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novelvisits's review against another edition
4.0
{My Thoughts}
What Worked For Me
Kiesling Nailed New Motherhood – The Golden State is Daphne’s story and one of the many things you should know about Daphne is that she’s the mother of a 16-month old. She adores her daughter, Honey, but she’s also been going it completely alone for the last 8 months. Kiesling got all that right, weaving Daphne’s story together beautifully, but what stood out to me was how right she got motherhood. That back-and-forth between overwhelming delight in her child and the mind-numbing boredom and monotony of parenting a toddler was SO real. Daphne marked her days with times and even after doing what seemed like a huge amount, little time had passed. She couldn’t wait for Honey to go down for a nap, yet an hour later she found herself tempted to wake her child. Haven’t we all been there? I loved that Kiesling included so many first-time-mom woes like not being able to properly attach a rear-facing car seat, and worrying about just how many cheese sticks are too many.
Tangled Communications – Daphne is an extremely smart woman who finds herself alone after her Turkish husband, Elgin, has his Green Card revoked. The tangle of paperwork seems endless and during that he’s back in Turkey and she’s in the U.S. trying to handle everything AND keep him involved in Honey’s life and alive in her own heart. They communicate daily via Skype, which Daphne keenly observes is both a blessing and a curse.
“Maybe the thing really is that now we have these tools there’s the expectation that you will always be in touch. Overseas we called my grandparents every two weeks and we wrote letters and that was it and it was just easier than doing this Skype dance with all its awful reminders that the person you want to be here is not here. But Honey has to see her father’s face as much as she can while he’s not there, I think, and start crying, and I’m proud of myself because I think it’s been about two days since the last time I cried”
Raw Emotion – As you can see from the end of the above quote, Daphne is a woman at an emotional crossroads in her life. She knows something has to change, but no path she can see is clear and that anguish comes through beautifully in her story. Daphne’s a mess, as she should be. Life decisions are hard, especially when you feel alone. In fleeing to the comfort of the high-desert mobile home her grandparents once owned, Daphne is hoping somehow, beyond all logic, she’ll finally be able to make a decision. She’s long been burdened with the weight of not only her own life, but Honey’s and Elgin’s resting squarely on her shoulders. I felt Kiesling portrayed Daphne’s sorrow and pain in ways that were always real and sometimes unexpected.
What Didn’t
A Different Sort of Writing Style – Lydia Kiesling’s style of writing took some getting used to. She tends to write very, very long sentences and can be sparse on the use of commas. More than once I needed to go back and reread to make sure I’d captured the full meaning from such a sentence. I was particularly distracted by commas not being used to separate items in a series, which happened too often. On the positive punctuation side, she did use quotation marks! At times, I also found her writing a little on the pretentious side, using pharasing that would have benefited from more simplicity.
{The Final Assessment}
The Golden State was the first book I read from my Fall Preview 2018, so it had some big expectations to live up to. I was hoping for a fresh take on motherhood amidst a distinct California setting and that’s exactly what I got. Kiesling’s powerful story of isolation, loneliness, and hope far outweighed its few flaws. I consider The Golden State a fabulous kickoff to my fall reading and will look forward to more from this debut author.
Note: I received a copy of this book from MCD Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/the-golden-state-by-lydia-kiesling/
What Worked For Me
Kiesling Nailed New Motherhood – The Golden State is Daphne’s story and one of the many things you should know about Daphne is that she’s the mother of a 16-month old. She adores her daughter, Honey, but she’s also been going it completely alone for the last 8 months. Kiesling got all that right, weaving Daphne’s story together beautifully, but what stood out to me was how right she got motherhood. That back-and-forth between overwhelming delight in her child and the mind-numbing boredom and monotony of parenting a toddler was SO real. Daphne marked her days with times and even after doing what seemed like a huge amount, little time had passed. She couldn’t wait for Honey to go down for a nap, yet an hour later she found herself tempted to wake her child. Haven’t we all been there? I loved that Kiesling included so many first-time-mom woes like not being able to properly attach a rear-facing car seat, and worrying about just how many cheese sticks are too many.
Tangled Communications – Daphne is an extremely smart woman who finds herself alone after her Turkish husband, Elgin, has his Green Card revoked. The tangle of paperwork seems endless and during that he’s back in Turkey and she’s in the U.S. trying to handle everything AND keep him involved in Honey’s life and alive in her own heart. They communicate daily via Skype, which Daphne keenly observes is both a blessing and a curse.
