Edan Lepucki

Frida and Cal are a typical young married couple. They bicker. They keep meaningless secrets just to see if they can. They explore their roles within their marriage. And they are aware of the existence of exactly five other people, because they live in the post-apocalyptic wasteland formerly known as California. When their four neighbors eat poison (for some unfathomable reason), Frida and Cal decide to leave their little home of a shack and a garden to see what else they can find in the show more wide world. What they discover is not just their future but their past, and the role that each of them might have played in the breakdown of society.

This book has received a lot of attention due to the author being featured on The Colbert Report as the poster-child for first-time authors affected by the Amazon-Hachette dispute. While it might not be everyone's cup of tea, for me the story lived up to all the hype. The dissection of the early years of a marriage is a common theme in literature, but I have never seen it in a setting like this. The only imperfection was that I found the ending to be a little unsatisfying, but only because the rest of the story was so darn good. (It's also more exciting than I made it sound, but I didn't want to give too much away.) Definitely recommended to fans of Oryx and Crake (though it's not as complex) or Cormac McCarthy's The Road (though it's not as bleak as that). I'm very excited to see what Lepucki comes up with next, and I'm pleased that she's getting the attention she deserves. show less

While California is firmly set in mid-apocalyptic (a phrase I borrowed from the author's husband's review) America, it's also at its center, a study of a marriage, of the secrets people keep from each other, even when it seems they've told each other everything, and how outsiders can affect the relationship.

The married couple here are Frida and Cal, who we meet after they've been living in almost total isolation for two years. They've left behind a shattered L.A. (where Frida lived her show more entire life) for a life of solitary homesteading somewhere further inland. The year is roughly 2040 and the natural disasters and illnesses that wiped out large chunks of the U.S. population are mentioned as the novel progresses, but mostly in passing.

Although their lives are utilitarian at best, they live peacefully. Their main leisure activities are thinking and having sex, which leads to Frida getting pregnant. Impending parenthood drives them to seek out a nearby settlement, which changes everything -- not only in the bigger scheme of things, but on an intimate level, as secrets are revealed and new secrets are kept.

Frida and Cal are less likable once they are surrounded by others (especially Frida who reveals herself to be infinitely smackable), but the story definitely gets more interesting. The entire novel is told in third person limited, bouncing back and forth between Frida's and Cal's perspectives, so we only know the other characters through their eyes. This approach effectively builds tension, since the reader doesn't know who can be trusted any more than the protagonists do, while still being aware of the secrets between the couple.

While some plot elements feel a little too convenient or too dramatic, California is ultimately successful -- thought-provoking and entertaining at the same time. show less

What I liked most about 'There's No Place Like Home' was the focus on the way thirteen-year-old Vic's perception of her situation and her relationships changed over the course of the story. The story is set in a near future America where climate change has made large portions of the USA uninhabitable and where Vic's generation, born after the major changes hit, are, for reasons unknown, perpetually stuck in prepubescence. There are lots of intriguing details about climate change and its show more effects on daily life but I liked that while these details provided an essential context for the story, they weren't allowed to dominate it.

The heart of the story lay in Vic's reassessment of her relationship with her parents. Initially, Vic comes across as a Daddy's Girl. He has been her teacher and her friend and was the person that she most loved and admired. Until, in the early pages of the story, he kills himself.

Vic needs to understand why he did this. She needs to grieve. She needs to rebuild her relationship with her mother. Most of all, she needs to find a way to earn enough money to get herself and her mother out of the financial hole her father's death has left them in.

As the story progresses, Vic comes to realise how poorly her father had been coping with the reality of the world that she has grown up in.

He was an educated man who was constantly mourning the loss of the world as it used to be, forecasting the inevitable doom of the human race and disparaging the unprincipled things that people were doing to survive.

It takes Vic a while to see that this worldview was a sign of weakness rather than wisdom. Vic looks at her world as it is, acknowledges the discomforts and the personal challenges but still sees beauty in the world and has a desire to go on living.

By the end of the story, Vic has accepted three things: by committing suicide, the power of her father's voice in her head has been nullified; her mother is and always has been, the stronger parent and Vic's future, such as it is, is hers to build.

'There's No Place Like Home' took me a little over an hour to listen to but, in that time, I got to see a plausible near-future and got to meet the women who were finding a way to cope with it. To me, that felt like time well spent. show less

This book had me cringing, yet I was intrigued and felt compelled to read to the end. The setting is Los Angeles and a great many themes are explored throughout this novel. The two main characters, are at such transitional points in their life, making rash irresponsible decisions. These two women grew up with “bad mothers,” however end up becoming their mothers, either inadvertently or purposely in the pursuit of art. They are brought together in this novel as Lady has separated from her show more husband and is looking for a nanny. “S,” as Esther is calling herself in her play-act of being her mother, responds to nanny position and is hired on the spot, without even a reference check.

It is about mothering, the different ways a woman may parent different children. It is about bonds between mother and child and boundaries. It is about identity, as a mother, as a daughter, as an individual.

It is about relationships between women and how quickly they can change. The characters in this novel and their relationships with each other are incredibly well developed. The reader experiences the shifts in the relationship as life changes or new facts come to light.

It is about bad choices in relationships with men that seem exciting, yet leave the women with emptiness. It is about the possibility of good relationships with good men, that seem boring and easy to throw away. These women, Lady and Esther, through whose alternating voices the novel is rendered, seem destined to self-sabatoge. Esther, in becoming her mother, takes the color out of her hair, dresses in frumpy clothing, drinks herself into oblivion, and makes poor rash choices on many fronts. Lady plays with fire on several fronts. Most shockingly, she revisits the father of her oldest son (whose identity she is hiding from her son) not just once but repeatedly.

It is about art and the subtle shifts that can change the entire tone of the piece. The title of the book refers to a photograph taken by Lady’s sister-in-law, Kit Daniels. It was part of a series of photographs taken of ‘regular’ women caught off guard, with clutter in the backgrounds. Lady’s original photo had been altered for the publication, and the slight alteration made a tremendous difference in the way she presented. Certain other details were hidden as well.

In the end, this novel is about learning to accept yourself and the life given you, your strengths and weaknesses, not trying to copy or imitate others’, but to work with what life has handed to you.

Even though, I was annoyed with the characters and their alacrity for self-sabatoge, from which they all seemed saved at the end, I do think the novel was incredibly well executed. It is not a feel good beach read. It is much deeper and more complicated. The writing is excellent. The author develops many themes and there is significant complexity to the novel. It is intriguing and unique. It would make a great book club book!

For discussion questions, please see: http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=1441. show less