Static Flux

by Natasha Young

Fiction. California Interest. Calla, a self-aware millennial with a vexing personality disorder, is struggling to make a living as a writer in post-Great Recession New York. Seeking the paradoxical equilibrium between freedom and security, she impulsively leaves for Los Angeles--and finds herself in a swirling array of distractions, pleasures, connections, and breakdowns. Natasha Young's quick-witted, kaleidoscopic debut novel will take you to the heart of despair in Brooklyn and leave you blissfully disassociated in the mythical hills of Los Angeles.

Genres: Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2018

Reviews

[Marilou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting, but I feel like I need a second reading to fully encompass how great it is. In many ways I thought it was somewhat like a modern, self aware millenial version of The Bell Jar. A hidden gem worth reading.

[Matila C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A response [please see "Endnote"]:

There is more to life than reading books that make you ‘feel good’ and pacify your senses with escapism.
I read Natasha Young’s book and I’m so disheartened to see that there are not enough intelligent well-read people left on the planet, for her work to receive a warranted review.
Young's book is doing something more sophisticated than the palate of humanistic reading material that critics such as H.C. Bradley of MRB review of books seem to be equating the work to.

The piece reads like a study in pessimism, it feels like today's equivalent of Orwell's ‘The Road to Wigan Pier.’ I happen to live in the same area of New York that Young's protagonist lives in at the beginning of her book. Many of the locations she describes there are places I personally have been to. I think it was tremendously brave of Young to write a book that shares what New York REALLY feels like – what it is actually like to live in a society in a state an apparent economic decline where the rich get richer and the poor get to wait on them at American Apparel.

My life did not take the road of the protagonist in this book, if anything I can see now that I was ‘one of the lucky ones,’ – but I feel like I lived and continue to live close enough to the fray of the social-economic war zone – to have felt all of the darkness Young's narrator describes.
For myself and so many of the people that I know here living in NY and attempting to contribute to the legacy of ‘the artist’/’the writer,’ this is 100% an accurate portrayal of what it feels like to live in a society which could care less if it citizens have no health coverage.
The area of Brooklyn that Young describes -- is indeed a playground for the rich. And how brave of Young as a writer to tell the truth – instead of some Lena Dunham fairytale. Reading her book made everything else I had been reading prior, look like variations of escapism.

While I do not know the writer of this book personally, I do personally and intimately know the world she inhabits – and I commend her.

[And the comment saying that the piece was humorless, feels like someone saying there should have been more levity in Les Misérables.] (see endnote)

In a nutshell: Natasha Young's book was a brave and honest, intellectual piece (a combination which is extremely rare today), thank goodness there are still some writers out there who are diligent and intelligent enough to produce serious literature, in a world of feel-good entertainment, and sensationalism.

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Endnote
The comment/response above was written after reading a review of Static Flux posted on the 'Montreal Review of Books' website, titled "Hummingbirds and Acid Trips", a review as mindless as its title sounds, --unfortunately also equivalent to the tenor of reviews this book received on Amazon.

I'm posing my comment here, as I will not be surprised if it never appears on the original site where it was submitted.
I am so earnestly disappointed that there are not more intellectual people writing thoughtful reviews of this book.

[Angella d'Avignon · Rating 3 out of 5]

writing with presence

[Christine M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, highly emotional – – I recommend reading this before bed after a puff or microdose (wild dreams, I promise)

[Jennifer Trimble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember where I saw this book mentioned, but when I saw it, I knew I had to read it. This book was about a young millennial woman, Calla, and her desire to establish herself in the world. Most of the story was about her purposefully sabotaging herself in different ways. We never find out exactly what is causing her to make such reckless decisions, but to me that seemed more real because most people don't know why they do what they do. I also really enjoyed the main characters inner commentary about some of the millennial clichés that are all to real, some making me laugh out loud even.

[Spencer Linton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meandering yet introspective and at times intense, it had a punchy ending and philosophical moments that I loved

[Josh Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked the first half especially.