“Maybe the thing really is that now we have these tools there’s the expectation that you will always be in touch. Overseas we called my grandparents every two weeks and we wrote letters and that was it and it was just easier than doing this Skype dance with all its awful reminders that the person you want to be here is not here. But Honey has to see her father’s face as much as she can while he’s not there, I think, and start crying, and I’m proud of myself because I think it’s been about two days since the last time I cried”
Raw Emotion – As you can see from the end of the above quote, Daphne is a woman at an emotional crossroads in her life. She knows something has to change, but no path she can see is clear and that anguish comes through beautifully in her story. Daphne’s a mess, as she should be. Life decisions are hard, especially when you feel alone. In fleeing to the comfort of the high-desert mobile home her grandparents once owned, Daphne is hoping somehow, beyond all logic, she’ll finally be able to make a decision. She’s long been burdened with the weight of not only her own life, but Honey’s and Elgin’s resting squarely on her shoulders. I felt Kiesling portrayed Daphne’s sorrow and pain in ways that were always real and sometimes unexpected.
What Didn’t
A Different Sort of Writing Style – Lydia Kiesling’s style of writing took some getting used to. She tends to write very, very long sentences and can be sparse on the use of commas. More than once I needed to go back and reread to make sure I’d captured the full meaning from such a sentence. I was particularly distracted by commas not being used to separate items in a series, which happened too often. On the positive punctuation side, she did use quotation marks! At times, I also found her writing a little on the pretentious side, using pharasing that would have benefited from more simplicity.
{The Final Assessment}
The Golden State was the first book I read from my Fall Preview 2018, so it had some big expectations to live up to. I was hoping for a fresh take on motherhood amidst a distinct California setting and that’s exactly what I got. Kiesling’s powerful story of isolation, loneliness, and hope far outweighed its few flaws. I consider The Golden State a fabulous kickoff to my fall reading and will look forward to more from this debut author.
Note: I received a copy of this book from MCD Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/the-golden-state-by-lydia-kiesling/
tydymac's review against another edition
3.0
This book was fine. I am not a mother so I can’t really empathize with the main character. I had a hard time getting through the middle just because the main character is so manic and constantly feeling sorry for herself which gets extremely tiring.
I just think if you have kids you may like this book and appreciate it more than someone who does not.
I just think if you have kids you may like this book and appreciate it more than someone who does not.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
The Golden State begins with a woman's sudden decision to leave work mid-morning, pack a few bags, collect her baby from daycare and drive out to the high country of northern California, where she has inherited her grandparent's house. She misses the space and the smell of the air and the sheer weight of working, caring for her daughter, managing to pay the bills and all the daily hassles of life in San Francisco have worn her down. Her husband, though a bit of dishonesty on the part of Immigration, surrendered his Green Card and while they battle the system and pay for a lawyer, he's stuck back in Turkey.
But life in a rural community is not quite the respite she'd thought it would be. For one thing, she's still the sole caregiver to a toddler, a challenging, rewarding and yet mind-bogglingly boring task. And it's not like the dying neighborhood she's landed in is going to provide much in the way of social interaction. At best, there's Cindy, the neighbor who has joined a separatist movement or the elderly lady who is always in the diner when they go there to get out of the house.
This is a novel that isn't afraid to make clear the repetitive and constant work of raising a toddler. The forward movement of the plot is constantly hindered by Honey's need for constant care and supervision. The space Daphne needs to figure out what to do is filled instead with the need to monitor what Honey eats, when she naps, how she's doing. I don't think I've come across a clearer picture of what it means to have a baby in fiction, layered in with what life in a dying rural community is like, the reactions she receives when people find out that she's married to someone they blithely categorize as a possible terrorist, and the challenges of a long-distance marriage conducted over a slow and unreliable internet connection.
But life in a rural community is not quite the respite she'd thought it would be. For one thing, she's still the sole caregiver to a toddler, a challenging, rewarding and yet mind-bogglingly boring task. And it's not like the dying neighborhood she's landed in is going to provide much in the way of social interaction. At best, there's Cindy, the neighbor who has joined a separatist movement or the elderly lady who is always in the diner when they go there to get out of the house.
