California
Edan Lepucki, 2014
Little, Brown & Co.
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316250818
Summary
The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them.
They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable in the face of hardship and isolation. Mourning a past they can't reclaim, they seek solace in each other.
But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.
Terrified of the unknown and unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses dangers of its own. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.
A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1980-81
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Oberlin College; M.F.A., Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Edan Lepucki is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a staff writer for The Millions. Her short fiction has been published in McSweeney's and Narrative magazine, among other publications, and she is the founder and director of Writing Workshops Los Angeles. This is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[A] propulsive, subtly sinister, post-apocalyptic tale by debut novelist Edan Lepucki.... A careful narrator, Lepucki does a wonderful job maintaining a feeling of suspense throughout her book without ever drawing a full picture of what Cal and Frida are looking at.... [Cal] is kind of a lunkhead: He is that action-movie character whose dumb choices can only be explained as a way to further the plot. The conversations he takes part in are some of the least rewarding parts of this story, clunky and melodramatic.... But those are minor quibbles with a book that, once begun, there's little reason to put down.
Sam Worley - Chicago Tribune
[A] suspenseful debut.... Lepucki focuses on Cal and Frida’s evolving relationship and their divergent approaches to their predicament. As seen in chapters told from their alternating perspectives, the less they trust each other, the more tension mounts, building to an explosive climax that few readers will see coming.
Publishers Weekly
While this debut novel has some potential as a disturbing postapocalyptic thriller, it stumbles in its execution. The characters don't evoke a lot of sympathy and the ambiguous ending leaves readers hanging. [Stephen Colbert promoted the book as a response to the Amazon-Hachette dispute.—Ed.] —Karin Thogersen, Huntley Area P.L., IL
Library Journal
Lepucki’s characters...must weigh every word, expression, and gesture. This results in too much disquisition through conversations, and the plot falters, but the settings are haunting and Lepucki’s inquiry into the psychology of trust, both intimate and communal, is keen and compelling. —Donna Seaman
Booklist
[Lepucki] isn’t above bending the rules, which makes it more difficult to feel real concern for Cal and Frida. They will never be in too much trouble; Lepucki won’t allow it. The chapters...are heavy on flashbacks that bog down an otherwise tense narrative of survival. This has the bones of an excellent book, but, sadly, an untenable amount of flab is covering them.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What meaning do Frida’s artifacts hold for her? How do they serve as a connection to her former life? If you had to abandon your life, what sentimental items might you keep?
2. Do you think Frida and Cal’s interactions with August and the Millers helped to keep them sane in the wilderness? How do you think their experience would have been different had they been totally alone,without other human contact?
3. Have you ever had a relationship, romantic or otherwise, that could have withstood the pressures of isolation that Frida and Cal’s marriage is subject to?
4. Do you think Cal and Frida were unprepared for what they found when they left LA? Why or why not? Do you think there was anything they could have done to prepare themselves better?
5. After four months of being in the wilderness, Frida thinks her husband sees her as “a problem to solve” (14). How do you think Cal would have described this same scene? Do you think he actually felt this way about his wife? Why or why not?
6. What motivates Micah to do what he does? Is he a monster, or is he simply deranged by his radical beliefs? Why does violence attract him so?
7. How realistic does the author’s vision of the future seem? Do you imagine the world devolving in this way? Or do you imagine it will turn out differently?
8. What is so seductive about communities, be it superficial ones, like The Land, or natural ones, like family? What does community mean for each of the characters in California?
9. What role does loss—or the fear of loss—play in the novel?
10. Why do you think the characters are willing to give up so much for safety? Do you think the sacrifices are worth it? Why or why not?
11. What are the characters’ differing views on parenthood, and how do they propel the events in the novel?
12. How does the book’s shifting perspective help you to understand these characters and their relationships?
13. How does the author depict gender roles in the novel? Do you think these roles make sense given the nature of the society? Why or why not?
14. What do you make of Frida and Cal’s marriage at the end of the novel? How do you think it’s changed over the course of the book?
15. Do you think Frida and Cal’s child will live a happy life?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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