The Golden State

by Lydia Kiesling

In Lydia Kiesling's razor-sharp debut novel, The Golden State, we accompany Daphne, a young mother on the edge of a breakdown, as she flees her sensible but strained life in San Francisco for the high desert of Altavista with her toddler, Honey. Bucking under the weight of being a single parent - her Turkish husband is unable to return to the United States because of a 'processing error' - Daphne takes refuge in a mobile home left to her by her grandparents in hopes that the quiet will bring clarity. But clarity proves elusive. Over the next ten days Daphne is anxious, she behaves a little erratically, she drinks too much. She wanders the town looking for anyone and anything to punctuate the long hours alone with the baby. Among others, she meets Cindy, a neighbour who is active in a secessionist movement, and befriends the elderly Alice, who has travelled to Altavista as she approaches the end of her life. When her relationships with these women culminate in a dangerous standoff, Daphne must reconcile her inner narrative with the reality of a deeply divided world. Keenly observed, bristling with humour, and set against the beauty of a little-known part of California, The Golden State is about class and cultural breakdowns, and desperate attempts to bridge old and new worlds. But more than anything, it is about its voracious worry, frequent tedium, and enthralling, wondrous love.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Novels, Audiobook, Adult Fiction, Family

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library overdrive Audiobook....read by
Amanda Dolan

This novel might have been good...
Parts were engaging...
But MOSTLY...
I was exhausted- drained - and agitated.
Let me try to explain...
I ‘did’ admire the prose - FOR AWHILE -
Wearing a puzzled semi- smile ...
I ‘did’ enjoy parts of the story itself. I even ‘kinda’ liked the idea of what the author was going for in her style of writing. I liked it until...
ENOUGH ALREADY...
a reader CAN’T be expected to maintain the rhythm of intensity of sooooo much chatter!!!! It begins to feel manic- rambling on an on - or like the character is on drugs. She did smoke
and drink as much as possible in between caring for baby Honey.
And what a silly name for a child!!!

Given I live in California and was familiar of the cities Daphne and her baby Honey drove through.... I was sure I would enjoy the pure adventure of this story. I did a little. They were described well -but so sarcastically delivered in dialogue with that ‘fast-chat’... my head was exploding.
I admit to enjoying the descriptions of the mountains more than the descriptions of Honey vomiting in her car seat.
And... at first enjoyed Daphne’s chatter-box- speaking at record speeds - quick - HURRY- get-in-every-little word & thought faster than-the-next-faster-than-the-speed of-light...was great &
a little funny. I thought she would get these little facts and details over with quickly ( respecting our time).. so as to move on to deeper more profound storytelling- with a little more depth.
I kept waiting...
...nothing much came.
Other than women considering choosing to become a single mother may change their mind after reading this novel.

God forbid - the poor narrator should take a breath - and god help us readers to have to listen to every tiny detail - second by second of a mother’s responsibility with a baby: feed, change diaper, cry, clean vomit, cry some more, feed again, string cheese, sweat, smoke a cigarette, drive, pee, baby cry again, mommy cry again ...while driving...
I WAS LITERALLY DRAINED!!!

Daphne does ALL the talking. The baby can’t talk..and the muslin husband is stuck in Turkey.. so he ain’t talkin either.

An entire novel of Daphne’s chatter -chatter - and more chatter becomes a ‘test’ of stamina and endurance.
Reading or listening to this novel could be compared to running a marathon. I began to walk....
until I was crawling to the finish line. Wasn’t sure I was going to make it.

I came through this finish line completely depleted. I’ve had more satisfying finishes.
This one was excruciating!!!!

2.5 stars for potential...even rating up - as there ‘is’ a story here of interest - and the writing - works in parts. A risk the author took - which I admire her for - ‘and’ drained me.

