“There is nothing for you to do. This is what I do. This is what is done.”

I began to read this book right after the passing of my gramma, so grief was fresh in my heart. The timing almost seemed eerily opportune, as I found myself relating to the protagonist's journey through her own abyss of sorrow, triggered by her father's ICU confinement and her husband's ailing health.

Set against the backdrop of Southern California's deserts, the narrative follows our protagonist's quest for solace, a desperate attempt to escape the ceaseless ache of life's apparent futility. The pages unfold with peculiar interactions with the staff of a Best Western hotel, enigmatic encounters with cacti, surreal conversations with rocks, and feverish confrontations with apparitions of the long past. These elements weave together into an otherworldly tapestry, blurring the lines between reality and the metaphysical.

This journey reads like an emotional (and literal in the character’s sense) near-death experience - darkly hilarious, yet drenched in both longing and liberation; a transformative confrontation with the unrelenting reality we endure and the ever-present potential to shift our perspective.

All this to say, Melissa Broder creates the extraordinary out of the ordinary, which has hooked me once again. I love her freaky little mind, will gobble up anything she writes, and cannot wait for the next one.

Thank you, Scribner and Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book! It was one of my favorites of the year.

likes: melissa broder is a genius and knows how to make me feel like im dying in the desert and along for the ride of extreme chaos and emotion. i wish i was able to physically have the book in my hands - and when i do i have it, there are quite of lot parts i would like to highlight and share that i have so many thoughts on.

dislikes: i wish it was longer and kind of wish it was kicked up a bit more. i am thinking about the cactus.

thoughts: after reading so sad today, every book MB has written was put a lot of her writing in perspective. it left me feeling like writing what you know is the best option and making it feel raw and very true to the heart mixed with fiction. auto-fiction is probably my next step in writing.

Oh, honey, buckle up! "Death Valley" by Melissa Broder is the kind of book that grabs you by the heart and doesn't let go. I mean, I LOVED this thing. After listening to one of her other audiobooks, I swear I could hear Melissa's voice in my head, reading each line with that unique spark only she has.

This book? It's like a road trip with your super sad best friend through a landscape that's both haunting and fabulous. The characters are real, the plot's a rollercoaster, and the setting? Death Valley never looked so ...umm... dry?

Melissa's writing is like a dance, and she's leading. It's poetic but not stuffy, deep but not preachy. And the supernatural elements? They're woven in like the best kind of magic.

If you're looking for a read that's thrilling, thought-provoking, and just a little bit sad, "Death Valley" is your ticket. Grab it, read it, love it. I sure did. 5 glittering stars, and here's to many more from Melissa Broder!

“Death Valley” by Melissa Broder is a fascinating book, to say the least. It’s very different from her other work such as The Pisces, but similar with the dry humor, surreal imagery, and fever-dream story. It was a great depiction of love, grief, and loss as the unnamed narrator has a chronically ill husband, a father on his deathbed, and existential dread in her mind.

I read this after “All’s Well” by Mona Awad, and it was a contrast to the chronic illness that Awad portrayed in her book. The dichotomy of reading a narrator’s personal experience with chronic pain and then reading the experience of someone’s loved one “dealing” with their partner's chronic illness was a bit disappointing. Because of that, I couldn’t really empathize or connect with the narrator, which I feel like you have to do in order to enjoy the book.

I personally liked her other novel, The Pisces, more as this one is a bit more slow-paced and introspective. I liked the first half of the book better, while I feel like I sludged through the second half of the book. I’m looking forward to reading Milk Fed and seeing which one of her books becomes my favorite.

Thank you Net Galley for the Advanced E-Arc

As a diehard Melissa Broder fan, the author can do no wrong, and “Death Valley” certainly lived up to my expectations. Her newest book is another example of how talented she is, how singular her voice is, and how hauntingly distinctive her prose and stories are. Also, that cover, stunning!!

“Death Valley” centers on a woman who is running away from life, figuratively and literally into the California desert. She is trying to escape the reality of her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening back home in Los Angeles and finds herself on a journey of self-discovery when she encounters a towering cactus, so impossibly large and out of place. As with many of Broder’s books, the author perfectly uses magical realism to anchor the story, in “Death Valley” it is the main character’s emotional, challenging, and exhausting experience with the cactus.

