A fever dream of a book, what a wild ride! Mental health, love, grief, and depression were themes explored in this novel paired with stunning prose and dark humor. A flawed main character that you can’t help but root for are some of my favorite types of books!

This was a weird and wonderful fever dream of a novel that made me laugh out loud and also hit me in the feels. Melissa Broder's writing is stunning and I was so invested in the unnamed narrator's journey. Definitely a favorite of the year.

Thanks to Scribner for the copy to review.

What did I just read?

Death Valley by Melissa Broder felt like a trip or a fever dream. It was weird and amusing in a way that I think a lot of people would like. Broder's writing was stream-of-thought and odd in a very like-able way. I feel like Broder could write about anything and it would be enjoyable- such as a woman stepping into a cactus and speaking to her father through a variety of ages while he lays dying at a hospital, conversing with inanimate objects, and flying on birds.

I enjoyed reading Death Valley, although I feel that it was a pretty forgettable read. None of the metaphors particularly hit me in a lasting way. That begin said, I would recommend Death Valley for those dealing with grief who may take more away from the novel than I did. Packed with metaphors regarding death and dying, Death Valley may be a very poignant read for those who have dealt or are dealing with grief. You may also enjoy Death Valley if you are a fan of magical realism and books that are very oddball.

3/5 stars. Thank you to Melissa Broder, Scribner, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another unique, compelling read by Melissa Broder. Her individualistic voice and writing style wrings true in this novel about grief, depression, illness, adult/child relationships, told in a one-of-its-kind journey as she stumbles across a cactus on a desert trail that turns into a 'portal' for exploration. Highly recommended!

So I am less of a sci-fi reader and am trying to expand my reading. I read Pisces by Broder and thought she was a good writer but the story wasn't ideally my thing. This book is more my thing and Broder is an even better writer. A tale involving a writer trying to finish writing where she goes to stay at a Best Western in the desert. Her father is in the hospital and her husband is chronically ill. This plays into the visions she has while hiking. Her take on the god of her understanding and love as a verb drew me in. I was still a little lost mid through but it all seemed to make some sense in the end.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I was blown away by this book. Something about Broder’s voice made me feel like she was talking directly to me. I felt like I was her protagonist, despite having little to nothing in common with the character. This story got more and more trippy, and I was happy to go along for the ride. I was left wanting a little bit at the end with some of the reunions between characters. But I am so happy I requested this book and need to read more of Broder’s work!

An excellent study in grief and longing. I love Melissa Broder's writing and I highly recommend this.

(2.75 rounded up) Overall, I feel like this book wasn't really for me. The first half was probably more of a 3.5, but the second half dragged for me, and I was just over it by the end. I think if this book was condensed into a short story, I would have liked it all the way through, but I didn't connect with the character, the atmosphere, or I guess the plot? There were some interesting survival themes (both physically and emotionally/mentally) which I would say was my favorite part.

I really loved this short little book. The writing was quirky in the best way. The character was off the wall and yet totally relatable. Her inner dialogue propelled the narrative in a pleasing fashion. The story was sad and hopeful and funny all at the same time. The cover art is stunning. Read it.

I was new to this author and I tried to keep an open mind while reading this but it's truly not for me. I felt like for moved slow at certain points and I don't know, it's just not for me

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I made it to about 50% on this one before deciding "life's too short to read books you don't like." Unfortunately, I really, really didn't like this one.

It's a little too "out there" for my taste. Just as unfortunate? This was my first Broder. I've heard Milk Fed's basically gospel, so I hope my issue is with this book specifically and not her style, in general.

While I appreciated the commentary here about grief, it was layered beneath a lot of nonsense that I just couldn't buy into. Everything felt very stream-of-consciousness and scattered. Not sure what would have made it more appealing, but I'm sad that I was unable to keep trudging through it.

It’s not the worst but it wasn't for me. All the characters were flat and the writing felt monotone throughout. Even though I know it’s purposely weird and the potential is there but it struggled to hold my attention.


Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for providing a copy for an honest review.

A great novel and very well-written, surrealist like her other books. I would say I enjoyed it a little bit less than her previous books--I loved Milk-Fed!--but that's probably because I relate to the narrator and what she's going through less.

Wow! This novel was like a literary fever dream (or acid trip)! And I mean that in a good way! I loved this strange book, but I struggle to explain why or even categorize it. Magical realism in spades. I loved Broder's novel, The Pisces, and Death Valley did not disappoint at all. I'm a Melissa Broder fan!

