Ep. 417 Paradise by Toni Morrison — The Stacks Book Club (Namwali Serpell)

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, Literature

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2026

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s The Stacks Book Club day and Morrison Month here on The Stacks, and today, we're diving into Paradise by Toni Morrison with award-winning writer, professor, and On Morrison author, Namwali Serpell. This book tells the story of Ruby, a small, all-black town in rural Oklahoma founded by the descendants of freed slaves, and its violent conflict with a nearby convent of women. We chat about the novel’s complexity, how it tackles faith and gender, and its connection to Beloved and Jazz.

There are spoilers in this episode.

Listen to the end of the episode to hear what our April book club pick will be!

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2026/3/25/ep-417-paradise

Connect with Namwali: Website | X/Twitter

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, it's me, Tracy, and I've got some exciting news for you. This year, the Stax is turning
0:06.0	eight years old, and we are celebrating with our very first meetup day. On Saturday, April 4th,
0:11.8	we are inviting you all to meet up in cities across the country and around the world to hang out,
0:17.3	play games, and build community around our shared love of all things, books,
0:21.4	reading, and of course, snacks.
0:23.9	Head to the stackspodcast.com slash meetup for more information.
0:27.4	Over there, you're going to find a list of all the cities we have meetup scheduled for.
0:31.4	You'll be able to RSVP.
0:32.5	And if you don't see a meetup near you, there's also information on how you can host one.
0:38.6	Again, the website is the stackspodcast.com slash meetup and meetup day is April 4th. I think Haven and Ruby are
0:45.5	supposed to be an inverse or like a reflection of the logic of racial supremacy, which we
0:53.9	usually associate with whiteness in America,
0:57.0	and is by its nature, and Morrison gets into this in her preface, exclusionary.
1:02.5	So there is a dignity to the desire to create these towns that Morrison really wanted us to
1:09.6	understand, but there is a danger in trying to
1:13.8	replicate the logic of America just black this time.
1:23.7	Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them.
1:55.8	I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and it is the Stax Book Club Day, and it is Tony Morrison, and I am joined by award-winning writer, professor, and author of On Morrison, Namwali, Sir Pal. She's here to discuss Paradise by Tony Morrison. This book tells the story of Ruby, a small all-black town in rural Oklahoma, founded by the descendants of freed slaves and built on patriarchy and the violent clash they have with a nearby convent of women.
2:02.6	Today we discuss this book in detail, including how it fits into the beloved trilogy, why this is one of Tony Morrison's most difficult and complex novels, and what this book has to say about
2:08.1	faith, race, and gender. There are spoilers on this episode. And be sure to stay tuned to the
2:14.7	end of the episode to find out what our April book club pick will be.
2:18.8	Everything we talk about in each episode of the Stacks is linked in the show notes.
	...

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