Like all of Broder’s books, “Death Valley” is the perfect mix of dark and funny and sentimental. She always has a way of making me feel things I didn’t know I needed to feel. If you enjoyed her other books or reading Lisa Taddeo or Stephanie LaCava or Ottessa Moshfegh, you will love “Death Valley.”

Two of my favorite quotes were:

"You're going to die one day. Then what do I do? In a way, it's like you're already gone. I have to prepare."
"If that's the case, why love anyone? Everyone is going to die at some point.”
"Exactly! It's like two ghosts trying to cuddle each other. Dust cuddling dust."

“No perfect words. No words at all. How strange that there is nothing I can say to make him love me more. Nothing I can say to make him love me less.”

This book was not exactly what I expected but, it turned out to be quite entertaining. I actually enjoyed the way that the main character talked to inanimate objects. It made you understand how lonely it can be to be alone in the desert or anywhere for that matter. I thought it was great survival technique, and way for her to express her feelings while trying to work through some tough parts of life.

I loved Milk Fed, and Death Valley, while quite different, was just as compelling. Loved the absurdist trip.

I loved it. It was like Desert Solitaire, but make it Melissa Broder. So good. My favorite parts were the hotel parts and the rock parts.

Thank you Net Galley for providing this book and allowing me to read it in advance. I was unable to personally get into this book but that is the power of reading. There’s books for everyone. I know someone else will adore it!

5 stars!!! A perfect desert fever dream. Melissa Broder’s writing is always so real, funny and unique and she tackled a lot of really big, important stuff in this tiny book - grief, illness, aging, family, depression, etc. I want to live inside her brain. I would read her grocery list if I could.

(ty for the e-arc🤍)

Death Valley stays true to Broder's far out style, while being a departure from her usual flow. Our FMC get lost in the desert and deals with her grief she feels for her dying father, her sick husband, and herself. Death Valley feels like a little peek into Broder's brain, and as one of my friends said I want to spend some time there. Thank you so much for this preview of the book! Melisa is one of my favorite authors and I loved getting to see something new!

I just reviewed Death Valley by Melissa Broder. #DeathValley #NetGalley

I LOVE everything Melissa Broder writes.

This book feels like part of the larger constellation of Broder's canon, but also is entirely its own thing. It's very philosophical, and the desert as a back-drop for exploring grief is a fresh twist. It's also funny, and full of weird visuals. There is such an honesty to everything she writes. Highly recommend.

I will read anything Melissa Broder writes. I was enthralled the whole ride through Death Valley. Contemplations on grief and how someone not equipped to deal with grief is exposed in the most vulnerable ways. The main character changes the very core of her being to deal with grief. Hallucinations that are part of her healing journey really get her in trouble but also challenge her to see what is really in front of her. Heat stroke and the accompanying hallucinations are not the best ways to deal with grief and loss. But through it all she stays sober which is important to her. Not only is the main character grieving for a relationship with her father, but also the health of her marriage. While her life is out of control, she feels out of control. And only time can bring her back.

This book is as stunning as its brilliant cover art. Broder, author of Milk Fed, is a revelatory writer. Death Valley took over my reading life and I was all in. I loved every painful, truthful, and absurdly funny utterance. A road trip avoiding feelings of grief, a magical Saguaro cactus, talking rocks, sobriety, survival. A daughter's love for her ailing father, a wife's love for her husband, a unique cast of characters, wildly inventive writing.

I honestly enjoyed this book so much that I'm finding it hard to put my feelings about it into words. What I will say is that it's a stunning portrait of anticipatory grief and powerlessness, portrayed in such a unique and original way. Melissa Broder has such a way of weaving complicated and nuanced themes together so effortlessly, and then adding in her own weird girl flair. Like, just when you think her shit can't get any weirder, she comes out with a novel where the protagonist stumbles upon a building-sized cactus in the desert, inside of which she sees visions of her father as a child? Absolutely sign me up.

Being familiar with Broder's work, it was also super interesting to see how autofictional this novel is. Caring for her father leading up to his death, being married to someone who is chronically ill- it was a bit heartbreaking to know that Broder was writing from such a personal and raw place, but I think it really paid off. This is really a book that *only* Melissa Broder could have written, and that is so cool to experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced e-copy of Death Valley in exchange for an honest review. I'm really looking forward to reading it again closer to release. (And maybe even listening to the audiobook!)

