Award-nominated author Omar Gonzalez returns to form with his trademark mixture of poetry and prose. In his debut collection, The Phantom Struggle: Memoirs of a Life Once Struggling, Omar examined the personal experiences that have defined his life to date—love and heartache, adventure, domestic violence, and more.
In this follow-up, Omar dives deeper into the topic of childhood trauma by embodying the persona of his lifelong friend Eden Flores. The result, Paradise Taken: The Diary of Eden Flores, is unlike anything that Omar has ever written. Through various forms, the book ultimately serves to honor the story of Eden Flores while inspiring all who seek to understand or overcome the vestiges of child abuse and sexual trauma.
Award-nominated author Omar Gonzalez returns to form with his trademark mixture of poetry and prose. In his debut collection, The Phantom Struggle: Memoirs of a Life Once Struggling, Omar examined the personal experiences that have defined his life to date—love and heartache, adventure, domestic violence, and more.
In this follow-up, Omar dives deeper into the topic of childhood trauma by embodying the persona of his lifelong friend Eden Flores. The result, Paradise Taken: The Diary of Eden Flores, is unlike anything that Omar has ever written. Through various forms, the book ultimately serves to honor the story of Eden Flores while inspiring all who seek to understand or overcome the vestiges of child abuse and sexual trauma.
Nina, such a lovable and caring golden retriever with a beautiful golden coat, was a perfect match for my brothers and me when we were young kids. At least, that was what I thought before Dad said we couldn’t afford to provide for Nina’s care and gave her away. Luckily for my brothers and me, Nina was adopted by a lovely young couple, Mitch and Jenny, who allowed us to visit her as often as we wanted. We came to enjoy going over to their apartment to play with Nina, and they also grew to enjoy having us over. Admittedly, we would try to spend as much time at their place as possible—it was a nice escape from the chaos my father created at home.
When thinking back to that time, I honestly cannot remember when my father was not calling my mother a pig, bitch, disgusting, fat, dumb, piece of shit, or several other derogatory phrases he had for her. He did not allow her to work, learn English, or dress nicely. Her primary role in life was to serve him at all times, even above my brothers and me. We, too, had similar positions, especially me. Still, there were two universal rules that everyone in his household had to abide by: only speak when spoken to and never challenge his authority. Any of us who did not follow those rules would suffer severe physical consequences. One could see why we loved spending so much time at Mitch and Jenny’s place.
Although Mitch and Jenny were both so kind to us, Mitch captured my attention the most. He was so sweet to his wife and never mistreated her. Mitch often hugged Jenny and told her that she was beautiful. He was also very attentive and never took issue with helping around the house. When it came to my brothers and me, Mitch was patient and kind. I always felt at ease at their place as there was no tension or need to fear consequences always. During that time, I often wished that Mitch and Jenny would adopt us as well.
One breezy but beautiful summer day, Mitch and Jenny invited us to spend the day with them at the enormous inground pool of their apartment complex. It was such a wonderful experience as all of us spent the day playing pool games, splashing each other, laughing, eating hotdogs and hamburgers for lunch, and drifting idly on floaties afterward. As I floated around the pool on my floaty, I could not help but wish for the day to never end. Although the fun and the love I experienced at the pool on that day was something I was not familiar with, I hoped to encounter more of it. As the day winded down, we all headed inside to dry off and get ready for dinner.
While Jenny prepared dinner, she realized that she was missing a few critical ingredients for what she wanted to cook. So, she announced that she was going to the grocery store and asked my brothers and me if we wanted to tag along. My brothers said “yes” but I said “no.” I wished to stay behind to play with Nina. As Jenny and my brothers left to go to the store, Mitch closed the door behind them. He then turned to look at me as I sat in the living room, petting Nina.
“Hey, how about a game of hide and seek?” he asked me.
I remember becoming excited because I enjoyed playing that game with my brothers. So I said, “yes.”
He replied, “Okay, I’ll hide first. Close your eyes and count to thirty, really slow, and then come find me.”
“Thirty, okay, here I come!” I shouted as I began to search the apartment for Mitch. I searched the living room, kitchen, office, guest bedroom, and bathroom but to no avail. Finally, I headed toward their bedroom. Once inside, I did not look far or long as I saw the light on from under the master bathroom door.
I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, Mitch made it too easy.” So, I burst through the door and shouted, “Gotcha!”
However, my excitement ended abruptly as Mitch appeared before me, naked, touching his penis, and stepping in my direction.
When the innocence of a child is tainted by the gruesome realities of the world, then paradise becomes an unattainable dream.
Paradise Taken: The Diary of Eden Flores Part I is a collection of true events about a girl named Eden Flores. The author, Omar Gonzalez, captures Eden’s life experiences remarkably in this book and shares them with us in the form of stories and poems.
The book begins with stories about Eden’s childhood and her family. The family visits her parents’ native place called El Paraiso (“Paradise”). Here, Eden first realizes after witnessing certain events that life is far from being anywhere close to a paradise. As young kids, Eden and her brothers would always look for reasons to escape so they could avoid the chaos and violence at home. But, even the outside world had its perils and dangers which she soon experienced. The ordeal just gets worse, making it an immersive reading experience.
All Eden ever wanted was a life filled with smiles and simple joys with her family. But how does one cope when family inflicts the most amount of pain? There are many things in this world that we take for granted and don’t appreciate enough, Paradise Taken is a book that makes us realize that.
Paradise Taken discusses themes around racism, religion, sorrow, suffering, domestic violence, and sexual child abuse. The careful interweaving of stories and poems provides an impactful narrative that stays with you after the last page.