Really bad. Really, really had. I truly don’t see this book doing well in publication. I wanted to love it. It’s extremely ambitious. It just doesn’t get there with its goals.

This tale weaves in and out of different time periods and we get a flashback to an earlier time in one of the characters life. This is an epic tale that feels a little overwhelming at times and meanders a bit at times. New to me author and I will be interested in checking out future books by him.

This review is a tough one for me to write. I loved this book, but along the way I got lost a bit trying to keep the characters and their relationships straight and returning to times and places the story hadn't visited in a while. Granted, I read it while traveling internationally and coping with jet-lag and sleep-deprivation, but still, it was a lot to keep in mind and my plan was to finish it, go back to the beginning, and skim through parts but unfortunately I read it as a NetGalley ARC uncorrected proof and it disappeared from my device the minute I closed it after finishing the last sentence, so that wasn't possible. So those are the caveats, now here's the review.

This is a solid 3.5 star story and, were it not for the author's choices I'll get to in the next paragraph it would have been a 4 star story.. It wove together the lives of two loosely woven families through 100 pivotal years in California history, moving from silent films to the present day. It got points for creating interesting, sympathetic (though not always likable) characters. It took us into times and places so well they had color and sound and scent. The fundamental themes and plot were intriguing. There was humor. It was thought-provoking. I read the portion about Di's meteoric rise in the art world on day I visited the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, the Picasso and the Rodin museums, a lovely dovetail between life and literature.

The author chose to jump around in time, place, and character arc. It works great in a movie. It works well in a novel if the author knows how to balance all the elements. There are authors writing today who are brilliant at it, there are many who suck at it, Castleberry is pretty good at but not great; I'm an avid reader, a retired journalist, and I'm pretty good at following a story that jumps around, but I did spend more than a moment or two at the beginning of some chapters thumbing back to remind me who a character was. Example: one character (Mrs. Pomeroy I think was her name, Kay's friend) who appeared in the final quarter of the book and dipped into many of the characters' lives was a mystery to me and I'd planned to go back, find out who she was in the early days, and move forward but I couldn't because the ARC disappeared from my device right away. My glitchy memory can't provide any valid reason for her to play such a role in the final quarter of the book. Is she the Greek chorus of the story? I dunno.

I liked Castleberry's writing and style enough that I'll check out his other titles. I recommend this book, but feel I would have preferred reading it in print so I could review past sections more easily.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC of "The Californians."

I like the idea of this book -- a sprawling generational story showing America over the last 100 years. But the execution just didn't quite work for me. I couldn't quite connect with any of the stories or characters; any time I started to truly care, we switched POVs. It felt to me like the story needed pruning.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This was slightly haunting to read in the weeks after the tragic wildfires overtaking California at the start of this year. The premise and concept were very interesting, but I felt like there was a lot of telling and not showing in the writing of this book.

The dual timeline made this book very difficult to follow, which is unfortunate because it had limitless potential.

As this story begins, it revolves around Tobey Harlan, a young man whose girlfriend has deserted him, while at the same time a fire is heading near his home, spreading even as he contemplates what he should do next. He decides to steal some of the father’s paintings.

Di Stiegel, an artist living in NYC in the 1980’s, is the granddaughter of Klaus Aaronsohn, a once upon a time immigrant who lived in the era of silent film. Di is the artist whose paintings Tobey steals many years after the 1980’s have come and gone.

While this story had some interesting moments, and the writing was often lovely, it was also often disconnected, and the story itself often felt lacking.


Pub Date: 11 Mar 2025


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Mariner Books

Mariner Books provided an early galley for review.

Castleberry teaches literature and creative writing at the College of William and Mary; learning that I had high expectations for this novel.

I have noted this previously, however, that I am not a big fan of novels where the narrative arc jumps around between a variety of viewpoints. It can be challenging when not done right. Jumping around between time-periods as well just adds to the complexity. Again, hard to pull off. Given the author's credentials, I was hoping he would do so.

Even though the writing itself is solid, when the parts are put together in the whole it falls off for me. It very much likely is the ordering of the parts that is throwing me. I just couldn't get past that. Maybe reading it "out of order" (i.e. focusing on each of the three characters separately) might work for me; that experiment would be better served with a physical book than a digital galley. Maybe I'll try that later.

For the right readers, I am sure this will be a fantastic read. I'm just not that type of reader.

THE CALIFORNIANS by Brian Castleberry ~to be published March 21, 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5. At a sentence level, it’s great. But it’s too ambitious for its own good.

I started reading this just as the LA fires were exploding out of control. Having requested the ARC without paying much attention to the plot, I was surprised when I encountered Tobey, who is urgently fleeing a California wildfire. But when we changed characters, and then when we changed characters again, never returning to Tobey or his story arc until the end of the book, I started to lose interest and it was confusing to follow how everyone was related to each other. In fact, I had to restart the book several times because if I put it down for any longer than a couple of days, I forgot the details. I also didn’t always understand the motivations of the characters.

I can’t quite put my finger on what didn’t work about the structure or my experience generally. In some ways, the book reminds me of The Goldfinch, and I do think Castelberry can really write. Perhaps a family tree at the beginning would have helped?

Many thanks to @marinerbooks for the gifted copy!

Fires connect the characters in this book starts with a young man fleeing a forest fire that destroys his town in California and ranges through a cast of deeply unlikeable characters. I hated all of them, but I still finished the book, so it was somehow still compelling.

