Dead in Long Beach California is not what I was expecting, both good and bad; the title, cover art, and description don't really fit the narrative. It's short, but it packs so much into its pages.

This is a difficult one to give a star rating! It was not for me, but I know EXACTLY who I'll recommend it to.

Not what I thought it was going to be, but I loved it.

It's a chaotic poem about death and all the lies we tell in life. It's a story probably most wholly understood by those who've come across the unexpected death of a close loved one. It's about the week after that death when nothing is real and everything is reimagined. It's the period of time when you exist in a fog and you don't know if there is sun on the other side.

Coral has to decide every minute of every day about how to choose reality or if reality is the only choice. I understood this so deeply. I don't know if this book is for everyone, but it is beautifully written and an incredible story that I hope you'll never have to understand.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I look forward to other books by Venita Blackburn.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but I think the stream of consciousness just did not work for me. I thought it was an interesting premise but lacked the execution and through line need to make the story cohesive and enjoyable. There were some thoughts that I did enjoy surrounded by much that I did not enjoy.

As a fan of Venita Blackburn's flash fiction and short stories, I wasn't sure what to expect from her novel. One thing this longer work has in common with Blackburn's shorter writing is originality. DEAD IN LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA is singular in its voice and vision. The characters make unpredictable choices at every turn, leading to some stunning results. I don't want to give anything away, so it's difficult to write about. It's definitely one to read.

this is a difficult one to review but i *think* i enjoyed it mostly? or i can at least appreciate the ambition in the writing. I didn’t know what was going on for half of this book, it’s written in a very unique and sporadic way with a lot of ambiguity. it will not be for everyone but it’s definitely something special.

A unique and intriguing story. Parts of it was like watching a pin ball game.
Many thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'd like to start this review by apologizing for how late this was. I've been extraordinarily busy with college life and have not been the best at time management. I'm incredibly honored and grateful FSG gave me access to this ARC and allowed me to read it.

-- the review --

It pains me to say that I didn't like this. This had a killer concept and honestly could've gone places. But reading this book was like taking a museum tour lead by a very, very uninterested docent. The writing lacked energy. It was creative in its odd choice of POV and the inclusion of fictional novel excerpts that hamfistedly delivered the novel's themes and conversations in a very awkward way. But once again, the writing lacked energy. This is also coupled with a writing style that describes things and uses metaphors and similes that made absolutely no sense to me.

The characters and the reasons why Coral is doing these things, like impersonating her dead brother, is basically left up to interpretation. I cannot for the life of me figure out why this woman just went full send on impersonating her brother instead of logically breaking the news to her immediate family. Like, for instance, her niece Khadija. Her brother's literal daughter is kept in the dark about her father's death for a good portion of this novel for reasons unknown to everyone but god.

Baller concept but did not stick the landing.

Thanks to FSG for the arc! ❤️

As a Southern California native I was drawn to the title and cover of this book. I knew nothing about it before requesting it other than it was being highly recommended by others for books of 2024. I was sucked in from the first page and have been confused at parts but mostly mesmerized by Blackburn’s writing. I’ve heard her flash fiction is in a league of its own and this novel is no different. I have a feeling people are really going to respond strongly to this one. They will either love it or hate it. I loved it. It’s like a fever dream with endless insight and perspective. Unlike anything I’ve read in a long time or ever. Thought provoking and revelatory all at once. Will be recommending it and looking forward to Venita Blackburn’s future works.

playful, meta, wordy, the narration in Dead in Long Beach, California goes way too hard on the style, so much so that the substance felt often overwhelmed by the 'style' of it all.

HOLY SH!T WHAT A BOOK WHAT A BOOK. I absolutely DID NOT EXPECT to be pulled through this world with this voice and these characters like this, recomending this to everyone - as literally everyone as I possibly can.

Thank you to NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

I think I went into this book with the wrong expectations since I believed it was going to be a thriller with grief/denial as a motivator for a descent into madness and while grief does play a huge role and these aren't the thoughts of someone completely sane, it's not a thriller in any sense. This is instead more of a literary fiction of a woman after discovering her brother's body after he committed suicide and all the thoughts and memories that get jumbled through little moments. I personally found the writing a bit too jumbled to where I couldn't connect with the characters at all, but there were some really great lines throughout, whether it felt they had anything to do with the story or not.

I got off to a slow start with this one because I invited myself to the DRC party and then showed up empty-handed and double-booked. I eventually got it together and was once again a student of the Venita Blackburn master class in creativity and command of language.

How to Wrestle a Girl, the author's debut short story collection, was an instant banger for me, so this was a no-brainer NetGalley request. While Dead in Long Beach is long-form, it’s still a treat for short story lovers in its spec fic, hybrid structure. I kept saying it was like 3 books in one!

Dead in Long Beach is an intense, interior, meta book. It raises questions about the reliability of memory, our responsibility to break the cycle, and the messiness, loneliness, and guilt of outliving someone. Like, normalize being as out-of-pocket in grief as Coral.

