A review by babewithabookandabeer
Death Valley by Melissa Broder

emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you Scribner Books for my Netgalley copy of DEATH VALLEY by Melissa Broder, out 10/24/23.

I am a Melissa Broder super fan. Her book of essays, SO SAD TODAY, was one of the first books I reviewed on this account in 2016! I am so grateful I got an early copy of her newest literary brilliance. Death Valley is a darkly funny novel about grief that becomes a desert survival story.

Full of magical realism in the middle as she legitimately goes crazy from dehydration and sun poisoning as she gets lost in the dessert, this is my favorite Broder to date. It’s still weird, goofy and full of shit that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it’s also profound in its musings about grief over losing someone who is still alive.

Clearly a form of semi-autofiction, Broder has internal monologues about dealing with her dad in the ICU and her chronically ill and disabled husband worsening by the day. The book was very emotional, laugh out loud funny and puts you in a dream-like trance. 

Broder’s reflection on how the relationship with our parents impacts us in more ways than one is her superpower. If you’ve read other Broder books and didn’t like it, you won’t like this either. The voice is the same, with a unique and bonkers setting and plot. I could read a grocery list written by Broder and now it’s her - her voice lives in my head. She is me. I am her. I love her. I want to be her. I want to date her. I want to crawl in her skin and zip myself up! 

Read this one and become one with Melissa Broder like me.