Broder’s newest novel, Death Valley, broaches topics like grief, depression, chronic illness, life after death, familial sickness, leveling of conflicting and contrasting emotions, and feelings of existentialism in the face of larger powers and our inevitable looming death, and it does so in an incredibly clever, realistically magical, and often relatable way. beginning with a woman’s escape from the heavy atmosphere of grief created by the wavering condition of her dying father, who is confined to the hospital, as well as the guilt she feels at her incapability to fix the chronic illnesses present in her husband as well as those in her father, she takes temporary residence at a Best Western in southern California, near the Death Valley, aiming to finish the current book she is writing, to fully encapsulate its purpose, and is hoping to uncover some focus in solitude, a room of her own. Recommended a hiking path by one of two very idiosyncratic Best Western workers she meets, she ventures into the desert wilderness, trying to escape her own mind, and spurred by a cactus bigger than she could have ever imagined, and soon internally changed by it’s very large sinister yet beckoning hole into which she takes vulnerable solace, she slowly slides deeper into her own grief, guilt, and delusion, confronted starkly with herself, in her attempted escapist isolation, as a result of the unceasing sunshine that enlightens and bares her deepest worries and fears. She attempts to desert her identity as wife and daughter in this never ending desert, ending up lost in terms of her location as much as she is in terms of her certainty in her own conscience, she stumbles through this uncertainty with the company of inanimate characterized objects created by her own imagination, visions of the men in her life in times of their lives before they became unwell, and comes face to face with existentialism and death in more than one way; our main character, in the most genuine sense of the cliche, has to get lost in order to find herself, physically and emotionally. We live briefly, in this short but encompassing book, in the sarcastic but sorrowful mind of this woman using physical escapism to come to terms with her anticipatory grief, we experience her flashes of loved ones, and watch as she forms hilarious desperate relationships with various rocks and cacti due to her desert heat delusion, and in turn follow this woman’s journey towards a newfound desperation to live while those she loves are slowly dying, and entrenched in this overheated, lonely, directionless stupor, she comes to terms with the things she cannot control, no matter how hard she tries and tries to control them. She truly characterizes the endless love she holds deeply for these people she adores whose circumstances she cannot change, and realizes they do not expect her to change them. We cannot outrun ourselves, no matter how lost we become we are still chained to ourselves, to our deep caves of despair, our endless skies of uncertainty, the prickly cactus-like corners of our mind that become increasingly unavoidable. Our souls are heavy and we are forced to drag them through our lives, and when those we love lose the ability to keep going, we attempt to carry them too. But at what point do we get to set it all down? How do we know what to set down? it reminded me of the Anne Carson quote, “You remember too much, my mother said to me recently. Why hold onto all that? And I said, Where can I put it down?” where can we lay down our grief and guilt, and how can we come to terms with the fact that we are allowed to try to abandon misery and emotional projection and accept love, compassion, acceptance? Despite our mortality, our fallibility, our corruptible brains, don’t we still deserve to have family and love? we pray to Gods we do or don’t believe in to let that be enough, that whether we live or we die, we are loved, and that that’s enough.

In Death Valley, Broder combines a desert survival story with a deep dive into anticipatory grief and loss using her own brand of fever dream writing. The unnamed narrator, dealing with her father's imminent passing and her husband's worsening chronic illness, ventures out to the desert and enters a giant cactus that may or may not be there. The combination of weird desert occurrences and a deep dive into the narrator's psyche full of grief and existential dread definitely made for an interesting and profound read. I found this to be thought provoking and there were definitely parts I connected more with. I found the survival part a bit meandering but thought it was still fast read.

As I was reading Death Valley I was reminded of THE HIKE by Drew Magary. They are both similar in weirdness and overall survival themes with a dose of emotional deep dives. I think had I not read The Hike (and felt more connected to the experiences of the protagonist there), Death Valley would have been a very unique experience, but it's still a new twist on a rare type of story and definitely worth a read.

Thank you so much to Scribner for the ARC.

My favorite Broder yet. Filled with her signature wit and humor, a sprinkle of magical realism, a dose of depression, and a woman dealing with grief, and Death Valley was a winner for me. There were moments throughout where I felt as if the book was written FOR me, because I connected with it so closely, there were other moments that had me laughing aloud, and by the end I was sobbing. A brilliant novel.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I have read Melissa Broder’s other novels and they both hit that 5 star mark for me. Unfortunately this one fell flat.

In this novel we follow a woman who is going to the California Desert to escape the never ending pressure of both her father and husband being ill. A majority of the novel takes place at the local Best Western and a trial nearby where she comes across a huge cactus and her fascination goes from there.I enjoyed the surrealism factor but I was left wondering why any of it was happening. Even though it was a shorter novel it felt long. Since we didn’t interact with the father or husband character much I found it hard to empathize with the main character since we didn’t get to know them.

Regardless of not actually enjoying the story Broder’s writing still stood out, and I am excited to see what comes next from her.

It's safe to say that if Melissa Broder writes it I will read it. Death Valley is a bit of a departure from her other novels (The Pisces and Milk Fed), but is still full of the dark humor and honesty that I love in her work.

Death Valley follows a narrator whose father has spent months in the hospital and is close to death. Seeking respite, she books a few nights at a Best Western and takes up hiking. On the trail she finds a large, abnormal cactus that seems to speak to her like a friend. A series of strange visions, including one of her dying father as a young boy, lures her back to the trail the next day. Our narrator is not the smartest hiker though and soon her walk on the simple trail turns into a situation that could end in death.

I love Melissa's writing style so much - its snappy, funny and often a little gross. In Death Valley, we see the narrator's struggle with her father's impending death, her relationship with her chronically ill husband, and her own struggles with her mental health. She pivots so well between moments that have me near laughing out loud to moments that would scare the crap out of me if I was in her situation. Death Valley is a real rollercoaster of emotions and a fever dream of a novel that had me questioning what was reality and what was in our narrator's head. This book is not a long one, but Melissa makes every single page count.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for a review copy.

I love Broders wit and humor in the face of a such a dismal and depressing topic: grief. I honestly was not that blown about by this story however. I love a book with very little plot but this just felt boring and forgettable to me.