[Tyler Goodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Golden State is a novel of sparse landscape and deep emotion. When Daphne and her baby drive to the high desert of Northern California, they are alone in a way that feels enervating and dangerous. Daphne is written with such a strong sense of feeling, it inevitably carries over to the reader. You are filled with love for Honey, Engin, the old crone Alice, and hate for the unfairness of the situation they have found themselves in. I was so sad for this novel to end.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have I ever read a book like this? I mean, a book that really understands and dignifies the daily mixture of work and boredom that comes from spending your day with a toddler? I don't think I have. I always get annoyed by kids who get paraded around in books or on television as convenient props that disappear so adults can have meaningful conversations or go out on important errands. Nope. Uh-uh. That is NOT what life is like. Lydia Kiesling knows that if you're a mom and you're tired, you've got to find a way to keep your toddler safe or go through the mental guilt complex of letting your kid zone out in front of a screen. If you're a mom and you need to get somewhere, you've got to schlep all the stuff. I've never read a scene that better captures what it is like to try to take a toddler to a restaurant or figure out whether to leave the kid in the car or risk taking her out of the carseat. She writes about dying to get the baby to sleep then wanting to snuggle so you wake the kid up again. About juggling an umbrella and a squirming toddler, about love and frustration and guilt all at once. I just got completely swept up in this character's thoughts. The inner conflict was so familiar it was palpable. I recognized every thought that entered Daphne's mind as she tried to care for her daughter and care for herself and do right by her employer and her husband and her new friend. (Except the desire for a smoke!)

This would be a great book club choice for moms who can handle a little blue language. I loved the way the sentences flowed without commas, creating that constant urgency and patter of worry that runs through a mom's mind. This was a winner for me & I'm on board for whatever she's got in store for her next book. It made a day with outrageous flight delays go by pretty quickly, all things considered.

[Diane Yannick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been trying too many debut authors. I need to go back to my reliable favorites for a bit. The minutiae of parenting was described in detail. Way too much detail for me. Too many diapers, cheese sticks and tantrums. If you’re really nostalgic for your wee 16 month old, this could be your book as Honey is pretty cute. Motherhood is depicted realistically—frustration and pure love all mixed together. The rural town in Northern California was described with care.

I felt that the writing was a mishmash that didn’t work. I enjoy stream of consciousness writing and can easily deal with the lack of punctuation and standard sentences that comes with it. However, this felt like a hybrid that didn’t pick a lane.

The ending did not fit with the rest of the book. All of a sudden, the slow pace turns kinetic. Yeah, stuff finally happens but it’s kind of ridiculous.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful debut. My only criticism (and I've seen this from others) is no commas....it doesn't so much cause confusion as detract from the flow of the reading but overall this book has good narrative fluidity. I'm a slow reader and I read it in a day and a half.

I wish she had named her daughter anything but Honey because every time I read that name, all I could think of was that wretched little Honey-Boo-Boo.

And when she meets the people that want to secede from California and she says "it's nice to be in a bar, it's nice to talk to people, even these people" and I'm thinking no it isn't, you should stay away from those people because they are prejudiced AF but her thoughts just prove how lonely and isolated she feels.

But here's an observation that I thought particularly insightful...."I wonder if that's the source of the world's sorrows, that everyone assumes everyone else did something to deserve it because otherwise the things that happen to people are just too horrible to bear." That one made me think for a long time about victim blaming.

