Difficult book (with Daphne being unable to make up here mind), but well written and therefore four stars.

My very first thought, only a few pages in, was, “Where in the heck is this going?” That was also my thought about midway through, as well. Yet, I was compelled to continue reading because, well, I wanted to figure out where it was going! Before I finished I finally realized it was less about the destination and more about the journey. Cliché, but it fits. Really, though, it makes sense, because when does life ever come to one conclusive climax? Obviously, our lives, in the grand scheme of things, are a bunch of tiny zeniths in the timeline of the universe, and our own timelines replicate that in the span of our lifetime. However, I’m not here to get all existential.

Daphne is a relatable main character, generally happy but with her own set of troubles. Married, working mom, trying to figure out what she’s doing in any given space or time. Is she making an impact? Is it a good impact, or bad? Is she ruining her child’s life, her husband’s, her own? From the very beginning you see her semi-life crisis begin as she ditches work, grabs her kid, and heads for the hills, literally.

There begins the journey, one that carefully and successfully balances the banal yet passionate duties and love of a (relatively new) mother, the necessary and claustrophobic tasks of a stay-at-home housewife (even for a short time), and the inner turmoil of a woman who is dealing with the loss of family, coworkers, friends, and the looming and consistent nightmare of her husband being stuck overseas because his green card has been illegally confiscated.

On a personal level, I was sucked in so much that I was tempted to up my Zoloft dosage. At some point in my own life I had felt the loss and conflict that plagued Daphne throughout the entire story. Being a mother of five, I could relate with the little successes of an on-the-fly healthy lunch, long naptime, embarrassment beyond belief at the behavior or actions of your own small child.

The relationships presented were real life, nothing fake or hokey. Real-time interactions in believable ways with stuff that people actually say, as opposed to carefully crafted or overly thought-out sentences that oft times plague novel characters. I had met Alice, the old crone and I knew Cindy, the malcontent neighbor. I rooted for Daphne’s marriage, celebrated the highs, dreaded the lows, encouraged her to try something new or stretch out of her comfort zone.

Sadly, the story ends, as they all do, and without a hard conclusion, I was left wanting more. It needed to continue because I was now invested in Daphne, and win or lose, succeed or fail, I wanted to be there to cheer her on. This story is not a traditional page-turner, you’re not anxiously reading at the edge of your seat. Instead, you’re turning the pages because you want to, out of sheer curiosity, because you want to follow Daphne through her every day moments, because she is your friend and you care.

I look forward to reading more from Lydia Kiesling, her writing was inspirational and a delight to absorb.

This book so genuinely depicts a mom on the brink of a breakdown and what her life is like as she escapes to the high desert. Such a well written, descriptive novel.

If you want to read a book that is basically one long run-on sentence, read The Golden State, because its sentences run on and on and on, but the effect it has is a good one because this is a novel about what it’s like to be a mother, and being a mother can be a breathless enterprise as one tries to prevent their baby from being hurt or worse and the perils of diapering can also take a toil and so indeed The Golden State is a breathless, instructive book for that reason. However, there are long stretches where not much really happens, so you can also be prepared to be a little bit bored as the pages gloss and on and on and on with only the rhythm of the sentences propelling things forward. It’s a bit of a hard debut novel to take — though it does have its redeeming qualities and rewards if you stick around for the end.

The novel concerns a woman named Daphne who leaves San Francisco (and her job) and takes her baby out into the desert of Altavista in the eastern fringes of California where she (and baby) camps out in a trailer home that she’s inherited from her mother while she reminisces about the things that have brought her there — tragedy at her job where a young woman has died overseas in a car accident, and the fact that her husband is living in Turkey because his green card was taken from him by U.S. immigration agents. While in Altavista, she runs into a neighbour named Cindy Cooper who is part of a movement to secede from the Union, and also a lovely old lady named Alice who is, it turns out, just passing through town.

