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caroisreading's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is my first Melissa Broder book, and now I'm a huge fan. I cracked up so many times during this read, and felt so much affection for this protagonist.
This is a story about staring death in the face, and the in-between space of anticipatory grief and grief grief. A scorching, unforgiving desert is the symbolic backdrop, as made obvious by the title. Our narrator is an author, who feels intimately modeled after Melissa, herself, and she is navigating her father's near-death, post-accident condition, as well as her husband's debilitating and amorphous illness. We join her as she's arriving at a Best Western in the middle of nowhere, carving out a space for her own self-pity, care and emotions, and ideally, some writing inspo. When she takes a desert hike on the recommendation of the hotel staff, it unleashes a wild fever dream, where we are trying to grasp the edges of reality and hope alongside her.
Let me just say, the line, "Listen, Best Western cares, but not this much" made me have to put the book down and howl-laugh.
Definitely read this book if you're exploring your own mortality, the meaning of your life, or experiencing grief, but need to laugh about it.
This is a story about staring death in the face, and the in-between space of anticipatory grief and grief grief. A scorching, unforgiving desert is the symbolic backdrop, as made obvious by the title. Our narrator is an author, who feels intimately modeled after Melissa, herself, and she is navigating her father's near-death, post-accident condition, as well as her husband's debilitating and amorphous illness. We join her as she's arriving at a Best Western in the middle of nowhere, carving out a space for her own self-pity, care and emotions, and ideally, some writing inspo. When she takes a desert hike on the recommendation of the hotel staff, it unleashes a wild fever dream, where we are trying to grasp the edges of reality and hope alongside her.
Let me just say, the line, "Listen, Best Western cares, but not this much" made me have to put the book down and howl-laugh.
Definitely read this book if you're exploring your own mortality, the meaning of your life, or experiencing grief, but need to laugh about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Excrement, and Medical content
Moderate: Addiction
libraryoflanelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Warning: you will have “Sh-Boom” stuck in your head the whole time you’re reading this book. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
If you’re looking for a deep but weird, engrossing, and quick read with perfectly short chapters (aka my favourite thing), look no further. Death Valley is the perfect book for you. Also, look at that cover, how could you not…
This book was a fun balance between weird and reflective. There were so many great quotes that either made me giggle, pause to try to compute before giving up, or nod along in agreement.
Whilst I did expect a little more weirdness, I absolutely loved the writing style and am so excited to read more from Melissa.
This is yet another one that I went into not knowing a lot about, and I recommend the same to you. Stay safe though! Content warnings are in my StoryGraph review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Medical content
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Death
carly_reads's review
emotional
funny
reflective
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“Help me not be empty,” I say to god in the Best Western parking lot.
If I’m honest, I came to escape a feeling- an attempt that’s already going poorly because unfortunately I’ve brought myself with me.
People are such a commitment. I would "reach out" more often if everyone promised not to check in again later.
I always say that I don’t believe a person has to suffer to make art. But that’s only because I imagine it’s true for others (also, I don’t want to be accused of inspiring teen suicide).
Melissa has such a distinct writing style, I think I could recognize it anywhere. She has the sharp ability to meld together big themes with the most absurd situations you could ever come up with. I feel like she’s also able to be concise with what she’s trying to say, but still make an impact. In this case, I think she’s making a statement about how you can’t avoid/escape your life and feelings forever as well as finding the silver linings in life despite circumstances. This felt like an exploration into depression, anticipatory grief, so much anxiety you can’t live your life, how the wants and needs of your inner child never go away, and searching for reasons that would make life meaningful.