This TOB contender will contribute to the immigration narrative that is a focal point of this year's TOB along with books America is Not the Heart and The House of Broken Angels. I don't think it's the best of the lot but then The House of Broken Angels stole my heart this year.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiesling did not come to play. If her aim was to evoke the tedium and bright love of parenting, the infernal frustration of dealing with racist and Islamophobic bureaucracy, the stomach-dropping feeling of complicity in hazy situations, she has nailed it. I love novels where the plot is launched with a woman running away from her life and Daphne is such a well-drawn character she pulls you in and suddenly you care deeply about her, baby Honey and the people they meet.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot going on here--primarily the tedium, joy and primordial anxiety of early parenthood, but also things like the bureaucratic absurdities that befall a character caught up in US immigration laws, rural Westerners feuding with the Feds, and the toll of accumulated grief. The life-with-baby parts required a bit of patience, but Kiesling's first-person protagonist kept my sympathies and didn't make me feel all judgy and impatient...and the payoff was worth it.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Daphne is at her wit’s end and she has many reasons to be.
~ She has been torn from her Turkish husband, Engin due to an “accidental click of the mouse”. His green card stripped, the two are now hundreds of miles away.
~ She worries over her husband. Her cynical nature has little faith in bureaucrats. Will he ever make it home to their family?
~ Her insecurities abound. She can’t help but wonder how she compares to other women. With her imagination running wild she fears Engin may cheat on her.
~ She is overwhelmed by her job feeling a “sense of being over AND under-utilized.”
~ This is the first time Daphne has had to live the life of a single mom. She is not confident in her parenting skills.

Daphne packs up her small daughter and takes flight back to her grandparent’s mobile home. This is where our journey to The Golden State begins. Although this book deals with immigration issues, prejudice and statehood rights, the primary focus was on motherhood -- not just the joys of motherhood, but also its attendant frustrations. Told in a stream of consciousness reminiscent of Elif Batuman’s The Idiot, the voice of Daphne was at times cynical. Despite what I saw as a similarity in writing styles, The Golden State was more relevant to my experience. When Kiesling states “Why did I have a child? To have a child is to court loss.”, I couldn’t help but think of Fever Dream and Scweblin’s “rescue distance”. As a mother, that fear is ever present. And although no one will contest the gift that motherhood brings, oftentimes we gloss over the day-to-day struggle and allow the pressure to be perfect parents bear us down. Kiesling’s portrayal of motherhood is fully dimensional and contemplative with Daphne’s rant lending the perfect dose of humor.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a demographic out there for whom this story will have greater appeal, but I am not part of it. I do think that young adults, single parents, and those who struggle more with the sacrifices required to raise children (and everybody does to some extent) will find plenty that resonates with them. Moms who have been taken for granted while doing yeoman's work keeping their families humming will perhaps have more appreciation. I found Daphne interesting, to be sure, and moderately sympathetic but also whiny and uninspiring.

The story also suffers from a lack of development. Not a whole lot happens externally; neither does the protagonist reach any deep understanding about herself or the world around her. I do prefer one or the other, if not both. Without that, I find myself questioning my investment of time and energy.

The writing is often quite good and I will definitely give Kiesling another try if the subject matter is more appealing.

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

I really hate to dis a debut book, a new author, but this is definitely a 'do not read' book. I actually listened to this book, however I doubt that it made a big difference.

The story of a young woman - a whiny young woman - who along with her screaming, tantrum throwing baby leaves her job, moves away and makes new friends, since her Turkish husband returns to Turkey for an education. This book is just blah, blah, blah! Either the child is throwing a tantrum and screaming or the mother is coo-cooing the child incessantly. Just a monotone of Woe-is-me! Nothing worth listening to, or reading. Nine hours of listening or 300 pages or reading that you can't get back! Extremely hard to pick it back up. Don't bother.

[Jerrie]

DNF. This book is boring me, so gotta bail. Taking care of a toddler can be brief moments of joy interspersed among frustrating and tedious days. Reading almost 300 pages about it even more so. There are some other political issues highlighted in the book, but there’s just not enough here to keep me reading. 😴😴

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I adored this novel. I have spent more time thinking about how to review it than I did reading it. (It was compulsively easy to read.) During the days I spent thinking about what I wanted to say, I have gone out to lunch, picked up new glasses, had dinner and plenty of drinks at a music event and listened to the hour long interview with Lydia Kiesling on the Otherppl podcast. Meanwhile the library due date for the book has come and gone. Time, as they say, is up.

