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California Calling: A Self-Interrogation
California Calling is a lyrical self-interrogation of obsession, emigration, and identity. Natalie Singer's story opens in a courtroom on a witness stand, where she's forced to testify in a family breakup that changes the course of her life. At sixteen Natalie emigrates from Montreal and the secrets it holds to the golden promise of the California Bay Area, just as her Jewish ancestors fled Russia and went west for a new life. Through uneasy rituals of high school pep rallies and college sex in boats and the backs of pickups, to a summer tracing a serial killer through the heart of Gold Country, to an eventual journalism career in San Francisco and the deserts of Palm Springs, Natalie aches to forge an American identity. At once an intimately unflinching memoir and a probing examination of the family and cultural myths that shape us, California Calling calls upon history, reportage, witness interrogation tactics, music and pop culture, and the iconography of the West to explore whether we can cure loneliness through landscape.
- GenresMemoirNonfiction
292 pages, Paperback
First published March 13, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 23, 2018
On reading California Calling: A Self-Interrogation (hey, someone was going to do this, so it might as well be me)
You were really excited to win this book in a Goodreads giveaway, weren't you?
Yes, I was! In fact, of all 123 books I've won in Goodreads giveaways, I may have been most excited about this one.
Hold up. You've won 123 books in Goodreads giveaways? But no one ever wins those. Do you have a fix in or something?
Sigh. You have to be fairly systematic about it. I check the giveaways every day and probably enter at least 3 or 4 a day. In that sense, 123 books is actually a fairly small percentage of the giveaways I've entered. But you can't just enter one every few months when you come across it and then be amazed that you never win. The odds are against you; entering more giveaways increases your odds. Anyway, you're derailing the review. Can we move on?
Sorry. So why were you so enthused to win this book in particular?
It just sounded like my kind of thing: Unusual structure, intellectual inquiry. I thought it might be along the lines of Maggie Nelson or Eula Biss. And the California thing can't help but bring Joan Didion to mind. Plus I like California and, as a person from a landlocked northeastern state, have always been low-level fascinated by it. And California Calling is published by an interesting small press from Oregon. I was excited to check out one of their offerings.
So did the book live up to your expectations?
In a word, no. It did have an unusual structure, but as I read I thought the structure was mainly serving to obscure the fact that there weren't a lot of original ideas here, and that the writing didn't exactly sparkle. Meanwhile the most interesting parts of the book, the parts about her family and her emigration from Montreal, would have benefited from a more straightforward presentation. Ultimately the book offered little in the way of either intellectual stimulation or emotional impact.
Not every author needs their writing to have emotional impact, you know.
I think every writer wants the reader to feel something besides impatience and annoyance.
So what annoyed you about this book?
The language was esoteric in a way that wasn't convincing. In particular, writing from the point of view of your childhood self in an esoteric way just doesn't work. Children don't think that way, and even if Singer did think that way as a child she probably doesn't really remember it. Save the esoteric language for talking about how you're reacting to your childhood as an adult; don't try to force that kind of thinking on your young self. In any event, for all the book's esoteric qualities, its thinking was also at times irritatingly simplistic.
You're just angry that she was condescending about Tales of the City.
I am angry, yes, but it's also a good example of what I'm talking about. She describes Maupin's characters as "archetypes" but seems not to realize that most of them weren't archetypes back when the book was written. A "pot-growing landlady" and a "girl's-best-friend gay guy" might seem more common now, but if that's the case it's probably because of Maupin's groundbreaking work. This seems like a fairly obvious point and it's strange that Singer missed it. But it's not the only example of simplistic thinking here. In particular, the stuff about the consumerist wonders of American malls was so cliched and done. Singer seems not to realize this ground has been gone over so many times in the past few decades that there's no further insight to be wrung from it. Really, the whole myth of California as promised land has been visited and revisited so many times—as Singer herself acknowledges—that it's hard to imagine anyone being able to say anything truly new about it. Certainly this book doesn't seem to.
You also didn't like it when she kept implying Hester Prynne was a slut, did you?
Again, that idea, in addition to being inaccurate, is so done. It's possible she was trying to be funny, but the mix of dead-seriousness and humor in this book was so awkward that it's hard to tell.
Anything else that annoyed you about the book?
Yes, when she made the brutal murder of a young woman by the Yosemite Killer all about herself and her loneliness. That's a rookie mistake, and an offensive one. I could barely believe what I was reading.
