Imagine you are faced with several crises. It is not too difficult of a reach, life is hard. Your father is in the I.C.U., near death for many months and your husband has been suffering from a "long flu" for nine years that leaves him in pain, unable to work, often even unable to walk, and frequently spending months in bed. What do you do? If you are the main character in the latest novel by Melissa Broder, "Death Valley", you flee Los Angeles and end up in a Best Western in the desert.

With lots of humor and introspection, our heroine then goes on ill advised, unprepared hikes in the desert, and encounters a giant cactus and her own mortality. In a low place mentally, and then in a lonely place physically, she tries to escape herself, but as conventional wisdom warns us-we bring ourselves wherever we run to. Will our protagonist survive? Will she find a way to thrive? Even her attempts to find connection with an automated customer service phone line are hilarious. You will laugh, you will wonder at that tear forming in the corner of your eye, and you will not be able to put this book down.

This story is for those who love family drama and searches for paths to fill our emptiness and finding the levity in the most unlikely of situations.. Melissa Broder knows her craft. She knows the difficulty of having to choose your hotel breakfast selections the night before, the inability to process our feelings in a way that is kind and beneficial to our psyche, and how impossible it is to successfully deal with all the people in our lives without getting paralyzed by fear and indecision. This narrative will resonate with the reader for quite some time. It is a welcome addition to your TBR list.

In Death Valley, the nameless author who narrates the book travels alone to a Best Western hotel in the desert to work on her book. Her father is hospitalized with a severe illness and her husband suffers from a debilitating chronic illness. While all of this could be unbelievably sad and depressing, Melissa Broder actually makes her main protagonist’s observations bitingly funny and sarcastic (“𝘔𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴; 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢: 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵: 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯.“)

Yes, there is a giant cactus here with a doorway in its side. And the narrator talks to some rocks while lost on a hike in the desert. I loved the narrator’s dark sense of humor and her dry wit. If you’re a fan of the author’s previous books The Pisces and Milk Fed, you will not be disappointed by this very keen observation on grief and survival.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy!

This is such a great novel it’s about a woman caring for her dying father after his accident and takes a brief holiday excursion to death Valley in on a hike find a cactus this is more like a letter to a friend because her writing is honest and I do mean totally honest and humble and I loved it so much! This is one of those books you don’t run into every day they’re not a dime a dozen it’s so original and so good and I just love it! If you love well-thought-out stories that are original with a day of sci-fi thrown in then you will definitely love Death Valley by Melissa Broder from her mixed up relationship with her dad to the book she is writing it is all awesome awesome awesome! I want to thank Scribner Annette galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Hmm, this was an interesting one. I liked it a lot better than Milk Fed, but I’m still not convinced that Melissa Broder is for me. And that’s ok!

This is a trippy story about a woman struggling with her father’s hospitalization, her husband’s chronic illness, and her own mental health issues. There were some really great quotes, but overall the narrative was just too out there for me. Props for Broders creativity for sure, though.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“It’s a different sort of fear than my recent doom and dread—in my gut rather than my chest—and the new fear is a reprieve from the old fear. I get why people like this outdoorsy, self-inflicted adventure stuff. There’s something to be said for manufacturing a crisis (a crisis can be simpler than just living).”

Thank you so much to the publisher for my advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I already love Melissa Broder but this solidified it. I guarantee this book is not for everyone - our main character gets lost in the woods while grieving her father and sometimes finds herself inside of a cactus and other times having horrific injuries - both situations are extremely realistic and real so expect to feel uncomfortable. It was laugh out loud funny and then immediately I was holding back tears. I don’t know how she does it… she is so brilliant at writing such visceral stories - I felt her pain so bad I had to stand up and put the book down, and when I finished it I said “oh my god” out loud. Everyone GO READ THIS!!! It’s 2 hours of your life! Just do it!!

Melissa Broder is an absolute mastermind of psychoactive magical realism and making me feel just as unhinged as her narrator every time I read something she’s written. Death Valley is an avant garde exploration of grief and reads like being in the deep subconscious of her main character. Feverish, dreamy, funny, heart wrenching, she is one of the greatest authors out currently.

“𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟, 𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟, 𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟. 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕠. 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕞? 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟. 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕀 𝕜𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝕕𝕚𝕘𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝔻𝕚𝕘𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘. 𝔻𝕚𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕪. 𝔻𝕚𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕔𝕣𝕪.”

hit me in my feels. that’s for sure.

I am so in love with character driven/grief driven narratives, and this book delivered on both of those fronts EXCELLENTLY! I found myself identifying with our main character in so many ways and also purely in terms of how she reflects on what life means FOR her and TO her. I also did tear up on more than one occasion.

Yes, this book also has a dash of weird but at it's core it is so much about the relationships we build throughout our lives and how we choose to react and reflect on the world surrounding us.

Highly recommend!

Death Valley is a chaotic, almost stream of consciousness novel that I absolutely loved. I can see how others may not find this one as enjoyable as I did, maybe I read it in just the right moment, but I had so much fun with this one. A little magical realism, a little humor, grief, absurdism, it's got it all!