Daphne, the mother of 14-month-old Honey, her first child, has been juggling too much for too long. Her Turkish husband has been kept out of the United States by immigration bureaucratic fuckery for months. She has a full time job and a good daycare for Honey but money is tight, her somewhat cool job involves more bureaucracy, and she is lonely for her husband.

One Friday she has a mild meltdown. On the way to work, she turns around, goes back to their apartment, packs up basic necessities, picks up Honey from daycare and splits. Since this happens in San Francisco, CA, USA, Daphne has a car. She also has an inherited mobile home (the nice kind with a yard on a piece of property) in a small high desert town.

During her ten days there, she spends hour after hour with Honey, pretty much obsessing over her current life situation. Such is the writing skill of Lydia Kiesling that she turns these ten days of the minutia of toddler care, the odd encounters smart, liberal Daphne has with the Trump supporters in town, the obsessive pingponging of her mind, into a gripping narrative.

I have not spent hours at a time with small children for many years; over 40 years ago with my own, almost 20 years ago with my grandchildren. I have apparently not forgotten the strange brew of deep love for them and even deeper boredom as the hours pass. I always felt overcome by the love and guilty about the boredom. I have never felt more understood about all of that than I did while reading The Golden State.

Then, all of a sudden (though surely both Daphne and I should have seen it coming) this young woman involves herself so impetuously in an ill-advised situation that I feared for her and Honey for the last 90 pages. I mean real fear, heart-pounding, foreboding fear.

I got to know Lydia Kiesling's writing through a regular feature on The Millions, one of the first highly successful literary blogs. She wrote brilliant, interesting reviews about many of the 100 Modern Library novels. I was drawn to her voice, her perceptions, her style. In fact, she had the most influence on me as a reviewer out of the countless book reviewers I have read. She is now the editor of The Millions and The Golden State is her first novel. From the first page I recognized that voice.

If you are a mom, not the perfect kind but the kind who wants (or wanted) to be as perfect as possible without losing touch with the rest of your life, I recommend this novel. It is like therapy and the writing is as perfect as we all wanted to be.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Golden State” is a literary tale of a mother on the lam. Author Lydia Kiesling provides the reader with authentic feelings of a mother of a toddler; a working mother who is examining whether her work or staying with her child is most important. And then there are those insecure feelings of motherhood: am I feeding my child a nutritious meal? Am I providing a stimulating environment? Am I disciplining my child correctly or am I too lenient or too harsh? All those themes are reason enough to read this treasure. Kieslings literary skills are another reason. Linguistic lovers will thoroughly enjoy her debut novel.

The novel begins when Daphne has a meltdown with her job. She works at University Institute and questions her worth to society. Her husband is stuck in the country of Turkey because he has Green Card issues. Daphne has been a single mother for months, trying to be the best mother while working with egomaniacs. What’s a Mom to do? She grabs her baby from daycare and hits the road to a house/trailer that she inherited.

The novel is broken out in days, ending in Day 10. Yes, it’s only a ten-day novel, and any parent of a toddler will attest that in ten days, lots happen. No rest for the weary.

The novel real gathers steam when Daphne meets 92 year-old Alice who is on her own little odyssey. Alice is making a cross-country trip to visit a camp that her husband worked. Alice shares a bit of wisdom with Daphne while Daphne and baby Honey bring life to Alice. Kiesling also adds a bit of political fun by adding the insurgents of the movement to breakup California into different States.

As with all literature, this is a slow and beautiful read. Plan to take sometime with this one. It’s fabulous and worth the reading time.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
“This is my house, ” I say aloud, and everything in the house contradicts me, down to its dubious foundation.

It is to this house in the desert of Altavista with her baby girl Honey that Daphne flees, leaving behind her work at the University of San Francisco, a student who has never quite finished her PhD despite encouragement from those around her because “working at the institute has amply illustrated the precarious sh*tshow that is a life of the mind”. She is a single mother for all intents and purposes as her Turkish husband, Engin is trapped by a ‘processing error’ and cannot return to the United States of America. The novel follows Daphne and Honey through the desolation their lives have become in Engin’s absence. Single despite the occasional Skype with Honey’s daddy, a tiresome thing, Skype when her life is already consumed by meeting her child’s needs and demands. A desert seems a fitting place, because this is a sort of desert period for Daphne. The house is her grandparent’s mobile home, her mother is dead and it’s hers now. Her family had lived there for a long time, settled and rooted but this life doesn’t fit her.

