California
2014 • 393 pages
Ratings17
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings17
Average rating3.3
"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"--
Reviews with the most likes.
It was OK, just OK. If there had been a character I liked I may have enjoyed it more. I've had a string of really good reads lately and this was a bit of a letdown. The world seemed a little patchy - like a Potemkin Village. We saw a bit of the world but the depth wasn't there, and being forced to travel it with people ranging from mildly irritating to downright odious wasn't enjoyable.
It seemed like a steady barrage of expository information was dumped on the reader in order to catch them up to the real-time events taking place in the novel. Luckily, that information was always compelling and the story felt more like the beginning introduction to a potentially larger story than a stand-alone novel. I would gladly read more about this world and these characters.
The story meanders around and finally stops - I can't say that the story has a start or an end. We're brought into the story after society has fallen apart. We're never told what caused the dystopia, or if it affects the entire world or just the United States of America. When the book ends, nothing has really changed in society. The story isn't a ‘coming of age' tale, nor does it teach a lesson or preach a moral. Good does not triumph over evil. The reader has followed a set of characters through a small portion of their lives, but I don't see any point to the story beyond exploring some vaguely interesting characters as they learn more about each other in a dystopian world. Still, it kept my interest, so I didn't give it a poor rating.
