Daphne leaves her unsatisfying administrative job at a San Francisco university to spend a few days with her one-year-old daughter in the California high country. Immigration issues have stranded her husband in Turkey, and a tragic occurrence at her job has left her disoriented. Packing up the house left to her by the recent deaths of her mother and grandparents, she deals with her memories, cares for her daughter, and tries to reconnect with the community she hasn't seen since childhood. But there's a lot going on under the surface in this rural town. Daphne finds a friend of sorts in Alice, a somewhat mysterious older woman travelling the area alone.

What impressed me about this book was Lydia Kiesling's ability to write about the everyday tasks of our lives with truth, insight and sly humor. She can write about the tedious yet oddly absorbing and sometimes terrifying routine of caring for a young toddler in a way that brings back my memories of those days. She describes the utterly mundane tasks of an average office job, and also the unwarranted importance given to those tasks, and even the guilt when what seems a simple, meaningless decision goes horribly wrong. But that's not all -- Kiesling also writes about some of the most prominent issues facing us today: our problematic immigration system and the threat of right-wing political radicalism. And she also includes the developing friendship between Daphne and older, somewhat cranky Alice, which goes in several unexpected directions, and even Daphne's adjustment to the grief of losing her mother and grandparents and thus her connection to the area. So many threads to Daphne's story, but they are all thoughtfully and intelligently written and make up a book that really does seem like a slice of life and not just a story. ( )

Why this book? Because of this blurb: "i don't get paid for these recs, i just read a lot and get real excited about good books. all the hyperlinks i added here (YOU'RE WELCOME) go to indiebound, because i spend a lot of time skulking around indie bookstores and no one ever kicks me out, but by all means get your books wherever you like to get your books. speaking of, have you read the golden state yet???" -- https://bitchesgottaeat.blogspot.com/2018/12/2018-holiday-survival-guide.html

Meh, bad choices, bad choices, bad choices........ ( )

Attempting to distance herself from unpleasantness in her work and personal life, Daphne takes an impromptu trip to her family home in the high desert of northern California only to find new challenges there.

This novel reads a bit like funny Kafka. The style---present-tense, long comma-less lists--- grates a bit at times, but Daphne is relatable in her maternal anxieties and her craving for a sense of place, and the story is interesting. ( )

Daphne is raising her toddler daughter Honey alone in San Francisco, working in an international institute at a University and dealing with the green card limbo of her Turkish husband. A tragedy on a trip she set up and the pressure of single parenting cause her to pack her car and her toddler and move abruptly to the California high desert, where she owns a mobile home inherited from her mother and her grandparents. She is seeking clarity, but over the next 10 days she drinks too much, wanders aimlessly around the town, and befriends an nonagenarian on a pilgrimage to a once happy place. Raw and emotional, this debut novel explores themes of motherhood, grief, and the difficulties of multi cultural marriage. ( )