At first, I thought I would like this novel. Even though the two main characters at the start, especially Tobey, weren't that likable, I still wanted to see where his journey ended after a wildfire destroyed his hometown. The topic is especially relevant given the current wildfire situation in California. Unfortunately, the story veers off into various other plots and unnecessary tangents, so I lost interest. I wish the story had stayed more in modern times and dealt more with people dealing with the aftereffects of such a huge natural tragedy.

The writer is very gifted, however, and it would not deter me from reading more of his work.

Thanks to NetGalley, Mariner Books and the author for the ARC and the opportunity to read and review this novel.

The Californians follow multiple generations of The von Stiegl family, as well as, family friend Tobey. The story begins before Klaus von Stiegl makes his way to Hollywood and ends in present day with Tobey whom has just escaped a California wild fire. Connecting the two is von Stiegl's granddaughter, the artist Diane "Di" Stiegl.

The story wove past and present together, however it took me longer than it should have to get the characters and their connections straight. It started out slow, but began to grab my attention about half way through. Some of the characters stories were more appealing to me than others. For instance, I could read an entire book dedicated to Di.

I would recommend this book to readers of historical and contemporary fiction. I'll be on the lookout for more by Brian Castleberry.

DNF @ 41%

I was struggling to get invested in this story and decided to stop reading at the 41% mark. I was enjoying Diane's story, but was having trouble connecting her to the other characters. Klaus was her grandfather who burned down his studio, but then who was Tobey's grandfather? And why did we only get Tobey's story in the first chapter? I also found the Interstitials to take me out of the story more than advancing the plot.

Out of respect for the author and his efforts, I will not be posting a review on my social platforms until after the publication date.

I really enjoyed this book. Such a sprawling story, with interesting characters. One of those where I am hooked in to one character and hate to switch to another part of the story, only to become engrossed in that piece as well. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Once I got into this novel, I really enjoyed it. Although not readily apparent at the beginning of the novel, this is a family saga spanning several generations. The tale begins (well into the text of the book) in the early days of the movie industry and ends (at the beginning of the novel) with the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.

One of the main characters is Klaus, a director of silent films, who re-invents himself before moving from New York to Hollywood. Klaus is appropriately complex, though the women in his life come across as having merely walk-on roles. (Perhaps that is the point.) The other main character is his granddaughter, Diana, an artist. Her character struggles to embrace her family legacy and a grandfather she only knew as a small girl.

The incident that begins this novel makes little sense until the very end of the book. I found myself immediately flipping to the front of the book after finishing this novel. Although I respect the non-linear timeline the author chose to work with, I think a little more re-arrangement of chapters might have been helpful for the reader.

This was a captivating read that follows several generations of two families with complicated, troubled relationships histories. The chapters move back and forth in time and between characters. Two of the key characters are a 1920-30s era Hollywood director who makes a comeback in TV in the 1960s and a contemporary artist who hits the NYC scene in the full swing of cocaine and clubbing in the 1980s and becomes celebrated in her own right, shifting to ecologically-oriented performance art and collaborative work in the 2000s. The movement between time periods and characters was a bit confusing in the beginning but you find youself getting caught up in the dysfunctional family entanglements, and in the story. The story moves along at a good pace and the author does a good job of painting the characters' emotional states, warts and all. I wish the author had made at leasst one of the main characters more likeable, as it was hard to find a character to cheer for in this book (the few likeable characters were secondary, and it was a shame they were not in the pages more frenquently). Not sure the title does an apt job of conveying the content (can imagine a half dozen better titles), but this is a good read.

The Californians by Brian Castleberry pulled me into the tangled, messy lives of its characters and kept me thinking about them long after I closed the book. Klaus and Di’s journeys, separated by decades yet so deeply intertwined, felt so real and raw. I loved how their stories revealed the weight of family, ambition, and the sacrifices we make for our dreams.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves sprawling, character-driven novels with a nostalgic vibe. It’s not a quick read—it’s a story you sink into, with layers that unfold beautifully. If you’re in the mood for something that feels like peeling back the curtain on the secret lives of others, The Californians is absolutely worth the journey. ★★★★☆

I liked reading about the different generations of the same family. I had a hard time remembering who was who at first but it got better which made it more enjoyable. I feel I needed more from this than what I got though. All in all it was interesting.

The Californians starts with Tobey Harlan, who is having a rough time of it, to say the least. His girlfriend has left him, he has no real job prospects, and a wildfire is bearing down on his Northern California home. He's hoping for a second chance at life funded by the theft of a few paintings from his father's home.

Klaus Aaronsohn is a German-Jewish immigrant attempting to make his way from Queens to Hollywood during the silent film era. His granddaughter, Di Stiegel, is an artist based in NYC during the '80s, a time known for its vibrant and experimental art scene, and the creator of the paintings Tobey will steal years later.

I always feel guilty DNFing an ARC, but I had to call it quits at about 75%. I just could not connect to any of the characters. They were underdeveloped, and what was there wasn't especially likable or exciting. Even with more compelling characters, I doubt I would have stuck with this as long as I did if it hadn't been an ARC.

The novel's structure is cumbersome and gets in the way of the action. I'm a sucker for a sweeping, intergenerational drama, but I could not follow this. The story spans generations and is set in captivating times and locations. However, the narrative jumps between characters and time periods were too abrupt, making it hard to learn who they are and how they connect to each other. Castleberry also uses interstitials throughout, which I did not understand the purpose of at all.

What makes all this truly tragic is that the writing is beautiful! I wanted to spend more time with this book, but the lackluster characters and jarring structure were too much to get past. I will absolutely try another book by the author, who is clearly very talented; this just wasn't the one for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC.

An ambitious feat of a novel spanning decades of the Californian era. The threads of the story never quite all came together for me, and I became turned off by the gratuitous sexual content.