Gold Fame Citrus

A Novel

By: Claire Vaye Watkins

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, MacLeod Andrews

An acclaimed “5 Under 35” fiction writer’s much-anticipated first novel

In 2012, Claire Vaye Watkins’s story collection, Battleborn, swept nearly every award for short fiction. Now this young writer, widely heralded as a once-in-a-generation talent, returns with a first novel that will more than meet readers’ hopes, harnessing the sweeping vision and deep heart that made her debut so arresting to a love story set in a devastatingly imagined near future.

In a parched southern California of the near future, Luz, once the poster child for the country’s conservation movement, and Ray, an army deserter turned surfer, are squatting in a starlet’s abandoned mansion. Most “Mojavs,” prevented by armed vigilantes from freely crossing borders to lusher regions, have allowed themselves to be evacuated to encampments in the east. Holdouts like Ray and Luz subsist on rationed cola and water, and whatever they can loot, scavenge, and improvise.

For the moment, the couple’s fragile love, which somehow blooms in this arid place, seems enough. But when they cross paths with a mysterious child, the thirst for a better future begins. Heading east, they are waylaid in the desert by a charming and manipulative dowser – a diviner for water -- and his cultlike followers, who have formed a colony in a mysterious sea of dunes.

Immensely moving, profoundly disquieting, and mind-blowingly original, Watkins’s novel explores the myths we believe about others and tell about ourselves, the double-edged power of our most cherished relationships, and the shape of hope in a precarious future that may be our own.

Meh

I'm not so sure what I thought. I know I loved her description of details. I love the way she explained visual scenes. I guess I'm not moved by the story. It didn't grip me. I don't love the desert, or apocalyptic waterless, dusty futures. I liked the Mormon aspect. I just didn't get too attached to the characters, none were particularly super likeable. I did not like the ending. I believe the author is good at describing a story, I don't like the story though. Just Meh.
The reading was ok. The woman's voice was nice, I didn't like the annunciation of character changes.

Full Range of Humanity on Display

If you now live a relatively comfortable life with shelter, water & food, do you really know how you would adapt and behave in this kind of world? This story contains all the good and bad of humanity. It feels like a resource-scarce future will definitely enable the bad, even when it may at first appear to be good. Humans strive to belong and be part of a community. A lesson here is that community is fragile; it takes constant work and vigilance from all of us so that we foster empathy and protect each other. In doing so, we prevent/do not allow greed, power, and dominance to infect us. Sadly, just as we have not adequately cared for the earth, humanity is incapable of caring for itself. This book is a microcosm of all of humanity’s triumphs and flaws.

Drought. and Survival

California is a Desert blooming in water. This is a harrowing story of what could happen if all the water was taken away. Values of every aspect of life would be drastically altered. Luz, Ray and the baby that finds them are travelers in a time warp.

Utterly unique.

Bowled over by this book and the wonderful reading. It was utterly unique and memorable.

A Tough Look at a Not-too-Distant Future

Any additional comments?

I have so many conflicting feelings about this book, but I think that comes from how complicated the female protagonist is. Luz is a broken as a person can possibly be, but continues to find the strength to carry on. As her choices, and often mistakes, continue to affect all those on her journey with her, you will fluctuate between hope and despair. In a not-too-distant future world where the earth has used up it's resources and the horizon looks bleak, there is not much that is uplifting about this novel. But it's honest, brutally honest. I was immersed in it from beginning to end and upon finishing the book, have only been looking for someone to talk to about it.