Interesting concept but didn’t find this very intriguing unfortunately. Quick and easy read though. Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this book! It was the perfect length, and I could relate to this. My dad and I take trips to Nevada at least once a year. I wish that a specific place was mentioned (unless I missed it?) so I could better envision the place the main character describes; instead, I envisioned my favorite place, allowing me to connect more. This book was a great take on dying, and the stress one goes through when a loved one is ill. This would be a good book to read when experiencing the loss or medical hardship of a loved one.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I hate to say I didn’t love this. I’m a huge Melissa Broder fan and loved The Pisces and Milk Fed but this just didn’t work for me. It felt like a long stream of consciousness with no real plot. I understand it’s symbolizes the exploration of grief but it just didn’t hit for me.

3 stars.

I ate this book up! Such a wonderful read. It gave me contemporary Waiting for Godot vibes. It’s an existential journey of a woman navigating Death Valley as she processes her father’s impending death and her husband’s failing health. She stays at a Best Western and then discovers a trail with a mystical cactus that feels good to the touch, so she crawls inside! Then she begins to contemplate the failing health of the men in her life. After she checks out of the Best Western, she returns to the trail to revisit the cactus, but it’s not there. Was it ever? As she looks for the cactus, she ends up in survival mode as she conquers herself and the desert terrain. This book has a sprinkle of magical realism, western energy, and contemporary fiction. The narrator is hilarious, and going on this journey with her was so enjoyable and heartfelt. I recommend this book to everyone that wants to try something new, fresh, and who craves the unexpected.

Melissa Broder has always been vulnerable in the writing that she has shared with the world, and because of this, she is one of my favorite authors. This was one of my most highly anticipated reads this year, and it delivered. For readers like myself who are partial to Melissa Broder's nearly unhinged brand of humorous writing, you'll find that element preserved in this novel. With a magic cactus Narnia and anthropomorphic rocks, there is no shortage of introspection covered in this book as well. This is a story of resilience, grief, fear, and most of all, love.

Broder's narrative resonated with me on a deeply personal level, making it a journey that mirrored my own experience of anticipatory grief. Despite the darkness that surrounds the characters, the story served as a beacon of hope and resilience in my own life, and I found comfort while reading (twice!). Death Valley is an exploration of survival that speaks to the human spirit, offering a reminder that, even in the face of impending loss, there's a strength within us to navigate the most challenging of journeys.

Broder at her most absurd. And... I kinda loved that. I think the conversations with the inanimate world (stones with personalities, dialogue with a rose from a hospital bed, something new every chapter essentially) was one of the most interesting things I've seen her do with her writing style, and I think I would like it in another Broder.

But, similarly to my feelings about Pure Colour by Sheila Heti, the exploration of grief here left me feeling unsettled and frustrated. So, this just wasn't for me. I can see many people loving this one though.

I also should note that I am still a little uncomfortable with Melissa Broder's self-autobiographical *but not* fiction, I think she works better with creative non-fiction. But who am I to say what one of the zaniest authors of our time should be writing!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the eARC.

This was my first experience with Broder's work and I do not think I have ever come across anything like it. It is wild and funny and chaotic. I am so excited to go back and read more of Broder's work.

Thank netgalley and scribner for letting me review this book!

An unnamed narrator rolls into a best wedstern in the deserts of california running from the fragilities of the men in her life- her father, struggling in the icu, and her husband who has been suffering from an unidentified chronic illlness for nearly a decade. Ostensibly, she came to the desrrt to finish her novel, but escapes into the desert and into a literal mystical cactus, which sends her on a life threatening journey of self discovery.

This summary sounds really dark, and honestly the content of this book is pretty dark, but somehow- the narrator is so funny!? Life is kind of a joke!? This all read like a fever dream, and in the same way there were some startling moments of epiphany? I just got pulled along on this ride and enjoyed it.

I was a huge fan of Broder previous, preposterously insane (non-derogatory) novels THE PISCES and MILK FED. DEATH VALLEY is similarly preposterously insane, but felt too predictable and hallucinatory to reach the success of her other works.

Oh my. Broder's "Death Valley" was an insane fever dream of a book that was bonkers, full of heart, hysterical, and very clearly "Broder." This is honestly one of the most unique books I've ever come across that I need to read her entire back catalog.

Absolute bonus points for the tear drop cactus art cover. FANTASTIC. Very smart. Appreciated it so much more when the story was over.

I would not hesitate recommending this to ANYONE and will be buying a hard copy version of this book ASAP.

5/5 stars.

Death Valley is an unusual and powerful look at grief and the various ways it can hit us before and after a death. The plot has aspects of magical realism and absurdism that work well for the character and what she's going through. I read this because of my reaction to Broder's first book Milkfed - it was a book I thoroughly appreciated for it's originality and the writing skill, but had trouble connecting with in other ways. Death Valley worked better for me, in general. The main character processed things in a way I really appreciated.

This book makes me want to do shrooms with Melissa Broder. I fell in love with Broder when I read her book So Sad Today and Death Valley only confirmed that she is probably my soulmate. Broder's writing makes you feel like you’re listening to a long-time friend tell you a story. Broder’s writing style is chaotic and raw, making reading her books a unique experience.

If you want to laugh while reading about grief and the unusual way it affects people, Death Valley is one you won't want to miss out on.