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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Jul 2014, 400 pages
Paperback:
Jul 2015, 400 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Poornima Apte
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A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.
The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable in the face of hardship and isolation. Mourning a past they can't reclaim, they seek solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.
Terrified of the unknown and unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses dangers of its own. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.
A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love.
1
On the map, their destination had been a stretch of green, as if they would be living on a golf course. No freeways nearby, or any roads, really: those had been left to rot years before. Frida had given this place a secret name, the afterlife, and on their journey, when they were forced to hide in abandoned rest stops, or when they'd filled the car with the last of their gasoline, this place had beckoned. In her mind it was a township, and Cal was the mayor. She was the mayor's wife.
Of course it was nothing like that. The forest had not been expecting them. If anything, it had tried to throw them out, again and again. But they had stayed, perhaps even prospered. Now Frida could only laugh at the memory of herself, over two years ago: dragging a duffel bag behind her with a groan, her nails bitten to shit, her stomach roiling. Grime like she'd never imagined. Even her knees had smelled.
She thought it would be easier once they arrived; she should have known better. The work ...
For some, the dystopia might not be “dystopian” enough - the disconnect between what we know and what Lepucki imagines coming across as incongruous at best. Yet there’s plenty to root for in California. It is chilling precisely because so much of it feels so real - and so darned close. It doesn’t take a wild stretch of the imagination to know that such a life might be waiting for us, just around the corner...continued
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(Reviewed by Poornima Apte).
Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities.
In California, Frida and Cal Friedman are forced to live off the land without electricity or running water, growing the food they eat. While the couple has no choice but to adopt such a lifestyle, off-the-grid living has been gaining traction in contemporary society. Traditionally, the term refers to living without public utilities, particularly electricity. One doesn't have to be cut off from the food system as well to qualify. However, in recent years, off grid living has taken on a wider connotation - of somebody living apart from, or under the radar of, modern society.
The motivations for going off the grid can include environmental and economic concerns and a desire to lead a homesteader's life. Even if most home alterations (...
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