And that’s pretty much it for the plot of The Golden State. As noted, this is a long novel filled with the banalest of human interactions — diaper changes, drinking into a state of stupor, maybe smoking one too many cigarettes. Everything is slowed down in Altavista, and even though Daphne has a car, she chooses to walk everywhere with her young charge, so there are meandering passages describing the slow decay of the town. Midway through the book, Daphne decides to go to church, and not much really happens there. She also decides to go to a town meeting where the successionists have gathered, and not much really happens there, either. When I say not much happens, all that really happens is that Daphne winds up chasing her baby around, decides they’ve caused enough of a ruckus and then decides to leave. The end.

There are dinners and conversation in various diners and dive bars, which are excruciatingly boring passages. Then there are attempts by Daphne to read books to her child, named Honey, and those attempts usually end in some sort of calamity, with the book getting torn up. So, all in all, you’re probably think, “Why read this book if nothing really happens?” Well, I have to say that it gives you a bird’s eye view of what it is like to be a mother to a difficult child. It is also a novel about a woman continuously on the brink of losing her marbles entirely — whether that’s because her chequing account is dwindling, she’s worried about her husband in Turkey, or is anxious about what’s going on at her job in her absence. However, where the novel is somewhat rewarding is in the fact that the novel sort of tidies up Daphne’s goodwill towards others in unexpected and shocking ways. To say more would be a spoiler.

This is a lazy, laid-back read that is also conversely experimental in nature. The main draw of the book is its run-on sentences, where thoughts are broken up into sub-thoughts and repetition of language becomes key. The author also intersperses a little Turkish into the narrative, so this is really a novel about language and the failure of language to really communicate thought. You get a sense of Daphne’s mounting frustration at her daughter, her circumstances with her husband and what’s generally going on in the world. It’s also a novel about being an outsider — a guest who isn’t really welcome or remembered in the community Daphne has chosen as her adopted home.

Still, The Golden State can be a very boring and dry read. It is frustrating in parts because not a heck of a lot goes on, and the hours painfully pass as Daphne tries to fill up her day with what is essentially a whole lot of nothing. Not a lot really happens here, at least not until the end. So whether or not The Golden State will be your cup of tea will depend on how literary you like your books. In the end, The Golden State is a middling experience at best. You may put it down, not really wanting to return to it. That would be a shame as the ending is generally crackerjack, but it takes a whole lot of time to get there and there’s a lot of waiting and waiting and waiting for something to happen in-between all of the rushed sentences and dense thoughts swirling around Daphne’s young mind. However, a book such as this is also a novel about the state of America — it’s populism and unfairness towards the Other. Whether or not you want to experience it really just depends on how much quiet you’ll want to sit through. The Golden State is a read that moves at the speed of molasses, and is generally the literary equivalent of watching paint dry. That’s pretty much all it’s got, aside from an electrifying conclusion. Read it if you like moving at the pace of a turtle.

Intelligent, observant and slyly funny, Golden State melds the personal and the political with a skill that stands in contrast to the greater bulk of contemporary American fiction. No shying away from hot button themes but no hammer pounding you with a partisan political view either. The author creates a story with a steady, deliberate pace. The prose flows easily - the imagery immediate - and the resolution falls neatly into place. It's only later - for me a couple of weeks after - that the underlying terror hits you. Well done.

This book didn't really grab me until the Alice's introduction, but I really enjoyed the second half. It contains what seems like an accurate portrayal of living with a 16-month old. The author is not a big fan of commas.

Reviewed in High Country News: https://www.hcn.org/issues/50.19/books-when-immigration-and-identity-collide

This one starts out slow and seems to get slower. The life of a scholar, her daughter and Turkish husband has so much potential but it has bored & depressed me into not even finishing it. I’m absolutely interested in the musings of Daphne’s life in Turkey and her husband’s outings, but it’s the long, drawn out day to day in the high country of CA with her that I am lost to boredom. I’m sorry, I just can’t continue.

