Death Valley

An author escapes the ailments of family members and books herself into a motel close to the desert. On a hike she encounters a cactus. What follows is a hallucinogenic desert survival story infused by grief.

Broder's writing is very funny in a deadpan way, and her audiobook narrator voice fits that style perfectly too. So there's a lot to chuckle along with. And yet I wanted more plot outside the navel-gazing and the drugged fever dreams. Thankfully the meta of the protagonist also writing a novel about a women going to the desert - was kept light.