Did you like how the end of the book seemed to imply that the solution to her loneliness and feelings of worthlessness was meeting the right man?
I think you can guess how I felt about that.
As a copy editor yourself, how did you feel about the "device" of footnoting the copy editor's queries and then including her responses?
Well, it made me think that she must have been hard to work with. I also wonder what she was trying to prove. Does she think there's something clever or deep about providing enigmatic, pseudointellectual responses to straightforward queries? The fact that she chose to include these exchanges in the book was ineffective at best and obnoxious at worst.
Is it possible you're just envious that this author published a mediocre book with a cool small press and got gushing quotes from people like Lidia Yuknavitch and Claire Dederer?
Yes. I mean, many of us could write a mediocre book and not achieve this kind of success, so I do get envious and my envy colors my reading. But the prerequisite for this envy is the book not being that great to begin with. I don't get envious of amazing writers who get success and praise, because it's well deserved.
You were alternately annoyed by and bored with this book and considered giving up, or at least taking a break for a while. Why didn't you?
I don't know.
You seem to have a lot of complaints about this book. Why did you give it 3 stars instead of 2 or 1?
I don't know.
As you mention, the book has an unusual structure. Is it possible that if you had the time and inclination to go back and really study it, you might find that the whole thing actually works much better than it seems on first reading?
Yes.
Do you have the time and inclination to go back and study it?
No.
You were really excited to win this book in a Goodreads giveaway, weren't you?
Yes, I was! In fact, of all 123 books I've won in Goodreads giveaways, I may have been most excited about this one.
Hold up. You've won 123 books in Goodreads giveaways? But no one ever wins those. Do you have a fix in or something?
Sigh. You have to be fairly systematic about it. I check the giveaways every day and probably enter at least 3 or 4 a day. In that sense, 123 books is actually a fairly small percentage of the giveaways I've entered. But you can't just enter one every few months when you come across it and then be amazed that you never win. The odds are against you; entering more giveaways increases your odds. Anyway, you're derailing the review. Can we move on?
Sorry. So why were you so enthused to win this book in particular?
It just sounded like my kind of thing: Unusual structure, intellectual inquiry. I thought it might be along the lines of Maggie Nelson or Eula Biss. And the California thing can't help but bring Joan Didion to mind. Plus I like California and, as a person from a landlocked northeastern state, have always been low-level fascinated by it. And California Calling is published by an interesting small press from Oregon. I was excited to check out one of their offerings.
So did the book live up to your expectations?
In a word, no. It did have an unusual structure, but as I read I thought the structure was mainly serving to obscure the fact that there weren't a lot of original ideas here, and that the writing didn't exactly sparkle. Meanwhile the most interesting parts of the book, the parts about her family and her emigration from Montreal, would have benefited from a more straightforward presentation. Ultimately the book offered little in the way of either intellectual stimulation or emotional impact.
Not every author needs their writing to have emotional impact, you know.
I think every writer wants the reader to feel something besides impatience and annoyance.
So what annoyed you about this book?
The language was esoteric in a way that wasn't convincing. In particular, writing from the point of view of your childhood self in an esoteric way just doesn't work. Children don't think that way, and even if Singer did think that way as a child she probably doesn't really remember it. Save the esoteric language for talking about how you're reacting to your childhood as an adult; don't try to force that kind of thinking on your young self. In any event, for all the book's esoteric qualities, its thinking was also at times irritatingly simplistic.
You're just angry that she was condescending about Tales of the City.
I am angry, yes, but it's also a good example of what I'm talking about. She describes Maupin's characters as "archetypes" but seems not to realize that most of them weren't archetypes back when the book was written. A "pot-growing landlady" and a "girl's-best-friend gay guy" might seem more common now, but if that's the case it's probably because of Maupin's groundbreaking work. This seems like a fairly obvious point and it's strange that Singer missed it. But it's not the only example of simplistic thinking here. In particular, the stuff about the consumerist wonders of American malls was so cliched and done. Singer seems not to realize this ground has been gone over so many times in the past few decades that there's no further insight to be wrung from it. Really, the whole myth of California as promised land has been visited and revisited so many times—as Singer herself acknowledges—that it's hard to imagine anyone being able to say anything truly new about it. Certainly this book doesn't seem to.
You also didn't like it when she kept implying Hester Prynne was a slut, did you?
Again, that idea, in addition to being inaccurate, is so done. It's possible she was trying to be funny, but the mix of dead-seriousness and humor in this book was so awkward that it's hard to tell.
