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 protagonistโs observations bitingly funny and sarcastic (โ๐๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด; ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข: ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต: ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ.โ)
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. Yet I loved the narratorโs dark sense of humor and her dry wit. If youโre a fan of the authorโs previous books The Pisces and Milk Fed, you will not be disappointed by this very keen observation on grief and survival.
Thanks to Scribner Books for the review copy!
About the Book:
The most profound book yet from the visionary author of Milk Fed and The Pisces, a darkly funny novel about grief that becomes a desert survival story.
In Melissa Broderโs astounding new novel, a woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrowโfor both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike.
Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.
This is Melissa Broder at her most imaginative, most universal, and finest. This is Death Valley.