California

A Novel

By: Edan Lepucki

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.

Terrified of the unknown but unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses its own dangers. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.

A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and irrepressible resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.

©2014 Edan Lepucki (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Stunning and brilliant.... A wholly original take on the post-apocalypse genre." (Dan Chaon, author Await Your Reply)

Just okay...

Okay, don't let the 3 stars fool you. There is a lot to like about this book, but a lot NOT to like. It has a real Cormac MaCarthy feel as you are slowly introduced to a world where it is obvious that things have gone terribly wrong. You are never told exactly what took place to put everything in a tailspin. Instead, you are given nuggets as the narrator weaves the story through the eyes of Frida.

One of my issues with this book is the lack of a character to actually like. Nobody has any charm about them, and Frida makes the same mistakes over and over, including at the very end to the point of frustrating the reader to a point of distraction.

Perhaps you will enjoy it. But go in with reservations. Heed some of the other reviews that are less than glowing. I think this title remains obscure without Stephen Colbert's "bump".

Unsatisfying Read, Unlikeable Narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, the whole thing left me wanting. A consistently unlikeable protagonist makes a series of bad choices in a just-short-of-believable post-apocalyptic world. Furthermore, the author is really withholding. It was difficult for me to get oriented. So I'm thinking that the story is building towards some really cool reveal -- not really. The few twists were predictable and the reveal we do get is all at once at the end (a la Scooby-Doo). Really difficult to root for any of the characters in this book and, on top of that, I found the narrator's voice and reading style to be very, very grating.

What didn’t you like about Emma Galvin’s performance?

I will not be listening to any other audio books narrated by Emma Galvin.

Do you think California needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Actually, yes. My guess is that the author's second book will be a drastic improvement from this one. Just a hunch.

lackluster post-apocalyptic story

Middle of the pack post-apocalyptic fiction. It has a lot of possibility in the telling of the end of the world in a slow rundown of supplies and infrastructure, where the very rich retreat to gated communities with all the luxuries of modern life (internet, television, power, schools, parks, and some manufacturing - though the food is mostly protein and nutrient powders), while the rest of the world falls into wilderness and living off the land. We meet two such households in the beginning, a young couple and a young family. The family dies, and the couple move to a smaller community that they have familial connections to. This community is a nest of secrets and lies, which the couple try to puzzle out.

From such a promising start, the story falls flat. Cal and Frida profess to have high moral standards, but being keeping secrets and making excuses. Their behavior seems puzzling and inconsistent. The main villian is supposedly super smart, charismatic, and ruthless, but we never see him do much to deserve that reputation - we just heard of things that happened earlier. None of the characters at the community seem fully developed. Our independent, strong feminist Frida gets distracted by the joys of baking in the kitchen and dreaming of being a mother... like some sort of 1950s housewife ideal. The ending seems rushed and the final moral of the story seems to be that people will sacrifice and justify anything for some security and comfort, which was a disappointment to me.

There are some lovely moments in the book - the worldbuilding of the communities versus the gated communities is interesting and seems plausible and realistic. I liked that there was do catastrophic event that caused the "end of the world" - no zombies or plague. The forms or spikes around the community are a wonderful image. There are some great lines of description here and there, but the dialogue is mostly juvenile, wooden, or awkward. I didn't connect emotionally with the characters much at all, or stopped when they started behaving against their natures and behaving in an untrustworthy way.

Great idea - poor construction. I wish this book could have had more editing and a few more revisions to achieve its potential.

It could have been great

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book with the caveat that it goes off the rails for the last third. A lot of good setup and characters, but seems like there is too much going on for the amount of development. It just feels partially baked and therefore comes off rushed and heavy handed at times.

How could the performance have been better?

I didn't get the impression the narrator actually read the book before recording and therefore didn't seem to know when it was important to build drama. There are a few scenes that strain credulity and the narrator wasn't helping.

Was California worth the listening time?

Yes and No. I didn't stop listening, but it was a grudge match at the end.

I guess since it is fantasy, anything goes . . . .

Would you try another book from Edan Lepucki and/or Emma Galvin?

Overall, the characters' behavior is too illogical and impetuous. They behave in inexplicable ways and in the end, the novel falls apart because you have to think, "No, she wouldn't do that" or, "He wouldn't say that"


I thought Emma Galvin was one of the more successful readers I have heard.She is consistently clear and doesn't try accents or "voices". You can easily follow a conversation that different characters are speaking, but it isn't because of "ACTING!".

Has California turned you off from other books in this genre?

I am not a huge fan of speculative fiction. This novel had received such interesting notices in advance, that I was intrigued. Having completed this, I am less likely to attempt more of it.

Have you listened to any of Emma Galvin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Do you think California needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I was too happy to leave California in the dust. And I live here. There was a lot of potential that was left unfulfilled. I kind of feel that the novel was rushed and could have used more time to have been developed and the characters to be fleshed out/ made to behave consistently.

Any additional comments?

Honestly my problem is with the book, not the recording

Meh.

Almost good. Was definitely interested. Purchased the digital copy years ago and got stuck around Ch6 but frequently thought about the story and wondered how it would end up. Very unsatisfactory ending for the buildup throughout with no real resolution. Could have benefitted from more editing and a cleaner storytelling. No wish to spoil the book for anyone, but definitely feel that it was much longer than necessary for the content.

Good Story, Very Poor Narration

What made the experience of listening to California the most enjoyable?

The story managed to be both charming and gripping. I listened almost non-stop and didn't lose interest until the last fifteen minutes. The ending was anti-climactic, at best, and left me wanting more of the relationship dynamics and the tension among the inhabitants of The Land.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Emma Galvin?

Actually, the narrator's voice would have worked if she had read well. It seemed as if she didn't even look over the book before she begin narrating. Some of the poorest reading I've ever heard, her misplacement of punctuation and the halting way she spoke, was ultimately detrimental to the story.

Meditation on a Turkey Baster

The first 5 minutes was Frida thinking about the turkey baster she so coveted and hid from her husband Cal. This did not bode well for the book. The audio book narrator didn't do the book any favors either--she sounded like a 14-yr-old boy, and her reading of every character was exactly the same.

Mostly it was just a boring story with an obnoxious main character (Frida). I can't even figure out what to say about her. She's vapid, selfish, mistrustful of her husband for no reason, has little understanding of people. Cal however was a likeable main character, his only flaw his love for his idiot of a wife who has a tendency to ruin everything because she's so clueless.

Good

Writing is beautiful, and characters are on point, but the pacing and plot can be rather slow and drawn out.

I liked it a lot!

Interesting ways to look at what we value and what we think we value, cognitive dissonance and gender politics. All feels kind of plausible. I only like post apocalyptic stories if they seem plausible. Not into fantasy.