This Vacant Paradise

January 24, 2011
Considering the subject matter—the real housewives of Orange County—Patterson's debut novel (after story collection Drift) is surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced. In debt and unmarried, Esther Wilson works at a clothing boutique and lives with her wealthy grandmother, Eileen, whose financial generosity is orchestrated to "encourage dependence." Terrified of poverty, Esther is in the midst of securing a proposal from an unattractive but wealthy heir, but she blows it. Enter ex-boyfriend Charlie Murphy, who, though from a well-off family, is a liberal-minded sociology professor at the local community college, and therefore an object of Eileen's derision. Charlie takes it upon himself to emancipate Esther from the chains of vapid privilege, but with a huge inheritance imminent for him and nasty gossip circulating about Esther, Charlie's lefty enlightenment dims. As an acerbic commentary on mid-'90s Southern Californian excess, the novel walks a fine line between critic and unintentional participant—commentaries on the retrograde position of Orange County women jostle against overindulgent physical description—though Patterson's Southern California has echoes of Nathanael West and early Bruce Wagner.

March 15, 2011
Like her short stories in Drift (2009), Pattersons first novel reveals the underbelly of picturesque Newport Beach, where 33-year-old beauty Esther works at a luxury clothing store during the mid-1990s. Unmarried, she lives with her conservative grandmother, an acerbic matriarch who rules financially over the extended family, while caring for her drug-addicted older brother, Eric. Esther pursues a loveless engagement to Paul, seeking a marriage of security and wealth. After this relationship implodes, she reconnects with an old flame, Charlie Murphy, a handsome community college professor who prides himself on his liberal views. They embark on a sensual affair, and Charlie challenges Esthers perspective on social expectations. Esthers struggles intensify when her displeased grandmother learns about Charlie, and Eric finds himself in trouble with the law. Spiraling events soon make Esther a staple of Newport Beach gossip, and her relationship with Charlie becomes strained. With echoes of a modern-day House of Mirth, Pattersons elaborate tale examines the complexities and contradictions of society, family, and personal desire.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)