Review by Booklist Review
After dying in a shooting on public transit, 16-year-old Mari finds herself in an afterlife space created for atheists, Paradise Gate. Bayerl (A Psalm for Lost Girls, 2017) drops Mari into immediate awkwardness as Mari finds herself confronted with her also recently deceased mother, who left more than a little to be desired while alive. But the structure of Paradise Gate brings plenty of questions to cynical and skeptical Mari, and as she processes her tragic time on Earth, she must also get to the bottom of the motives and intentions of the Powers That Be. Mari's complicated relationship with her mother and a yearning for her also-deceased grandparents add emotional layers to a story that otherwise leans into absurdity and exaggeration for laughs. Both humorous and thought-provoking in a nonlinear narrative that occasionally inserts articles, social media posts, and other world-building asides, this work positions itself as the teen version of The Good Place with a touch of Black Mirror while asking questions about the conscience, forgiveness, and what happens after we die.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sixteen-year-old Mari Novak is dead. She's not sure how that happened, but to her horror, her estranged mother--who died six weeks ago--is beside her as she regains awareness. They and countless others linger in Paradise Gate, a place for religiously unaffiliated souls to work through intense 90-day self-help regimens so that they may ascend to the Ever After. Mari has long been the adult in her relationship with her erratic mother, and the embittered teen yet again becomes caretaker, attending ridiculous Youga classes ("I'm sure real yogis would be horrified by this") and therapy sessions to accumulate points toward redemption. When the circumstances of Mari's death are made public, bizarrely casting her as a hero, she becomes an unwilling "true soul model" to inspire others; her desperate search for answers about her death and the truths of this so-called paradise take her into the realm's rebellious underbelly. This innovative and existential novel by Bayerl (A Psalm for Lost Girls)--reminiscent of The Good Place--offers raw, realistic insights into Mari and her mother's troubled relationship. Mari and her mother are white. Ages 12--up. Agent: Erin Harris, Folio Literary. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Waking up dead is shocking enough, but this version of the afterlife--with its forced positivity, kale chips, and yoga--proves to be even more unsettling. All Mari, 16, wants is to make peace with her mother (who is also in purgatory), move on, and reunite with her beloved grandparents. If she could remember how she died that would be great, too, but something sinister is lurking beneath the surface of Paradise Gates. Souls are disappearing, mysterious agencies are scheming, and then there's Jethro--a presence that she's not sure how to feel about. Fans of The Good Place will appreciate the novel's satirical take on the bureaucracy of the afterlife, complete with absurd rules and a system that begs to be challenged. The book explores themes of rebellion, self-discovery, and the struggle to break free from the status quo. While diversity is present, it is not a focal point. The pacing starts off slow, requiring some patience before the intrigue fully unfolds, but once it does, readers will be hooked by the mystery; they'll enjoy this different take on life and death and Mari's unconventional experience in the afterlife. VERDICT While this may not be a must-have for all collections, it could be a solid addition to libraries where offbeat, darkly comedic stories like Lance Rubin's Denton Little's Deathdate are popular.--Claire Covington
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A teenage girl who's used to fending for herself dies on her way to the SATs and realizes that her life has only just begun. Mari Novak can't remember a thing about how she died. She's landed in a nondenominational purgatory called Paradise Gate, where she's tasked with resolving her unfinished business before she can "ascend" to whatever lies beyond. Unfortunately, Mari's sharing an apartment with her unfinished business: her flighty mother, Faye, who predeceased her by only a few weeks. There's a lot about Paradise Gate that seems off--it's packed with influencer-esque "soul models," who are trying to get fast-tracked to ascension, and Mari has to pay rent with the points she earns by doing homework assignments--but she's determined to keep her head down and move on as quickly as possible. That's easier said than done, however, as she struggles to confront the truth of her death and the deep pain she and Faye caused each other in life. Mari's tentative romance with loner Jethro is less compelling than the thorny mother-daughter dynamic and accompanying slow road to forgiveness that give the narrative most of its heft. Everything wraps up a little hastily, but the twin mysteries of Mari's death and the truth of Paradise Gate will keep readers invested. Faye and Jethro are implied white; Mari, who knows nothing about her father, is racially ambiguous. An intriguing examination of the things that keep us trapped--postmortem or otherwise.(Fiction. 13-17) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