Mood comps: Family Meal, Your Driver is Waiting, any K-Ming Chang, Interior Chinatown, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself

I didn't finish this book. I liked the concept and writing style, but there is a book within the book that really threw me. This isn't my kind of book, however if you like strong voice and quirky plot and a little bit of weird, you might like this one a lot.

This book is very inventive and unique in how it tells its story. I was very interested in the story of Coral and her brother. However, I could not get with the way the story was told, jumping around, often in first person, also there was a style used of "The Clinic of...," and there were excerpts interspersed from another book. I am too traditional I think, because this style of storytelling was too experimental for me. But if you are a fan of new and unique ways to tell a story then this is for you. I very much appreciate the ARC, thank you to NetGalley and FSG.

FSG and its subdivision MCD continues to publish some of the most original and interesting books out there. I have learned to trust that whatever they put out - though sometimes weird or divisive - is going to be worth paying attention to. Dead in Long Beach California is exactly that. It's unique in form and narration - I've never read anything like it. The main plot line follows Coral who finds her brother dead in his apartment and subsequently unravels. Struggling to deal with the loss she stumbles through the days while pretending to the whole world that her brother is alive and well - she uses his phone to text his friends and family, pretending to be him. As she grieves in her own disassociated way, she dips in and out of memories of herself and her brother, as kids, as teens, as adults. These jumps in time interspersed with the mail plot line make for such a rich reading experience. What makes the story more inventive is that it's narrated in first person plural, by a group of characters that Coral invented in her science fiction writing. They're telling us the story, not only observing Coral but also making larger observations about humanity, about our whole species , our failings and ways of coping.
This is a very original and moving novel about life, love, loss and grieving. There was only one thing I didn't enjoy about it, and unfortunately, it is a big part of it. The book includes excerpts from Corals science fiction book. Those fragments really took me out of the story and I struggled to connect them with the rest of it. I felt my interest wane so much I had to force myself to read through them. There is, of course, a connection. It just really didn't work for me. I'll still recommend the book. But maybe mention that it is a bit experimental.

"Dead in Long Beach, California", evoked a nostalgic 90’s vibe. Coral grapples with the realization that grief can be a torment surpassing death, threatening to consume and discard you. After discovering her brother's lifeless body, her world unravels, with each scene unfolding as either a haunting memory or a present-day struggle.

I really didn't enjoy my journey while reading this as the conclusion left me somewhat puzzled. I decided that this just wasn't for me, but maybe for fans of experimental literature.

venita blackburn’s DEAD IN LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA introduces us to coral moments after finding her brother, jay, dead in his apartment. in the throes of grief, coral takes jay’s (miraculously unlocked) phone and begins responding to his texts as jay. what follows is coral’s mental unraveling as she descends into grief.

what makes the prose striking is how blackburn approaches grief — it is not only chronicled through jay’s death, but through buried memories, coral’s increasingly unhinged dystopian novel writing, and through the voice of a collective omniscient narrator. blackburn’s experimental, genre-bending style explores humanity and our capacity for immense pain and pleasure. what she leaves us with is a new outlook on what it means to survive amidst crisis — of loss on a personal level, atrocities on a societal scale, and the glimmer of hope found at rock bottom.

DEAD IN LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA is undoubtedly singular in its storytelling. i found some aspects of the experimental narration more effective than others, and the novel within the novel a bit excessive at times — but the overall insights of the book still felt worthwhile. i recommend if you’re interested in unconventional examinations of grief and enjoy it interspersed with dark humor and societal critique.

3.5/5 ⭐️

4 stars

Wow. Just...wow.

I'm an incoming fan of Blackburn's short stories and flash fiction and love some pieces so much that I teach them on rotation (i.e., I love them enough to read some truly wild interpretations of them and still find enjoyment in them. That's special and rare). My expectation for Blackburn's debut novel was it was going to be unlike anything I'd read previously. This came to fruition.

This isn't going to be for everyone. It's dark, experimental, and sometimes confounding, and I say that after having read the e-book and listened to the audio (which is remarkably well narrated; I recommend this option when and where accessible). Folks who are familiar with strange, gritty parts of Southern California, including but not limited to the overall scope of Long Beach, obviously, and bonus points for those who went to Medieval Times in Buena Park 15 years ago - you won't believe the related reference, will find a sinister kinship with this entire narrative based on Blackburn's sense of and depiction of place.

I'm planning on a third read (likely listen) again in the near future. This is something else.

Blackburn's work is in a class of its own, and I'm already looking forward to whatever chaotic, thought-provoking creation hits us next.

I'm clearly gonna be the odd one out on this highly touted novel. I admired rather than enjoyed this portrait of grief. Coral's brother is dead and she's chosen to impersonate him for a week, a week in which she revisits her own past. There's a stream of consciousness thing that lost me and the swirl of stuff just baffled me in spots. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Wasn't for me but fans of experimental or literary fiction should give it a try.

Wow, wow, wow! Venita Blackburn takes readers on a wild ride, holds nothing back, and we're all here for it! Incredible storyteller, unforgettable characters, and a truly unique look at grief. Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the advance read of this remarkable book.