You can’t expect a lot of dialogue between a baby and her mother and yet Kiesling manages to make Honey a solid person, whether she is cranky and whiney or like on Day 5 kissing her mommy’s face awake. That’s how we bond though, without words and there is a beautiful intimacy in it. It gets boring at times, and you feel as bogged down as she does but at least the baby is always real, present unlike so many stories where children are unnaturally silent the entire novel. I dont’ think such children exist in reality. Right now, ‘conversations are work’ and Daphne seems to both welcome and hate this self-imposed exile. She thinks Ellery and Maryam, having met their doom and compares the young women to her own very much alive child. But it’s a thought she doesn’t like to feed on, and in some strange way may shoulder a bit of blame for, or maybe not, can you bear the blame of fate’s whims? She should be opening emails, dealing with whatever mess she has jumped ship from back at the university, but she cannot find the wherewithal do it. She is in a sort of strange in-between time so many mother’s are familiar with after the birth of a child. Daphne plus one.

She meets the locals, and explains she works for an institute that studies Islamic studies which naturally begs the question, “Like Isis?” Daphne studies the language, and how countries share an islamic past. Bring up Muslim and hackles raise with a cry of Isis, which is often a shamefully believeable reaction in our country. She absolutely defends her husband and all the Muslims who don’t go around ‘blowing people up’ and plotting terrorism, yet this also isn’t the point of the novel. Despite this, she and Cindy become friends of sorts, even though she doesn’t agree with her ‘ideology.’ The biggest group of people are ‘State of Jeffersoners’, not the sort of group her husband Engin (if he ever returns to her) will be able to tolerate. The possibility of a life where her family’s people have been since the 1800’s just may not be a viable option for her. She gets caught up, somewhat, in the secessionists who don’t want to deal with ‘urban problems’. Generations of people who feel the government is robbing them of the resources they’ve always had to themselves. She meets an old ‘auntie-type’ Alice, who has been to Turkey and serves as a sort of stand in grandma, support she surely lacks with Engin scattered to the wind and the rest of her family dead. A woman who has had much loss and sadness of her own, that far surpasses anything Daphne is struggling with. They take up together on a trip and everything goes sour, this is the climactic moment in an otherwise quiet story.

The story touched on xenophobia here and there, but not as much as you would expect. I was disappointed that Engin was as absent for me as he seems to be for Honey and Daphne. I wondered if some bone thrown my way about their love would have made me care more. Engin aside, I enjoyed the tender moments as much as the exasperating ones between Daphne and Honey. The writing is beautiful but the story did drag often and I usually enjoy being a visitor in a character’s mind. Sometimes I felt as exhausted as Daphne. Good but nothing much happens until the very end.

Publication Date: September 4, 2018

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a review of this book that said they didn’t like the stream of consciousness or lack of punctuation. This made me laugh because that’s exactly why people love ULYSSES. In many ways, this book is like ULYSSES. It’s nine days in the life of a 30-something who’s trying to juggle raising a child and helping her Turkish husband get his green card back. But it’s actually more than that. It’s about the racism at the heart of this country (yes, even in California) and the search for meaning. Which is more than can be said for ULYSSES. It’s also an amazing and realistic look at motherhood where motherhood is not an art form or a burden but just a thing that is. And where the mother realizes that the child is her own person. So good. Far exceeded my expectations.

