A surreal trip into the desert

DEATH VALLEY 
By Melissa Broder 

American author Melissa Broder’s third novel Death Valley is quite surreal - an absurd, funny, hallucinatory, off-the-wall, modern-day fairy tale, that could almost pass for a desert survival guide.  

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Published by Scribner  October 2023  |   Fiction

IN BRIEF (full review to come...)

The quirky narrator is a 41 year old Los Angeles novelist who has taken a trip to the desert ostensibly to get her creative writing juices flowing. What becomes clear, though, is her trip is more like an cerebral escape from the weighty realities she faces back home - her father (with whom she seems to have an oddly strained relationship) has been hospitalised for months, fighting for his life following a car crash; and her husband has a mysterious chronic illness which saps his mobility.

As we follow her pilgrimage, replete with as many mesmerising details about the Best Western hotel she’s staying at as there are about the epic might of the desert, we’re drawn into her otherworldly journey of self-discovery. We’re often left in doubt about what’s real and what she imagines, like her hypnotic encounter with a giant cactus and her discovery of a cave-turned-party den for teenaged rabbits. Is her previous life of addiction playing with her mind, is it the heat and wildness of her surroundings, or is it some kind of parable? All the while, we’re treated to her comedic stream of thoughts, whether it’s through an inner monologue or the occasional conversation with handful of friendly stones.

​It’s a wild ride, and could almost be used as a desert survival guide.