There Once Were Orange Groves

by David Giles

There Once Were Orange Groves is an autofiction novel about two siblings, Audrey and Jacob, who are both grieving the sudden passing of their father. This bad news arrives soon after Audrey moves out of California and Jacob returns home from college. This book explores how each of them deals with their grief as it colors their day-to-day lives. It’s a novel about stories, finding beauty in the little things, and the places those moments inhabit.

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 11, 2023

Reviews

[Michael Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a post-post-modern element to this book. It fits into an interesting blurring and blending of genres in the world of letters nowadays, and David is surfing that wave admirably. It is simultaneously a memoir, a novel, and a play in three acts. The title, There Once Were Orange Groves, immediately resonated with this reader, having grown up in Long Beach, CA many moons ago, when there were tiny towns dotting an inland sea of orange groves in Orange County. As this multi-genre story hop-scotches in point of view, the reader discerns that David has no truck with small-talk. The book touches on mortality, grief, displacement, gender issues, existential angst, and more. Without attempts to delve exclusively into any of these difficult topics, through a singular lens. It looks at them more in the manner of a kaleidoscope. The issues are tough, even dark, but when any sort of array is put under a kaleidoscope, the dancing image becomes beautiful. It is a very experimental piece of work, and, without any spoiler alerts, I found Act 3 to be a very imaginative, satisfying, even uplifting resolution. An “A” for effort, for breaking fresh ground, I recommend it. For a first crack out of the literary box - 5 stars.

[Bookscoffeeandchaos | Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introspective and poignant with a touch of nostalgia, this book seamlessly blends the mundanity of daily life with deeper themes of loss, grief, building relationships, faith, sexuality and finding oneself. Using differing voices and points of view in an engaging and unique process, the raw emotions and relatable moments throughout the novel took me by complete surprise. I thoroughly savored each chapter after reading to digest the hidden truths contained within and let them resonate. When the twist at the end brings the characters storylines full circle, be prepared to shed a few tears.

This book might not be the best to read if you have experienced a loss recently, but honestly it was rather cathartic and engaging for me even though I lost someone very dear to me (my grandmother) while I was reading this book. All the pieces of this story were perfectly timed with events in my life, which is both disconcerting and amazing to me.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy meta fiction and stories that will open the mind to new perspectives and provoke you to examine your own thoughts in depth.

[Chuck Clevenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting book; I’ve not read anything like this before. This is the first Meta Fiction book I’ve encountered. The author did a wonderful job of making the characters realistic. The characters were real. I shared their emotions. I felt sorry for them. I felt a connection with them. David Giles made me feel the characters were real.

I struggled following the story and there were times I felt like giving up. The story meandered back and forth and at times I got lost. But I think that’s a virtue, not a vice. It drew me in and made me think to follow along. Approaching and reading the book more as a poem than novel might make more sense to the reader.

However, the end! What a surprising ending. That made it all worthwhile. The end showed me that art can be healing, that creating art can be therapeutic. I hope the book is made into a movie. I think it would make a great one.