California | Book Chatter

The Imagined Life
By Andrew Porter
Knopf, April 2025, 288 pp.

The Short of It:

You know that feeling of gently working your way through a story because it’s just so good? No? Read this.

The Rest of It:

Steven Mills has reached a crossroads. His wife and son have left, and they may not return. Which leaves him determined to find out what happened to his own father, a brilliant, charismatic professor who disappeared in 1984 when Steve was twelve, on a wave of ignominy. ~ the publisher

Steven’s family lives in a nice, Orange County neighborhood. His parents host pool parties, movie nights and are surrounded by academia everywhere they look. Their friends, professors themselves. They talk education and research and accomplishments. This is a touchy subject.

Steven’s father is brilliant and happily married but his quest for tenure at the university puts a strain on his marriage and family. This is where I tread carefully when I say that the undue strain of jumping through academic hoops to prove his worth leads him down a path of no return.

Let me paint the picture. Warm California evenings, a cabana house, plentiful liquor and jovial conversation. Attractive, powerful colleagues and a man who wants that for himself. The casual, friendly interactions fueled by drink, slowly become something more.

Twelve-year-old Steven senses a shift as he watches these parties unfold. Observing these parties from the privacy of his room, he notices the familiarity of good friends but also the tension, mostly in how his own mother reacts to what is going on.

What is going on?

Steven is very close to his mother so when she returns to the house after these parties, he knows she is hurting. He’s not entirely sure why or what he can do for her, but he feels compelled to be there for her.

What he does, is gently explore his father’s thoughts. Walking out to join him after the guests have left. Listening to his plan to publish his book and earn tenure. As good a guy as his dad is, Steven knows that he’s a dreamer. Never has been much of a realist. He takes this with a grain of salt.

For a young boy, navigating the delicate nature of his parent’s marriage and also figuring out what he desires for himself, proves to be complicated.

We see Steven as an adult, dealing with his own personal issues but ever present is his quest to figure out what happened to his father that year he went missing. When everything blew up and his father left without a trace.

This is a tender story about so many things. Family, the relationship between a mother and a son, a father and a son, Steven’s coming of age and how all of it influences his own family as an adult. It’s about identity and value and sacrifices made for the sake of your family.

The last few chapters were breathtakingly beautiful. I re-read them, sat with them awhile and felt the weight of Steven’s memories.

So good.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Parable of the Sower
By Octavia E. Butler
Grand Central Publishing, 9781538732182, (1993) 2019, 368pp.

The Short of It:

The California that Butler writes about in this 1993 novel is in essence where California is headed towards today.

The Rest of It:

The story takes place in the early 2020’s. Much of California is a wasteland, depleted of resources and occupied by bands of thieves who are addicted to a drug called Pyro. This drug makes them want to burn down everything around them, including innocent people taking shelter for the night.

Lauren Olamina is only 15-years-old but has witnessed some horrible things. She, along with her family are the lucky ones. They live in a gated community with other families who support and protect one another when they can. But anytime anyone in the community leaves the protection of those gates, no one knows if they will ever make it back because it’s bad out there. A simple trip for supplies is never simple when desperate people want what you have. Even within the gates, each night they are subjected to thieves jumping the wall to pillage and destroy. Lauren, at such a young age is taught to shoot and yes, to kill. The only catch is that Lauren is a “sharer”. She suffers from an illness of empathy and can feel the pain and pleasure of others. There are few like her, but when she chooses to shoot someone she has to be sure because she could end up crippled by their pain if she doesn’t kill them outright.

Nothing lasts forever. Lauren is eventually forced to leave the safety of her community and hooks up with others also looking to survive. Her plan is to start a new community once she finds the right place. If you are familiar with the Bible at all, you will recognize the title choice for this book. The Parable of the Sower is all about planting seeds. Some take, others don’t. What survives are the plants with deep roots. In this case, trusting one another and putting your life on the line to protect someone you hardly know for the sake of community is how such a community will survive.

This was a very hard book to read during this pandemic. The pace is a little slow and the writing is the type that you must sit with for awhile. Reading about a California that has been decimated by climate change and seeing how its inhabitants deal with the lack of water and other resources was a tad depressing but also eye-opening. Butler always seems to know what’s coming and she didn’t hold back here. California is walking a fine line. We are battling drought, brush fires that force our power grids to shutdown as a preventative measure, increased poverty and homelessness. NOT to mention what the rest of the country is battling right now, the pandemic. Chilling.

Parable of the Sower is a worthwhile read. Just know that if you read it now, it might take some time to get through and might send you into a downward spiral temporarily but I enjoyed the writing quite a bit.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…