[Katie Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another meh book from #TOB2019. A young mother tries to flee the stress of her life after her husband is deported, under complicated circumstances, and a crisis at work, to her grandparents' home in rural Alta Vista. Kiesling does well to create a feeling of isolation, loneliness, and frustration throughout, but I am left wondering what the point of all of it is as it all feels aimless. There isn't really anything Daphne can do about her husband's immigration status, so there is a lot of what amounts to foot stomping, whining, and worry spiraling from her, which, while understandable, grows quite tiresome to read.

[Bob Lopez · Rating 2 out of 5]

What even is this book? A lot of minutiae little plot, the most interesting part was the last section of the book with Alice in the woods, and I don’t know if it was genuinely interesting or if it was bc the rest of the book was such a snore. The immigration issues occupied so little of the book it’s a wonder why it was even included.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honey falls. A lot. Her forehead is probably covered in purple bruises. But that's what toddlers do.

Daphne, thirty-something, leaves her grant-writing job at a university one day on a whim, scoops up her 18-month-old daughter from daycare, and heads out north from San Francisco in her old Buick. They drive four hours south of the Oregon border to Alta Vista, a fictional town where her grandmother left her a trailer. She delights in her daughter’s antics for days on end, while trying to stave off loneliness.

The only place with internet reception is close to her neighbor Cindy’s home. She and Honey sit on a picnic table in the backyard to steal Cindy’s wi-fi so they can call Engin, Daphne’s husband in Turkey, who has been caught up in a US immigration nightmare.

Cindy is not so friendly, but at least initially, not overtly threatening. Cindy and Daphne are cordial.

Daphne makes friends with a 92-year-old woman in a coffee shop when she realizes the woman, Alice, understands a little Turkish.

In the course of a week, Cindy and Daphne will be the central characters that motivate Daphne to choose a course for her life and that of Honey. It appears Daphne has left San Francisco looking for something. She’s confused. It’s unclear when or if her husband will be permitted to leave his native country and enter the US. She’s unsure why she didn’t finish her PhD. She ponders her mother and grandmother’s deaths and the absence of everyone she knew when she reaches Alta Vista.

Prior to meeting Cindy and Alice, Daphne spends an inordinate amount of time pondering death. In one particularly dark but comic passage, Daphne imagines every single way Honey could die. Indeed, the book vacillates between morbid and darkly comic.

Similarly, the reader may vacillate between liking and hating Daphne. One minute she’s an outstanding mother, the next she’s sneaking cigarettes and screwdrivers or leaving Honey in her car seat with the engine running. Daphne is flawed. A mother other mothers can relate to.

Speaking of mothers, whether you’re one or not, the passages about diaper-changes and poop seem endless. And after you read the novel, you’ll think of string cheese differently. Enough with the string cheese already.

Kiesling favors run on sentences and repeating adjectives three times, something Ray Bradbury did in Fahrenheit 451. The sentences become especially long at the end of the book as the tension rises. These techniques worked well.

Ironically, it’s Daphne’s obsession with death that causes her transformation. We shouldn’t be surprised since it’s what she’s thinking about in the first sentence of the novel.

[Alison Hardtmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This profound and insightful debut novel is ALL about the voice, with stream-of-consciousness prose that’s so sharp and wry. I think some readers may struggle with it. I loved it.

Daphne is in the midst of a crisis and needs to escape. Her husband has been stuck in Turkey for eight months, his green card revoked and unable to return to America due to what amounts to be an infuriatingly bureaucratic “click-of-the-mouse error.” Left mothering her toddler alone for the time being, Daphne is lonely, exasperated and lacking connection. She heads to a rural California town to stay at her uncle’s abandoned mobile home indefinitely.

While there, Daphne meets Cindy, her neighbor in the trailer park, who is part of a right-wing separatist movement; and Alice, an elderly woman who has endured unspeakable loss and hardship.

This is one of the most striking novels about motherhood I’ve come across in recent memory, offering candid insight into the joy, fear, anxiety, awe, monotony and love that comes with being a new mother. It also tackles bigger topical issues, like the carelessness and callousness of American immigration policies driven by Islamophobia.