Anything else that annoyed you about the book?
Yes, when she made the brutal murder of a young woman by the Yosemite Killer all about herself and her loneliness. That's a rookie mistake, and an offensive one. I could barely believe what I was reading.
Did you like how the end of the book seemed to imply that the solution to her loneliness and feelings of worthlessness was meeting the right man?
I think you can guess how I felt about that.
As a copy editor yourself, how did you feel about the "device" of footnoting the copy editor's queries and then including her responses?
Well, it made me think that she must have been hard to work with. I also wonder what she was trying to prove. Does she think there's something clever or deep about providing enigmatic, pseudointellectual responses to straightforward queries? The fact that she chose to include these exchanges in the book was ineffective at best and obnoxious at worst.
Is it possible you're just envious that this author published a mediocre book with a cool small press and got gushing quotes from people like Lidia Yuknavitch and Claire Dederer?
Yes. I mean, many of us could write a mediocre book and not achieve this kind of success, so I do get envious and my envy colors my reading. But the prerequisite for this envy is the book not being that great to begin with. I don't get envious of amazing writers who get success and praise, because it's well deserved.
You were alternately annoyed by and bored with this book and considered giving up, or at least taking a break for a while. Why didn't you?
I don't know.
You seem to have a lot of complaints about this book. Why did you give it 3 stars instead of 2 or 1?
I don't know.
As you mention, the book has an unusual structure. Is it possible that if you had the time and inclination to go back and really study it, you might find that the whole thing actually works much better than it seems on first reading?
Yes.
Do you have the time and inclination to go back and study it?
No.
March 20, 2018
"Every time I open my mouth in public to speak, it feels like I am on a witness stand. My chest tightens and my heart crawls up my neck. Even when I'm asked something as simple as my name, it seems like I'm being asked to account for everything that is."
When the narrator was 16, she was asked to testify in family court and she found herself totally mute. This is a pivotal moment in her life, the losing of her voice. The book takes the reader through the beautiful, confusing, complex journey of Singer finding that voice all over again.
I marvel at how Singer was able to see into her memory with almost shamanic magic, reclaiming the soul and spirit of the moments, in addition to the details. She had no fantastical events in her life from which to draw on, but her life, like every human life, is fraught with story and rich in curiosity. Finding the magic when looking back at one's own life is so hard to do - and she inspired me to do the work of forcing a re-frame. How Singer knows what her reader will find interesting is part of her sneaky greatness.
Singer feels almost tangible. She appears before me clearly; sometimes I am her. I'm sweating on that hike in the desert when her boyfriend randomly sits down in an old, used chair and wants to reclaim it; I'm in the car during conversation she had with a California ranger in the moment where she reclaims her voice; I'm a witness on the street when she faces off with the bitch in the car who won't concede. Singer's meditative pace is a joy - in her subtle capturing of the mundane and infusing it with color and movement, not unlike a painter would paint. Not unlike standing in front of a work of art at a museum. There is so much more than we are seeing, and we know it.
The form also excites me; reminiscent, I think, of the artistry and genre-bending form ala Lidia Yuknavich's The Chronology of Water or Abigail Thomas' Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life.
The language is sometimes poetic in lyricism, other times journalistic in concision. And while it feels like a gentle read, Singer's searing intelligence and the things she does not say…they cut deep. A gentle cutting, I suppose - but Singer has enough love for her fellow human to sew them back up again in the end. Instead of bleeding out, we close the book with a gift: an invitation into deeper introspection, nostalgia, and sweet little wisps of our own life's
story-ghosts.
When the narrator was 16, she was asked to testify in family court and she found herself totally mute. This is a pivotal moment in her life, the losing of her voice. The book takes the reader through the beautiful, confusing, complex journey of Singer finding that voice all over again.
I marvel at how Singer was able to see into her memory with almost shamanic magic, reclaiming the soul and spirit of the moments, in addition to the details. She had no fantastical events in her life from which to draw on, but her life, like every human life, is fraught with story and rich in curiosity. Finding the magic when looking back at one's own life is so hard to do - and she inspired me to do the work of forcing a re-frame. How Singer knows what her reader will find interesting is part of her sneaky greatness.