TL;DR - This is easily Melissa Broder's best novel yet.

This was such a highly anticipated ARC for me... and it definitely lived up to the hype. Broder's books tend to be ones that I keep thinking about after I finish them and this one is no different.

Overall, this book is straight up WEIRD (but in a good way). I've truly never read anything like it. This book follows our protagonist to the desert, where she goes to seek inspiration for a book she's writing and also respite from her dying father in the ICU and her chronically ill husband. I loved the dimensions of this book (reading a book about a woman going to desert, and said woman goes to the desert to help write her book). Also, grief is a main theme of this book and Broder writes about it in such a unique and intriguing way.

A lot of weird mystical things go down on this journey that you buy into because of how interesting Broder's writing style is. You are fully immersed in the mind of the protagonist and have no idea if what is going on is real or imagined. Is she experiencing psychosis? Is this complicated grief? Or is this a magical realism book? I have my suspicion on which one it is but I won't share here because trying to figure it out was why I couldn't put this book down because I had to figure it out.

The more I think about this book, the more genius I think it is. It's a very different vibe from MILK FED (which I also thought was genius) but would still highly recommend nonetheless.

Death Valley is a darkly funny and moving novel about grief, loss, and the power of the human spirit. The novel follows a woman named Esther who travels to Death Valley in the wake of her father's illness and her husband's worsening health. She seeks respite from the pain and emptiness that plague her and "anticipatory grief", but soon finds herself on a journey that is both desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.

Esther is a quirky and interesting character who is easy to relate to. She is flawed and vulnerable, but she is also strong and resilient. She is a survivor, and her journey through Death Valley is a testament to the power of each person to overcome even the most difficult challenges.

The writing style in the novel is exceptional. Broder's use of interior monologue allows the reader to experience Esther's thoughts and feelings in a way that is both relatable and tangible. The writing is razor-sharp, witty, and remarkably sensitive all at the same time.

Esther arrives at a Best Western in Death Valley, which is completely empty. She takes a hike and soon gets lost in the desert. As she wanders through the sand dunes and rocks, she begins to have surreal visions. She chances upon a towering, monumental cactus that seems out of place with its surroundings, but it piques her curiosity enough to enter it. The surrealism of it all is delightful.

Esther's journey through the cactus serves as a metaphor for her experience of life after loss. Although she feels adrift at first, alone and confused, Esther eventually finds her way back to herself, accepting her grief along the way. Her journey teaches her about the resilience and elasticity of which we are all capable, and the power of self-discovery.


Death Valley is a truly captivating read that will linger in your mind long after you finish. It is an emotionally charged novel, full of moments that make you smile, snicker, and consider thought-provoking themes. I strongly suggest picking up a copy.

Rating: 5/5


[An ARC was shared with The Arcane Archives through NetGalley ahead of release, in exchange for an unbiased review.]

A woman checks in to the Best Western in Death Valley. Five months prior, her father was in a terrible car accident and is still in the ICU. At forty-one, she needs an escape, not only from the trauma of her father’s experiences, but also her husband’s ailing health. She’s weary from worry – an author struggling to write her novel. In a surreal Alice in Wonderland moment, she hikes in the desert and discovers a giant cactus which she surreally enters through a gash only to discover a different version of her father. And this is just the start of the beautiful fever dream of a novel. There are so many incredible observations on humanity throughout this book that unfolds like a time-lapse flower opening: slowly and then all at once. A remarkable book about family, love, grief and connection. When I finished it, I wanted to read it all over again. Thank you to NetGalley and to Scribner for the advanced review copy.

Broder is such a breath of fresh air - whether you enjoy her weird stories or not, you can always rely on her to serve something totally unique in her books.
I feel like the topic of grief is something that’s been addressed a LOT in fiction recently, to the point where i’ve started avoiding it. however, the way it’s done here is so refreshing and raw. it’s told with a brand of surrealist humor that I was totally on board with, and it lends itself to a certain fever dream-like quality. there’s a lot to unpack within this pretty short book, and i know this is one i’ll have to re-read later this year.