I went back and forth between giving this 4 or 5 stars. There are definitely some dense passages to get through from time to time, but I was so awed and touched by the humor, sadness and overall REALNESS of Daphne’s narrative that I’m going with the higher rating.

[Mary Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the plot and character development in "The Golden State" by Lydia Kiesling, the first few chapters were tough reading as I adapted to the author's style (lack of punctuation (particularly commas), run on sentences, stream of conscious narrative). The intensely told story of Daphne, a young mother who's husband has been sent back to Turkey due to an "input error" on his green card, of sorts. She works for a university foundation, assisting students who wish to study in Asia (among other administrative tasks) and simply walks out of her job one day to return to the home she inherited from her grandparents and mother. The entire novel covers slightly more than a week, while Daphne and her daughter Honey learn of the rural area and interact with new and old acquaintances. There is a side plot of a secessionist movement seeking to split up the state of California and one involving an elderly woman navigating her past, all while Daphne and Honey contemplate next steps. The ending is a little unsatisfying, but this is a thought provoking read which would work well for literary-minded book discussion groups.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was no point to this story. The book dragged on and was repetitive. Few, if any, likable characters. Found no humor in this story - very tedious.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant to read this as I have no experience with being a young mother, but Kiesling pulled me in. She does a great job capturing Daphne's claustrophobic fear. The lack of commas annoyed me but not enough to rate it below 5 stars. I love books that take me completely out of my own experience. This did so perfectly.

[Mattia Ravasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video review

Splendidly crafted portrait of a stressed mind going through a breakdown. Terrible advertisement for the actual Golden State.

[Sarah at Sarah's Bookshelves]

DNF at 3%
I immediately didn’t like the writing style…it was wordy, overly descriptive, and full of run-on sentences. I knew pretty quickly I wouldn’t be able to tolerate 300 pages of it.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much truth in this fully interior, stream of consciousness style narrative about parenting a small child, secession-fringe politics, and injustices of the U.S. immigration system. Never hits a wrong note.

[Saya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever read the right book at the right time? This October I gave birth to my first child. Reading Kiesling’s account of parenting a small child and the associated banalities, joys, and anxieties really hit home for me. It all felt so real, from the relationship with the crone, to the secessionist movement - it all just worked.

[Ruthiella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see where this will be a miss for some readers but I found it fascinating in its minutia. The Golden State was a fantastic portrayal of a woman on the edge… Daphne is a single parent to a toddler as her husband remains in Turkey due to some Homeland Security loophole. She has a good administrative job at an Institute of Islamic studies at a local university, but she hates it, in particular since two graduate students connected with the Institute were in an accident abroad which resulted in the death of one of the women and her boss has delegated handling it to her. So one morning she leaves work, picks up her daughter from day care and heads off to the high desert of Northern California for a day, a week, maybe forever.

It eventually adds up to an epiphany of sorts. But to get there the reader spends 300 pages in Daphne’s head experiencing the dreariness as well as the joy of caring for small children , her contemplation of legal fictions such as borders and nationality, her doubts about marriage and its difficulties and its benefits, her constant questioning of herself as a mother. I found it fascinating and authentic.

[Janelle Hanchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always wanted to write a book about a mother who takes off one day and nobody knows, including her, if she’s insane or not, but this author has done it so perfectly I don’t think i can.

She articulated aspects of motherhood I’ve perhaps never seen written so accurately. Unbelievably refreshing to see motherhood written about in such an un-sanctimonious way, and yet doused in that real, real love. I rarely want to meet an author after reading one book. I’d love to meet this one. Mostly to thank her.

Read this if you’re sick of the bullshit narratives surrounding motherhood. If you’re tired. If you’re lost. You’ll see yourself. There’s power there.

[Alexandra Sweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book where I've taken photos of the pages because Lydia Kiesling's writing so perfectly captures the experience of parenting (so loving, so tedious, so constant) that I have returned to the images on my phone to laugh or sigh or cry.