This is a book I'll return to again and again. It's about motherhood, but it's also about loss and grief, about marriage and friendship, about place and belonging.

I highlighted too many passages to share here. From stunning descriptions of landscapes to unforgettable insights into parenthood, Kiesling's prose sings.

I loved the stream-of-the-consciousness narration, loved the unsettled yet fierce main character - who was so close to the edge, but always pulled back by love.

I took my time and savored this book, and I'm glad I did. I was tempted to race through it, but instead I picked it up whenever I had the emotional time and space. I usually don't read books in this way; maybe I will more often!

(This review was published on Instagram, but I'm also going to include it in a forthcoming essay about parenthood and place.)

A woman's need to discover who she is and where she belongs is at the heart of Lydia Kiesling's debut novel. It's the story of a young mother trying her best to care for a toddler while struggling to find the meaning of "home."

Daphne takes her baby, Honey, to her dead grandparent's home in rural California. The trailer in Altavista holds good memories, but they aren't enough to ward off Daphne's anxieties. An uninspiring job in San Francisco. An absent husband stuck in Turkey without a green card. And the future - will it be in America or in Turkey?

Daphne finds little in common with Cindy, a neighbor active in a movement to have the area secede from California. Out of loneliness, she befriends a 92-year-old "crone" named Alice. The elderly woman has driven alone from Colorado in an attempt to resurrect old memories.

Kiesling takes readers along for the ride as Daphne tries to find her way in a life she never expected. The narrative is crisp, descriptive and often humorous as the protagonist rethinks the world around her.

“I lie there and just will the hours to pass until lunch, which kills four minutes, with Honey standing by the couch pinching the fat around my elbow and laughing and I think how can I enrich her so I collect the books I brought, eight books, and I scoop her up and I read every single one and then I put a sweet potato in the oven to roast so she will have something nutritious ready to eat later on and then it is 9:57.” This sums up so many days of motherhood to me (of a toddler, specifically) that the novel really resonated with me. The prose takes a bit to get used to, but the exploration of who we are outside of motherhood - especially in extreme situations - is spot on. This is a solid debut from author Lydia Kiesling.

I tried, I really did, but I couldn't get into this book at all. I forced myself through the first 20%, but I couldn't muster interest and the complete lack of commas definitely didn't help.

Unusual, stream-of-consciousness writing style that took a little while to warm up to, but very effective in describing the inner thoughts and feelings of a young wife and mother on overload. The story covers 10 days in the life of a woman who desperately needs a break, and seeks to get one by taking an unapproved leave from her job and going to stay at her deceased grandparent's home in rural northern California. The story is told exclusively and intimately from the main character's point of view…every anxiety-ridden thought about her life, her husband and most of all her toddler daughter who accompanies her on through this adventure.

I'm 30 years older than the woman in this book, but it is so well-written and so in touch with what are probably universal themes and feelings about womanhood, motherhood and marriage that I was transported back to when my babies were little and the all the intense feelings of love, fear and frustration that come with trying to raise children without losing yourself.

An ambitious debut, The Golden State was lyrical, emotional, intelligent- but was definitely for the particular reader willing to be immersed in the protagonist Daphne's mindset. Some will find the mother-baby interaction charming and realistic, along with the high desert California atmosphere. It's a book requiring effort, though, to fully appreciate.

I have read a LOT of buzz about this book, and was very excited to get the chance to read the ARC. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the book because of the writing style. The run-on sentences make me dizzy, and prevented me from really becoming captivated by the story. The whirlwind language made me feel unsettled. I can see why this book is getting critical acclaim, it just wasn't for me.