This truly reads like a fever dream- very surreal and absurd but in a good way. I think it was very different than her other books. The main character is much more redeemable (imo lol). I appreciated the commentary about how hard being a caregiver for a loved one with a chronic illness can be. I think it’s unfair to assume that people don’t have less than positive feelings when put in that position despite wanting to be there for that person. I think the author does a good job saying things that a lot of people think but are too afraid to say (both in that context and generally).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Excrement
lindsayerin's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Medical content, and Excrement
Moderate: Chronic illness
rosyapple's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
didn't enjoy this one. if it sounds interesting i would recommend mona awad's "alls well" instead. on the other hand if you enjoyed "something new under the sun" by alexandra kleeman then you probably would like this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Excrement, Grief, and Body horror
Minor: Blood
bdingz's review
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Melissa Broder really gets it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Medical content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Chronic illness
Minor: Excrement and Addiction
kaseythefairy's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Excrement
Minor: Excrement, Car accident, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Death of parent
mondovertigo's review
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Excrement
Minor: Sexual content and Addiction
samburkhouse's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Excrement
alligatortoast's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Where to begin with this book? It was...different, to say the least. The premise is simple enough - a woman struggling with her father's health after a car accident and her husband's chronic illness runs off to a Best Western in the California desert to clear her head. She goes on a hike through the desert that results in her getting lost and fighting for survival, while having psychedelic experiences or hallucinations. I feel like the blurb of this book is misleading. We're told she finds a giant cactus on the trail ( she does) and has visions (she does) but I was expecting much more from this. In my head, she was going to find a fantasy world within the cactus and be transported to some magical place. This sort of happens, in the form of hallucinations that are never fully explained. Was she imagining them? Were they projections? Were they spirits guiding her? You never find out.
Another gripe I have with this book is the main character. She's at once witty, funny, selfish, and irritating. The book turns into a survival story half way through, and though we're supposed to be concerned and rooting for the MC, I found myself annoyed by her. She's literally dying in the desert and somehow I found it hard to feel sympathy for her at times. Maybe it was just my personal tastes, but the book was honestly painful to read sometimes, and I had to force myself to finish it.
It's also pretty bizarre and surreal at times. She has full blown conversations with rocks, not once but throughout the entire novel. There's also a part where she rides on the back of a giant bird and is brought back to the beginning of the trail. This is never explained, and you're left wondering if this was real or imagined. Not to mention the cactus that is the "star" of the book only making an appearance a handful of times. It appears, disappears and reappears randomly, and this is also never explained.
I will say, a positive of this book is the format. The chapters are incredibly short, ranging from 1 to 6 pages at most. This makes for a quick read, or at least it should. Again, I was struggling about halfway through to finish. I stopped about 2/3's of the way through to read another book (Open Throat by Henry Hoke) before finishing, and I almost DNF.
It's not all bad, as it has some powerful wisdom and views on grief, love, and loss. Anyone with family or friends who are chronically sick or in hospital care will likely get something out of this, though it may also be triggering for some. The ending is hopeful, though again, we're never given a proper explanation as to the events of the novel. It's basically one giant fever dream, or a metaphor, or these impossible things really happened and we'll just never know which is the true answer. Maybe that's the point, maybe it's meant to be enjoyed and not analyzed too deeply. But for a novel as reflective as this, I was longing for an explanation.
Overall, I'd recommend this if you like odd, bizarre, and surreal reads. It's humorous, raw, emotional and uncomfortable. So if that's your cup of tea, I say go for it. I don't think it's worth full price though ($30!) so I say get it used. I use Pango Books, it's a life saver.
Another gripe I have with this book is the main character. She's at once witty, funny, selfish, and irritating. The book turns into a survival story half way through, and though we're supposed to be concerned and rooting for the MC, I found myself annoyed by her. She's literally dying in the desert and somehow I found it hard to feel sympathy for her at times. Maybe it was just my personal tastes, but the book was honestly painful to read sometimes, and I had to force myself to finish it.
It's also pretty bizarre and surreal at times. She has full blown conversations with rocks, not once but throughout the entire novel. There's also a part where she
I will say, a positive of this book is the format. The chapters are incredibly short, ranging from 1 to 6 pages at most. This makes for a quick read, or at least it should. Again, I was struggling about halfway through to finish. I stopped about 2/3's of the way through to read another book (Open Throat by Henry Hoke) before finishing, and I almost DNF.
It's not all bad, as it has some powerful wisdom and views on grief, love, and loss. Anyone with family or friends who are chronically sick or in hospital care will likely get something out of this, though it may also be triggering for some. The ending is hopeful, though again, we're never given a proper explanation as to the events of the novel. It's basically one giant fever dream, or a metaphor, or these impossible things really happened and we'll just never know which is the true answer. Maybe that's the point, maybe it's meant to be enjoyed and not analyzed too deeply. But for a novel as reflective as this, I was longing for an explanation.
Overall, I'd recommend this if you like odd, bizarre, and surreal reads. It's humorous, raw, emotional and uncomfortable. So if that's your cup of tea, I say go for it. I don't think it's worth full price though ($30!) so I say get it used. I use Pango Books, it's a life saver.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Grief