The first 5 or 6 chapters of the book make you want to take a nap or give up on the book. But the book gets super interesting and it like puts you into a reading trance. You can't stop reading the book after that. also at the beginning the author should have given us a little more information on the mom. Near the end Jack Grams and his girl friend had too go and save Troy before they could leave paradise for good but Mr. Eden wont give up without a fight then they defeated Mr. Eden .

I'm not sure why I didn't completely enjoy the book. The characters didn't seem to call out to me. There was action but nothing surprising.

This has always been one of my favorite books of all time. Even after years of not reading it, it still holds up. Steven Layne is a genius.

This Side of Paradise is a book that for me,did not start out good but had a very good end to it.The main character is a kid named Jack and in the book does som really risky stuff like get shocked by the electric fence to go home and find some answers to what has been happening through the corse of the book,anyways the book starts out at Jacks house where he and his family are told that they are moving to paradise and put Gram in a nursing home beacause the dad,Chips,boss offered him a really nice house over there,the family doesent like the idea and a big fight breaks out bout the dad ends up wining.I think the story is very interesting but the way it was written was not good in my opinion,the characters I thought were good but a bad thing was that I did not know who the main character was until maybe the middle of the book.I think this may be a book I should read again so its less confusing,I think if youre a really big dystopia book fan than I can reccomend it

For some creepy reason I really liked this book. It was fun! The book was a bit predictable but it was a good storyline. I loved the cover art and it is worth your time and money.

I thought this book was well written . You could tell the author was creative and clever about writing this book . It had a lot of suspense . I really didn't want to quit reading it . There was a lot of suspense in the book , things that you didn't think would happen . The characters all have very different personalities especially gram ! She's not like any other grandmother . I would recommend this book to people who likes to read suspenseful book.

I read this aloud to my class of 7th graders. We thought the store was mediocre and the dialogue was terrible. We were not fans.

Heard author speak at middle school presentation! Recommended

Great book keeps your attention through the whole book.

I'm not one to gravitate toward thrillers so I can't remember the circumstances that made me read this in elementary school, in any case the dystopia utopia premise had a hold me through all these years, from what I vaguely could remember. Enough so to even ask for the book for Christmas one year, just to have my sister call from Barnes and Noble to check "is it by F. Scott Fitzgerald?" (No.)

Luckily I had to look no more or buy secondhand online. Archive.org had a pdf I read quickly just to go 'huh. So that's how it went.' Like trees that appear bigger when you're smaller, an adventure looks bigger when you're smaller too. I can only thank it for the entertainment that it once was and compliment it for being a good ghost in the head, but as an adult, it's just obviously not meant for me anymore. :)

This is YAL and is a teen thriller. There is symbolism (i.e. Mr.Eden's name).

Honestly, I gave this book a 3/5, not for the book itself, but for its plot. I’m really disappointed with the ending. I mean, Chip Barrett has a split personality disorder, is literally insane, and tries to murder his entire family because they aren’t what he considers “perfect.” You’d think that this would be an intense, fast paced book that’s impossible to put down, but it’s really not.
The two deaths in this book (besides Chip) are minor characters, and their deaths felt like they were more to make the ending neater than anything else. Now, I’m the last person to wish for the deaths of of people I come to know and love (even though they’re just fictional), but two deaths while dealing with a psychotic murder just isn’t realistic.
I never thought I’d ever see myself write this, but this book needs more intensity, betrayal, and death. I mean, I’m fairly certain that the Jack walked away from the final confrontation with just a scratch on his chest and grief about his mother.
This Side of Paradise could have been SO SO SO GOOD, but I think it was written for too young an audience. Or maybe it was meant for teens, but just didn’t reach that level. Whatever the reason, this book had so much potential, but it fell very short of my expectations.