This shouldn’t have been a compelling read. A nose-to-the-ground story of one woman’s fairly minor life crisis, heavily larded with childcare, set mainly in a trailer park in remote California? This novel should have -and often did - drown in its own self-absorption. And yet... What redeemed it was the intensely visual storytelling and the bald openness of its narrator, Daphne, whose anxieties and doubts and delinquencies, although repetitive and sometimes tedious, inevitably drew identification. As for the visualness, somehow the author succeeded in conjuring up the remoteness of her setting in such a way that it was near-tangible. So, a promising kind of work, often banal, sometimes impressive. Let’s see what the author does next.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my free copy in exchange for an honest review. This had all the makings of my kind of book. Current terrifying state of affairs and the sometimes even more painful beginnings of motherhood, with the beautifully haunting landscape of California. I really enjoyed most parts of this book. Kiesling nailed being a new mother. She wrote having a child perfectly, and the agonizing, constant slow build up of anxiety, then switching to feeling like you are the greatest mom in the world and killing it that day, then back to anxiety and a screaming, inconsolable baby. Those parts really, really hit home for me. I laughed out loud, having found myself in those positions many times in my life as a mother myself, even though those parts are not intended to make you laugh. At least, I don't think so,

I won't lie, at first I was really caught off guard by the run on sentences and missing commas. I thought it was just a small editing error, or something that would be attended to and fixed later, since I was reading an unedited copy. But as I began to read some of my friend's reviews online, I noticed that it was not an error, it was intended. One reviewer likened these run on sentences to what the mind of a mother feels like. As absolutely accurate as that is, I have to admit, it was a bit confusing. Sometimes I feel like these run on sentences made me read through those parts so fast that I wasn't even fully taking in what I was reading. I would have to go back reread those parts. I still did overall like Kiesling's writing, however, I think some who read it that aren't mothers or have children will miss the intended effect of some characteristics of this authors writing style. I know for one I had trouble accepting it, just for how many times I got graded down by English teachers for doing the same thing in school. They were definitely not fans of run on sentences.

I still enjoyed this debut book, even though the first chapters were a little tough for me to get through a bit. I liked this plot, and I love how well Kiesling wrote the landscape. I was easily able to picture myself driving along with Daphne. I felt all of Daphne's struggles very personally, how isolating and joyous motherhood can be all at once and how impossible it sometimes feels when you are all that is keeping everyone and everything together, or trying your best. This is a very thought-provoking read, especially those contemplating life stage moves, what is the next step? I think this would be a great book club pick because there is so much to cover! Thank you again to Netgalley and the publisher.

REVIEW
The Golden State is a striking debut novel by Lydia Kiesling. It's a story that resonates in contemporary times as a microcosm of our polarized society. Daphne is a single mother dealing with a breakdown, anxiety, and a Turkish husband who is unable to reenter the US. There's an engaging cast of secondary characters in this novel. It's not always an easy novel, but it is a good one.


PRAISE
“The Golden State is a perfect evocation of the beautiful, strange, frightening, funny territory of new motherhood. Lydia Kiesling writes with great intelligence and candor about the surreal topography of a day with an infant, and toggles skillfully between the landscape of Daphne’s interior and the California desert, her postpartum body and the body politic. A love story for our fractured era.” —Karen Russell, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Swamplandia!

AUTHOR
Lydia Kiesling is the editor of The Millions. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Slate, and The New Yorker online, and have been recognized in The Best American Essays 2016. She lives in San Francisco with her family.

This book is amazing. I have never before read such a true and honest depiction of early parenthood, so much so that at times it was hard for me to read as I recognize many of my own urges and worst impulses and neuroses. Daphne, Honey and Alice were so real to me - I would love to read Alice's story prior to the events of the book, and to follow Daphne and Honey as they take their next steps.. A wonderfully written snapshot of motherhood, and a woman snared by our current immigration policies, economic realities and class divisions.

A week and a half, ten days, ten small chapters made of small dialogues, inner meditations, some well calibrated streams of consciousness on motherhood, the differences between West and East (Turkey) and the necessity of human relationship. Probably the novel gets slow in some chapters but never gets boring. https://americanorum.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/tra-il-deserto-e-loro-the-golden-state-di-lydia-kiesling/