This is a novel that isn't afraid to make clear the repetitive and constant work of raising a toddler. The forward movement of the plot is constantly hindered by Honey's need for constant care and supervision. The space Daphne needs to figure out what to do is filled instead with the need to monitor what Honey eats, when she naps, how she's doing. I don't think I've come across a clearer picture of what it means to have a baby in fiction, layered in with what life in a dying rural community is like, the reactions she receives when people find out that she's married to someone they blithely categorize as a possible terrorist, and the challenges of a long-distance marriage conducted over a slow and unreliable internet connection.
littletaiko's review against another edition
After a couple of chapters I decided this just wasn't for me. The stream of consciousness narrative didn't bother me, it was the tediousness of her day to day life. I imagine that was supposed to be the point, but the day to day worry of raising a child was just boring to read about.
elevy2's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
schray32's review against another edition
3.0
Odd book. I liked the small details of being a mother with a young baby. Her inner dialogue was on point. Northern California trying to be a separate state seems possible with our current state of politics.
dianametzger's review against another edition
4.0
A slow burn but incredibly detailed and atmospheric. An incredibly strong sense of place and a very keen, detailed understanding of the terror and monotony and joy of motherhood.
sakeriver's review against another edition
What struck me first about this book was what a perfect embodiment it was of the experience of being a first-time parent with a young child. The anxiety, the lists, the constant obsessing about everything you’re doing wrong—it all felt so familiar. But there’s more, because I think the book is also in many ways about what it means to be an American, and specifically a Californian. Excellent prose, both poignant and funny, just really well done.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
It doesn’t actually take this long to read - I just managed to lose the galley for a while.
This is a really spare but intimate novel about a woman grieving for circumstances that are beyond her control - her husband has been deported back to Turkey due to shady federal immigration officers, a young woman in her academic program died in an accident on a sponsored trip, and she’s a single mom with a toddler and no family to help her. Mixed into this almost plotless story is a secessionist movement in Northern California spearheaded by her grandparents’ neighbor. Kiesling does an interesting thing with language, avoiding commas at certain times which makes the words a river of internal monologue.
This is a really spare but intimate novel about a woman grieving for circumstances that are beyond her control - her husband has been deported back to Turkey due to shady federal immigration officers, a young woman in her academic program died in an accident on a sponsored trip, and she’s a single mom with a toddler and no family to help her. Mixed into this almost plotless story is a secessionist movement in Northern California spearheaded by her grandparents’ neighbor. Kiesling does an interesting thing with language, avoiding commas at certain times which makes the words a river of internal monologue.
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
“To have a child is to court loss.”
Reading this book as a grandmother, with grown children, was not too difficult. It has been many years since I spend any time being a single mom. I always knew that soon my husband would be home and I would no longer be solely responsible for the care and upkeep of my children.
Kiesling completely understands what life as a single mother is all about. When she created Daphne and her toddler, Honey, she made a world where the tedium, frustration and fear of rearing children is clearly delineated. I both loved and hated this story because I was so caught up in Daphne’s life. Although I don’t regret most moments of child rearing, I had managed to forget the worst. Kiesling reminded me of all of the boring and bad parts.
Beside Daphne and Honey, there are some interesting things going on in this novel. There is lots of academic references; there is some fascinating info about a Northern California secessionist movement and then Daphne meets this odd little old lady, Alice. Although I thought Alice was a good addition to the story, eventually, for me, the whole story went off the rails. I knew why the novel ended as it did, but I had lost sympathy for the characters and so I really didn’t care.
If you are in the middle of caring for small children, approach this story with care. It may be too much. If you are past that point of life or are never having children, I hope you will have more empathy with the people in the book than I was able to maintain. It will be interesting to see what Kiesling writes next.
Reading this book as a grandmother, with grown children, was not too difficult. It has been many years since I spend any time being a single mom. I always knew that soon my husband would be home and I would no longer be solely responsible for the care and upkeep of my children.
Kiesling completely understands what life as a single mother is all about. When she created Daphne and her toddler, Honey, she made a world where the tedium, frustration and fear of rearing children is clearly delineated. I both loved and hated this story because I was so caught up in Daphne’s life. Although I don’t regret most moments of child rearing, I had managed to forget the worst. Kiesling reminded me of all of the boring and bad parts.
Beside Daphne and Honey, there are some interesting things going on in this novel. There is lots of academic references; there is some fascinating info about a Northern California secessionist movement and then Daphne meets this odd little old lady, Alice. Although I thought Alice was a good addition to the story, eventually, for me, the whole story went off the rails. I knew why the novel ended as it did, but I had lost sympathy for the characters and so I really didn’t care.
If you are in the middle of caring for small children, approach this story with care. It may be too much. If you are past that point of life or are never having children, I hope you will have more empathy with the people in the book than I was able to maintain. It will be interesting to see what Kiesling writes next.