Singer feels almost tangible. She appears before me clearly; sometimes I am her. I'm sweating on that hike in the desert when her boyfriend randomly sits down in an old, used chair and wants to reclaim it; I'm in the car during conversation she had with a California ranger in the moment where she reclaims her voice; I'm a witness on the street when she faces off with the bitch in the car who won't concede. Singer's meditative pace is a joy - in her subtle capturing of the mundane and infusing it with color and movement, not unlike a painter would paint. Not unlike standing in front of a work of art at a museum. There is so much more than we are seeing, and we know it.
The form also excites me; reminiscent, I think, of the artistry and genre-bending form ala Lidia Yuknavich's The Chronology of Water or Abigail Thomas' Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life.
The language is sometimes poetic in lyricism, other times journalistic in concision. And while it feels like a gentle read, Singer's searing intelligence and the things she does not say…they cut deep. A gentle cutting, I suppose - but Singer has enough love for her fellow human to sew them back up again in the end. Instead of bleeding out, we close the book with a gift: an invitation into deeper introspection, nostalgia, and sweet little wisps of our own life's
story-ghosts.
March 20, 2018
This book is amazing and clear and funny and poignant and filled with many good things. I love coming of age stories and now California Calling is one of my favorites, right up there with Tobias Wolff and Frank McCourt. I love the architecture and the premise of an interrogation. I love the spare, beautiful prose. Ms Singer has created something wonderful from a lifetime of longing for a very special place.
March 18, 2018
I so enjoyed this soulful, meditative look at the myth of home and place play in developing an identity. Singer writes about her experience in an immigrant family moving toward the edges of the American West with lyric beauty and a layered, reverberating style. Definitely a stand-out in what memoir can become in the hands of writers that refuse to remain the the traditional boundaries of the genre.
September 24, 2018
In one of the back-cover blurbs for this book, memoirist Abigail Thomas says "the originality of Ms. Singer's voice and mind is as exciting as anything I've read in years." I thought, huh, okay, that's pretty cool. AND THEN I READ THE BOOK.
California Calling is magnificent, and throughout it, I marveled at the way Singer's mind works. How she weaves, builds, tears down, builds again. How something random becomes something monumental. How the structure is so original, and I can't imagine this book inhabiting any other form so perfectly.
A book like this doesn't come along every day. I'm thankful it's out in the world.
California Calling is magnificent, and throughout it, I marveled at the way Singer's mind works. How she weaves, builds, tears down, builds again. How something random becomes something monumental. How the structure is so original, and I can't imagine this book inhabiting any other form so perfectly.
A book like this doesn't come along every day. I'm thankful it's out in the world.
March 13, 2025
new york trip purchase- what a beautiful, musical, lyrical prose book. i feel lucky to have sat with these words.
February 9, 2018
This is a fascinating memoir written more as connected essays than a straight-forward story arc. Singer is a woman in her mid-30s looking back at the journey of her life, trying to sort out her identity as an American, an immigrant, the child of divorce... a woman in today's sometimes confusing sexual and cultural landscape. I highly recommend this book, both for the story and the writing.
July 30, 2018
A book unlike any I've ever read. Natalie Singer is a poet disguised as a memoirist, and her story is a rich one. To be honest, I read this book slowly (as I would a collection of poems), often flashing back and forth between awe and only slight frustration. At once I loved the concise moments where she was able to convey, in as little as two sentences or perhaps a long paragraph, an entire life experience; while at other times I wanted MORE. Her tale is relevant and provocative, from the backstory of her relatives fleeing the Holocaust to her parents' divorce to her embarkation toward a place she had only dreamed of--CALIFORNIA--she explores the depths of family, self-identity, geography, young love, journalism, and adultery, among others. These themes are grand ones indeed, yet, because she is such a deft and aureate storyteller, Singer is able to unearth and portray them with cleverness, clarity, color, and humor. Most notable are her delicious phrases she tosses out as if they were just waiting in the back of her mind for an opportunity. Here, she describes sitting in a old movie theater in San Francisco: "The smell in these theaters is mauve dust and Victorian lace and metal film canisters, sailors' forty-eight-hour leave and mink and loneliness." Perfect. Delicious. Poetry.
May 4, 2018
Natalie Singer has created a beautiful work of art, a fresh approach to the memoir where a place is a character in the work, and an intense struggle to find herself in a disfunctional world. I found each discrete section intriguing and caught myself double checking the title of the section and the content to make the association between the two. This slowed me down to savour the writing, the characters (including California) and the self-discovery of the narrator. I recommend this book highly.
