The book is a collection of three stories in three different centuries linked together by an invisible string that leads to paradise.
The first story takes place in 1893 in NY. David Bingham is a homosexual man living in the rich villa of his grandfather in Washington Square. He is the only one of his brothers still living with his grandfather and who has not found happiness yet. He does not have passions nor strong feelings. He follows what his grandfather suggests him to do, including who to date. Immediately from the first pages, Hanya Yanagihara introduces innovative features for that period: homosexual marriages are allowed in the "free states" of the US and openly arranged by professionals to match wealthy families. The grandfather might have found a possible match for his nephew: Charles, an older wealthy man. However, one day, David meets Edward, the new music teacher at the school where he teaches art once a week. Edward is a mysterious man from the "colonies" and has a dark past. A passionate love relationship starts between the two men. After a few months, Edward asks David to marry him and to follow him to California, where he has a family business. California is a "West" state and still forbids homosexual couples. David's grandfather tries to warn his nephew about the possibility that Edward is only after his money and tries to discourage him not to leave. David, who has always followed his grandfather's wishes, decides to turn his back on him and his money, and goes with Edward to his paradise.
The second story jumps without preambles to 1993. Here, two narratives from two different characters evolve at the same time. The first main character is the father, Wika, who talks from a hospital bed on the island of O' Ahu in Hawaii. He narrates to his son Kawika (David) his perspective on his life and his actions which led him to his current situation. Wika is the descendant of a wealthy family called Bingham and moved to Hawaii with his mother. He is a weak man, unable to express his opinion, fight for his wishes, and protect his son. Alone with no friend, he is charmed by Edward, a fanatical man about Hawaiian heritage and traditions. The two men leave all comfort and decide to live in the wild Hawaiian nature with no means, precisely as their Hawaiian ancestors used to do. Wika slowly loses touch with reality, and stops talking, eating and moving. He was dying alone when his mother took him against his will to the hospital. The second main character is the son David, who moved away from Hawaii and lives in NY together with his older wealthy partner. Wika talks to his Kawika (David), and his words allude to his desire to reconnect with his son and start walking again to join him and walk to his paradise. This second story deals with heavy topics such as the widespread AIDS disease and what entails staying close to friends in their slow sufferings to death. Sometimes, the reader might find him/herself in intimate conversations between David and Charles with the impression of being a nosy listener to someone else's tribulations.
The third story jumps again a century ahead and takes place in 2093 in NY. The US is an entirely different country: extremely high-temperatures force people to spend their time indoors, food and water are limited and given out in rations, there are no more flowers or plants, the internet is forbidden, there are severe pandemics, and nobody can enter nor exit the country. This third story also deals with the topic of homosexuality, which the government now forbids to encourage citizens to have kids. One of the main characters of this story is Charles Bingham, a famous epidemiological researcher. In the story's climax, Charles is sentenced to death by the government as a scapegoat for past unpopular policies implemented to contain pandemics. Before dying, he organizes the problematic escape from the US to Europe of his simple-minded niece Charlie, who was affected by the collateral effects of a past pandemic. Charles hopes for her a better life in London, where a good friend of his lives and is ready to take her on. On the day of her escape, she is hooded in a boat and feels happy for the first time in her life about her way to her paradise.
Do not let the size of the book throw you off. Even though it is quite big, I found it incredibly easy to read and it won me over from the first pages. An innovative feature of the book is that the three stories appear initially disjoint, but then, due to the same names and locations, they seem somehow connected. Hanya Yanagihara goes deep with her main characters' thoughts and insecurities, showing their fragility with no filter. They all start from a position of weakness but manage to stand up and find their place in the world and their way to paradise. Hanya Yanagihara has never confirmed my intuitions or doubts on certain veiled things which were said, but maybe this is what made the book so intriguing. I enjoyed all the three stories, but the third one is the most engaging and scary one. I wonder: we are not too far from 2093… will our world look like the one described by Hanya Yanagihara?