weight her whole life.
    • Page 171: “I want to tell her the truth, beg her to save me, but I can’t do that to her. It would break her heart, destroy her marriage. She’s so happy with Leo, and I am stronger than she is — strong enough to carry this. It is my responsibility. I love we nice to Conrad, I let him in the door. ‘It’s your funeral,’ Anna had said that poison ivy night. And she was right.” — the victim feeling like it’s their fault, the guilt of it.

  • Page 181: “I hold my book to my face, sniff the pages. I love the way library books smell: more important than regular books, a grand olden-days smell, like the steps of a marble palace, or a senator.” LOVE this 🫶🏻

  • 1. I’m so glad Jonas knows the truth.
  • 2. I felt relief for Elle when Conrad dies but also sadness for the guilt she will carry with her forever.

  • Page 225: “I close my eyes and put the book to my nose, breathe in the smell of Jack’s fingerprints, his innermost thoughts, his longings. He would never know. But I would. Knowledge can be power, but it can also be poison. I put the book back where I found it, push the bed against the wall, and unmake the covers. I do not want the weight of any more secrets.” Sigh. True true.

  • Chapter 20: Wallace finds out about the rape; assumes it is Leo not Conrad.
    • Elle doesn’t correct her.

  • The strip search on Christmas Eve for weed lol; what a dysfunctional family. It honestly feels like my own. 😂😂
    • Wallace is her usual narcissistic, chauvinistic self.
    • Her father is re-marrying — for the third time; Elle calls him pathetic and he is pathetic. He lets all the women in his life boss him around.
    • Yet, he never chooses his daughters.
    • He lets his mother die alone.

  • Page 254: when she meets Jonas in NY on New Years — “‘I was breaking up with my father. He lives around the corner. He nods. ‘That was always kind of in the cards.’” 
    • He doesn’t push her, he doesn’t ask her to make up with him, he just accepts it because that’s the good person he is.
    • He’s like a true BFF.

  • Anna dies of Ovarian cancer. 💔

  • Page 339: “I tell him about the prices I’ve paid, hoping it will count for something, though I know the burden of carrying a secret is nothing compared to the burden of earth he carries. I tell him about Peter, about the kids. And, for the first time in almost thirty-five years, I cry for him.”
    • Not sure how I feel about this.
    • Page 343: he also raped his actual sister, Rosemary — I kinda suspected this earlier in the novel.

  • Page 350 — Wallace: “I just don’t believe in psychiatry. As far as I can tell, the only thing it’s good for is making children blame their parents for everything that’s ever gone wrong in their lives.”
    • The irony.

  • Page 380 — Wallace: “‘You coddle them far too much. I barely paid attention to you and Anna, and look how well you turned out.’” LOL 😆 

  • The ending: was the novel about Elle choosing between two men or choosing between different versions of herself?
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