May 31, 2018
With what almost seems like a sleight of hand, this book manages to pack so much into its very spare prose. First off, the structure and the way the book is written tells a story in itself. These snapshots in time tell a larger story, one that the author doesn't spoon feed to her readers. Her theme of finding voice and place, of finding a way of belonging in this world is a universal one, that will resonate with all readers, and told from the unique perspective of someone with a foot across borders, between the US and Canada.
For those wishing to read a masterful memoir, this is one that will stick with you and make you think.
For those wishing to read a masterful memoir, this is one that will stick with you and make you think.
July 2, 2018
What is memoir if not self-interrogation? Singer takes what must be central to every memoirist's process and applies it to form, resulting in a ranging Q and A with a self who once had hold of neither questions nor answers but has come now to control both.
August 26, 2018
California Calling sounded like such a cliche title (don't we all have our own California Calling?) I didn't have much hope for a well written tale. Instead I took my chances when I saw a former writing teacher wrote the back jacket blurb and several PNW authors whom I admire wrote blurbs espousing brilliance, I had to read it. Plus I had to show my support for fellow PNW writers.
At first I felt I was sitting in one of my past writing classes reading the author's responses to various writing prompts. I thought I was being artificially lured into the actual story - awaiting me in future pages. Nope. The form of question/answer or statement/response continued and I kept following the trail of crumbs to see where it would lead.
I read this book in two sittings. The writing is concise, poetic, and real. The writer tricks us into getting to know her and her journey from, adolescence to post-College, in-depth in small, spoon-full-of-sugar packages. These packages are like hits of a delicious drug that kept me wanting more. Did I just call in sick from work to finish this book? Yes this is how amazing this story is.
At first I felt I was sitting in one of my past writing classes reading the author's responses to various writing prompts. I thought I was being artificially lured into the actual story - awaiting me in future pages. Nope. The form of question/answer or statement/response continued and I kept following the trail of crumbs to see where it would lead.
I read this book in two sittings. The writing is concise, poetic, and real. The writer tricks us into getting to know her and her journey from, adolescence to post-College, in-depth in small, spoon-full-of-sugar packages. These packages are like hits of a delicious drug that kept me wanting more. Did I just call in sick from work to finish this book? Yes this is how amazing this story is.
January 2, 2019
I woke up early this morning to savor the last 50 pages of Natalie Singer’s book in the quiet peace of a household still asleep (my preferred method of reading). Where to start? This is not a traditional book, by that I mean form, content and narrative. She calls it an interrogation and to that I would add an exploration and meditation on what it means to be from a place, a family, a lineage and a broken home. What does it do to us when familial threads are raveled beyond recognition? Can relocation, reinvention and possibility of place make us whole? Who are our people? If these are questions that interest you and you like to explore them from different angles and perspectives, you will love this book. I don’t think it’s a mistake that Natalie starts her book with a quote from Joan Didion “The people who stayed behind had their settled ways — those people were not the people who got the prize. The prize was California.” I think the interiority of her interrogation would make Joan proud.
January 13, 2019
I am so fascinated by the structure of this memoir that I have contacted the author in order to interrogate her. Okay, ask her to present at a reading series I curate on how she came to write her story in this unique (at least to this reader) way. I know of the author in the Seattle writing world and have heard her read. However nothing prepared me for the freshness of her approach combined with a look at childhood and beyond that is very memoir-worthy.
Reading her self-interrogation took me back to my own brief time in California, when I was horribly 24 years old and trying to figure out my identity. I still cringe.
As somewhat of a student of memoir I was and am ready to sign up for Velush-Singer Advanced Studies. By the way she'll be discussing her work on May 9, 2019 in Seattle. See you there?
Reading her self-interrogation took me back to my own brief time in California, when I was horribly 24 years old and trying to figure out my identity. I still cringe.
As somewhat of a student of memoir I was and am ready to sign up for Velush-Singer Advanced Studies. By the way she'll be discussing her work on May 9, 2019 in Seattle. See you there?
May 3, 2018
Totally compelling. I could not put it down and tore through it in two days. I appreciated and enjoyed the courage and creativity of the book format. I gravitate to linear narratives, to nice, decisive progression, and am skeptical of "experimental" anything, but this book is exceptional. The format feels complementary, not forced or "different just because." The structure of the book and format of each chapter really enhances the narrative and its aspects of recollection, memories from different times and ages, and strong visual accounts. Altogether, a really lovely, beautifully written, lyrical book. Singer is an artist.
