Paradise.

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Jenifer McVaugh is a writer and small-town bookstore owner in Renfrew County, Ontario. Her third novel, Paradise, examines 1990s ex-hippie boomers and their Gen-X children, who defend their Algona County commune from an outsider who tries to seize it.

Anyone who is familiar with late-20th-century social movements knows about the counterculture that inspired it. The author admits that “Algona County … is similar to Renfrew County, Ontario, in beauty and peacefulness,” but declares that her characters are not based on actual individuals.

This literary device may repel libel lawyers without attracting readers. Real people can serve as inspirational role models. McVaugh is unable to create dynamic characters, but at least she does not substitute ideological proxies. The fact that “hippie fiction” is not a creatively exhausted genre prevents her quirky commune dwellers from turning into total clichés.

McVaugh unsuccessfully tries to exploit political frustrations. When Paradise commune’s former residents meet in a “traditional New Year ceremony,” founding member Leo Mitchell declares that “the U.N. is coming into its rightful power” in 1995. The contrast between past ideals and present realities that this statement evokes is neutralized by its pervasiveness.

The author may successfully reach cultural nationalists. Gerald Lander, the pot-growing resident farmer, is described as “totally Grey Owl” by his niece Marie-Noelle. Perceptive readers may recognize this reference to the Native identity adopted by British immigrant conservationist Archibald Belany.

Characters frequently use the word hip as the commune equivalent of “over and out.” Is this authentic eastern Ontario hippie speech or just an affectation?

Too many personal secrets are revealed, turning this comic novel into self-parody. Instead of mellow Leacock, one gets “wasted” Wayne and Shuster.