August 29, 2018
A stunning debut from a talented author. I savored every page, from the lyrical and poetic prose to each beautifully rendered scene. Singer's language is rich with imagery, metaphor and intrigue. This is not your typical coming-of-age memoir but rather a multilayered allegory. The questions posed--from what it means to be a family to sexuality to national identity -- are exquisitely rendered through the use of Singer's literary interrogation technique. This is a gorgeous piece of literature I will return to again and again.
April 12, 2025
What started as a really cool premise fell apart so quickly. There is no denying that Singer is a wonderful writer and their prose is beautiful. But the structure of an interrogation gave way so quickly that good prose could not make up for it. While I still found a lot to like in some of the earlier pieces, I felt the final sections did not work out as well. Though I would be very interested in another attempt that explored her years as a reporter or her thoughts on California beyond just her childhood and early adulthood.
February 22, 2020
This is a memoir told in short passages about a girl from Canada who yearns to live in California. It's about the seperation of family, coming of age and falling in love and also a book about space and place. I very much enjoyed the writing style and would definitely seek out more writing from Singer, but there was something that was a little bit too slight for me here and I wanted a little more.
June 4, 2018
What does it mean to call a place home? What does it mean to belong? I immersed myself in this beautifully written memoir over the course of a single weekend. I love everything Singer does with language and structure to tell her story, which reads like a coming-of-age story but also a bittersweet love letter to place and memory. It made me feel everything. I loved every word.
July 26, 2018
Way less into this book than I expected to be. A coming of age story, along with the idea of questioning a sense of home and identity... set in he state I just personally moved to? Sounds ideal. But, I was bored. It didn’t do much for me in any capacity. Gave it two stars instead of one, because I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t like it either.
November 13, 2018
I read California Calling in one weekend. It kept me engaged and entertained and riveted from cover to cover. I loved the structure and so many times Natalie's words stopped me cold with their beauty and insight. I've never read anything like this and now I want to read so much more of her work. Natalie's writing is stunning.
September 5, 2024
I love books about California and this one is so interestingly laid out and written. Broken into parts with lots of intentional spaces. The creativity of the layout is what most impressed me. As a California native, it’s interesting to read about the yearning to come here. I love how the author arrives, not just to California but to herself.
March 9, 2019
Mixed feelings: I liked the ruminating, inquiring, solitary tone. While I was compelled with the writing style and story structure, something felt distancing so that I could never entirely relax into the story. Still, I'm intrigued with the work and want to know more about the author.
May 31, 2018
Incredible sense of place in this extremely introspective memoir. Gorgeous writing as Singer tells us of her journey from Montreal to California, from girl to young woman.
June 1, 2018
Lovely read about a journey through childhood and how that impacts one’s worldview. Fascinating personal story presented in an unusual way.
June 29, 2019
I ran across this book randomly and was drawn to the title. A beautiful, raw memoir. Solid read.
December 20, 2019
I picked up this book because of the title. It turned out to be a very well written memoir that also played out against the backdrop of cultural notions of California as utopian.
January 28, 2020
poetics and prose posed as memoir with so many unique artistic twists you will feel humbled as a reader. Added Bonus: a fantastic story
December 6, 2020
An interesting way to tell a story — little vignettes that begin with a question (hence the interrogation part of the title). I liked that part.
I feel like there were multiple “points” to this book, but I am not sure if the author intended all of them or if there was one in particular I should have been paying attention too. Something she’s trying to tell me about herself or about California? Her conflicted relationship to the state?
It definitely made me think, especially the commentary on California, but at the end I don’t leave particularly satisfied. I still feel like I don’t know her at all?
Maybe that was the point.
Now I need to come up with a question to ask her when I meet her next week.
Update: after meeting her I’m bumping this up to 4 stars because I love her approach to writing and her subtle but very well thought out ways of showing character growth.
I feel like there were multiple “points” to this book, but I am not sure if the author intended all of them or if there was one in particular I should have been paying attention too. Something she’s trying to tell me about herself or about California? Her conflicted relationship to the state?
It definitely made me think, especially the commentary on California, but at the end I don’t leave particularly satisfied. I still feel like I don’t know her at all?
Maybe that was the point.
Now I need to come up with a question to ask her when I meet her next week.
Update: after meeting her I’m bumping this up to 4 stars because I love her approach to writing and her subtle but very well thought out ways of showing character growth.
December 19, 2021
Beautiful, creative and moving. This is on my list of top 10 books I've ever read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews